Jay Carney clarifies that Obama agrees with Joe Biden's remarks that more people will be raped and murdered if Obama's jobs bill (Stimulus II, tax hikes) doesn't pass. Republicans will be to blame.
Video.
Transcript, from the White House:
Q And on jobs, if I may ask a question --
MR. CARNEY: Sure, sure.
Q -- the Vice President also talked about crime recently in relation to the part of the jobs plan that we’ll be seeing coming up for a vote in the Senate -- the money for teachers, police officers, firefighters. And he had an exchange with a reporter from a conservative news organization on the Hill. He said --
MR. CARNEY: You’re beating his colleague to the punch here, but okay. (Laughter.)
Q -- this was about -- this was some comments that he made about rapes and murders going up, and he clarified his comments. He said, “I said rape was up three times in Flint. Those are the numbers. Go look at the numbers. Murder is up. Rape is up. Burglary is up. That’s what I said.” The reporter countered, “And if the Republicans don’t pass this bill then rape will continue to rise.” And the Vice President said, “Murder will continue to rise. Rape will continue to rise. All crime will continue to rise.” Does the President agree?
MR. CARNEY: I think it would be hard to find anyone who doesn’t agree with the simple equation that fewer police officers on the street has a direct effect on the crime rate. We saw this in the ‘90s, and it’s -- I don’t know that anybody -- any lawmaker up on Capitol Hill would contest that simple fact that -- or any American who makes that assessment in their local communities, would you want fewer or more law enforcement officers on the job, and do you think that would -- having more law enforcement officers on the job, police officers on the job, would have a positive impact on crime. That’s the point he was making. And that’s a point that the President absolutely does share.
Q Republicans are jumping on this, saying that they’re being told their opposition means more people will be raped, more people will be murdered. What does the President say to that?
MR. CARNEY: You can focus on the words or you can focus on the simple fact. The President put in the American Jobs Act a provision that would provide assistance to states to put teachers back to work and to put firefighters and police officers back to work, first responders. I mean, are they arguing -- are Republicans arguing that there is no correlation between the number of cops on the beat and the crime rate? That would be an interesting argument to hear. It’s a new one, a novel one, but I’d like to hear it.
Yes, we are saying that more police officers on the beat is a good thing and will help keep crime rates lower.
Pass Obama's jobs bill or more people will be raped and murdered.
What's really stupid about this is the suggestion that the only way to keep police officers working and protecting the public is by Obama's bill. Lame.
Obama said, "If you love me, you got to help me pass this bill."
Now he's saying Republicans aren't concerned about crime. If you don't want to be raped or murdered, help him pass his bill.
It's a sleazy political game, playing on people's fears.
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