Van Jones on ABC: Democrats Should Use Ebola As Campaign Talking Point Against GOP
It appears as though former Obama official Van Jones has taken Rahm Emmanuel’s belief that you never “want a good crisis go to waste” to heart during a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week w/ George Stephanopoulos.
During a panel discussion on the upcoming midterm elections, Jones, a co-host of CNN's Crossfire, suggested that Democrats should point out that the “Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of government that we believe in.”
After host George Stephanopoulos highlighted how “Nate Silver's team at FiveThirtyEight gives the GOP a 59% of retaking the Senate” Van Jones shamefully urged Democrats to use Ebola as a talking point in 2014:
We can't let the Republicans get away with some of the stuff they’re doing this week, just trying to bash Obama. Hey, you know, government is always your enemy until you need a friend. This Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of government that we believe in.
The Democra continued to attack the GOP and hinted that another government shutdown could cause an Ebola epidemic in the United States:
A year ago Ted Cruz shut down America's government, shut down the CDC over shenanigans. What if that happened this year? You got to start putting the Republicans on the defensive for the fact that they believe that you can take a wrecking ball to America's government, never pay a price.
ObamaCare means that 8 million people who couldn't have gone to the doctor last year, if they feel sick today, they would if they got Obama, they can go see the doctor. The Democrats have got to start talking like that.
The entire segment focused on how Democrats are desperately tying to maintain control of the Senate and Van Jones’ attempt to exploit Ebola for political gain seems to confirm such desperation as the GOP is poised to make substantial gains in Congress.
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week w/ George Stephanopoulos
October 5, 2014
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Back now with our “Politics Buzz Board.” Topping it off, just one month from election day, ISIS invading campaign airwaves. Tough GOP ads in tight senate races from New Hampshire to Colorado like this one in North Carolina from Thom Tillis.
UNKNOWN PERSON: While ISIS grew, Obama kept waiting and Kay Hagan kept quiet.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Hagan fired back.
KAY HAGAN: I think North Carolinians need to know his position and he is spineless in this regard.
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Obama talking about the economy and his agenda.
BARACK OBAMA: I'm not on the ballot this fall but make no mistake these policies are on the ballot. Every single one of them.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But was it smart to make the midterms an Obama referendum? GOP candidates pounced and new grandmother Hillary Clinton is hitting the trail. Politico reports that she'll barnstorm key midterm states like Colorado, Iowa and New Hampshire when not babysitting Charlotte. Add it all up and Nate Silver's team at FiveThirtyEight gives the GOP a 59% of retaking the Senate, down one point from last week. Back with the roundtable, Mark Halperin, Bloomberg, is Nate Silver right to move just an inch away from the Republicans?
MARK HALPERIN: I don’t know. In the world of margins of errors, I'm not sure that's much of a move. You know, right now Democrats must change the electorate and I think the reason you see President Obama injecting his economic record in and you see him attacking Fox News in that same speech is because they need to change the electorate, they need to get the coalition of the ascended, the Obama voters who don't normally vote in the midterms to vote in places like North Carolina and Iowa. Go race by race today, they’ve got three of the six in the bag.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Republicans.
HALPERIN: Republicans do. I think right now they would get the final three. Kansas, though, is a huge problem for the Republicans. They may end up netting five, even though they win six.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Pat Roberts not closing the gap there at all. Van Jones, I have to ask you this. I understand what Mark [Halperin] is saying about energizing the Obama electorate, but it did not seem like a wise move for the president to put his agenda front and center.
VAN JONES: Well, we’ve to get our base going. The other thing too is that we can't let the Republicans get away with some of the stuff they’re doing this week, just trying to bash Obama. Hey, you know, government is always your enemy until you need a friend. This Ebola thing is the best argument you can make for the kind of government that we believe in. A year ago Ted Cruz shut down America's government, shut down the CDC over shenanigans. What if that happened this year? You got to start putting the Republicans on the defensive for the fact that they believe that you can take a wrecking ball to America's government, never pay a price. ObamaCare means that 8 million people who couldn't have gone to the doctor last year, if they feel sick today, they would if they got Obama, they can go see the doctor. The Democrats have got to start talking like that.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter.
