RETRACTION: At the prompting of an alert reader I watched the video again and have concluded that Mr. Lautenberg did not say eliminate the “rich”, but rather, eliminate the “waste.” See my post Retraction: Lautenberg Did Not Say Eliminate the Rich, He said Eliminate the Waste.
Uber-liberal and uber-rich Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) yesterday said what socialists everywhere are thinking: “We gotta eliminate the rich.”
Michelle Malkin thinks this may have been a Freudian slip, but I think Lautenberg intended to say precisely what he said. After all, the Senator has never been shy about playing the wealth-redistribution card:
I say I don’t need a tax cut. It will not do me any more good. I can’t buy more, I can’t eat more, I can’t do more, and I want it distributed among the ordinary people who work every day.
That’s one way to get people to vote for you. Buy them off with promises of wealth-redistribution.
9 responses so far ↓
1 Bob English // Aug 20, 2011 at 7:46 pm
He clearly said “eliminate the waste” and the person who originally posted this admits he was wrong. Maybe next time, people will actually listen to the audio before attacking someone for something they did not say.
2 Bob English // Aug 20, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Actually he did not say that…but I’m sure that will not stop people from saying that he did. Try listening to the video.
3 Peter // Aug 21, 2011 at 8:21 am
Bob,
LOL. Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying ears.
4 Peter // Aug 21, 2011 at 8:23 am
Bob,
LOL. Hope springs eternal.
5 Bob // Aug 21, 2011 at 8:44 pm
Note that several webistes including Fox Nation have pulled the video and others have posted a correction. Even Breitbart posted a half assed note that it might be right. The link below is to a conservative blog in NJ that oriigianlly posted the video than later rightfully acknowledged that Lautenberg did not say rich…he said “waste”…sorry if the facts get in the way of anyones beliefs.
http://www.moremonmouthmusings.net/2011/08/19/lautenberg-video-goes-viral-then-gets-corrected-or-pulled/
6 Peter // Aug 22, 2011 at 12:27 am
Bob,
I don’t really think Lautenberg wants to eliminate rich people. I do, however, think he wants rich people to be less rich.
Lautenberg did say that rich folks have the money and, therefore, we should take some of it from them and redistribute it to the poor and middle class.
The rest is semantics.
7 Peter // Aug 22, 2011 at 12:32 am
Incidentally, why would someone have to “pull” the video if all Lautenberg said was “eliminate the waste.”
If you are right and that is what he said, the video is his best defense.
8 Peter // Aug 22, 2011 at 9:22 am
Bob,
I listened to it again. He clearly said “waste,” not rich. And it is even that ambiguous.
I guess this is a good example of confirmation bias, where you hear whatever fits into your preconceived notions.
Thanks for the correction. I changed the post to reflect it.
9 Retraction: Lautenberg Did not Say Eliminate the Rich, He Said Eliminate the Waste // Aug 22, 2011 at 9:41 am
[...] Last week I published a post titled Democrat Senator Frank Lautenberg Says Eliminate the Rich. [...]