Presidential Debate Obama - H 2012
Getty ImagesHere’s something you didn’t hear during the presidential debates.
According to Rolling Stone, President Barack Obama referred to GOP challenger MItt Romney as a “bullshitter” during an interview to be published next month.
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A first look of the story, written by Douglas Brinkley, was published Thursday by Politico:
“As we left the Oval Office, executive editor Eric Bates told Obama that he had asked his six-year-old if there was anything she wanted him to say to the president,” Brinkley wrote in Rolling Stone. “[S]he said, ‘Tell him: You can do it.’ Obama grinned. … ‘You know, kids have good instincts,’ Obama offered. ‘They look at the other guy and say, “Well, that’s a bullshitter, I can tell.”’”
The comment made waves through the punditry Thursday. Romney senior adviser Bay Buchanan appeared on Fox News Channel, where she characterized it as the extension of the “one long negative commercial” that has been the Obama campaign. She said voters will not appreciate Obama’s comments.
“Women in particular do not think that name-calling is an appropriate response,” Buchanan said.
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MSNBC drew upon democratic strategist Catherine “Kiki” McLean for for analysis. She chalked the comment up to Obama’s sense of humor.
“That is a moment of the president showing his humor and his affection for kids,” said McLean.
NBC’s Brian Williams, who has been traveling with Obama, noted the president had often used the “barely veiled” term “pitch man” to refer to Romney. Williams asked Obama earlier what he thought of Romney, and the president said he had no personal animosity toward him.
However, Politico’s Donovan Slack wrote the comment seems to fit in with “a genuine disdain” Obama has for Romney, as reported by the news outlet before.
Watch Fox’s and MSNBC’s coverage below.
