RNC Chairman Michael Steele recently sent out a fundraising letter
saying
that President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress are attempting
a “
_socialist  power grab_
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/10/steeles-take-on-obama-
spe_n_...) .” Today on NBC’s Meet the Press, host David
Gregory pressed House  Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on whether
such
language was appropriate.  Boehner tried to dodge the question,
insisting that
“you can call it whatever  you want,” but the fact is that Obama’s the
one
scaring the American public.  Gregory continued to ask whether
Boehner
believes Obama is a socialist, to which  he finally admitted he
doesn’t:
GREGORY: Do you really think the President is a socialist?
BOEHNER: Listen, when you begin to look at how much they want to
grow
government, you can call it whatever you want, but the fact is —
GREGORY: What do you call it though?
BOEHNER: This is unsustainable. We’re broke.
GREGORY: That’s fine. Do you think the President is a  socialist?
BOEHNER: No!
GREGORY: Okay. Because the head of the Republican Party is calling
it
that.
BOEHNER: Listen, I didn’t call it that, and I’m not going to call  it
that.
Watch it:
Boehner is lying. He has said that what Obama and Democratic leaders
are
doing is socialism. From his _speech_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWp7xb9fi3E)  at the Conservative
Political Action Conference a few months ago:
Well, the stimulus, the omnibus, the budget — it’s all one big down
payment on a new American socialist experiment. … All of these bills
seek to
replace our economic freedom with the whims and mandates of
politicians and
bureaucrats.
Basically, Boehner admitted today that all he was doing there was
fear-mongering and attempting to scare the public for political gain.
Today on CNN’s State of the Union, Obama responded to these charges
from
conservative leaders, stating, “You know, I’m amused. I can’t tell you
how
many  foreign leaders who are heads of center-right governments say to
me, I
don’t  understand why people would call you socialist, in my country,
you’d
be  considered a conservative.”
Transcript: _More »_
(http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/20/boehner-socialist/) _«  Less_
(http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/20/boehner-socialist/)