White House press secretary Jay Carney said: "If you are so desperate for attention that you make an analogy that Michael Steele deems inappropriate, you know you've probably gone too far."
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus appeared on Face the Nation today, and dismissed concerns that the fighting in the GOP was overblown by the media and drew parallels to the 2008 Democratic primary race, but in speaking candidly about President Obama, Priebus compared his leadership to the infamous captain of the Italian cruise ship whose actions proved to be somewhat cowardly when faced with disaster.
RELATED: RNC Chair Accuses MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts Of Asking Question ‘Loaded With DNC Talking Points’
Bob Schieffer started out the interview by bringing up the Newsweek cover depicting Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich as Roman warriors, and uncomfortably asked Priebus if he’s ever seen Gingrich shirtless. Priebus vehemently denied it, but more seriously, he doubted the race was tearing up the Republican party as much as the media has been making it out to be. After all, he pointed out, current DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Florida primary, and accused Obama of being a hypocrite at one point.
But Schieffer pointed to remarks made earlier on the show by Donald Trump that there is an unprecedented level of “hatred” in the Republican party right now, and asked Priebus if he thought any of the intra-party fighting going on could damage the GOP. He dismissed such concerns, reassuring everyone that in a few months, all the squabbling will be over and the party will mobilize behind a nominee.
“In a few months, this is all going to be ancient history, and we’re going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama, who’s abandoning the ship here in the United States and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president.”RELATED: DNC & RNC Heads Clash Over President Obama’s Economic Record On Face The Nation
When Schieffer asked him to clarify that statement, Priebus doubled down, and joked that the boats behind Schieffer on camera made him think of it. But Priebus continued to insist that the fighting going on the GOP this time around is no worse than what the Democrats did four years ago, and even disagreed with Sarah Palin‘s assessment that the race was down to the Republican establishment vs. conservative activists.
Watch the video below, courtesy of CBS:
AP/The Huffington Post Posted: 01/30/2012 3:27 pm
WASHINGTON -- The White House is criticizing comments by the Republican National Committee chairman comparing President Barack Obama to the Italian cruise ship captain who allegedly abandoned his sinking ship.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" that Obama was "our own little Captain Schettino." Priebus accused Obama of abandoning ship in the U.S. and spending more time on his re-election campaign.
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele told MSNBC the analogy was "unfortunate."
In response, White House press secretary Jay Carney said: "If you are so desperate for attention that you make an analogy that Michael Steele deems inappropriate, you know you've probably gone too far."
Preibus later defended his remarks in an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
"Well, I mean, clearly Megyn when I made those comments, I clearly used the analogy in both sentences that this president was akin to leaving his own job and campaigning non-stop all the time, worried about his job number one, instead of the jobs of the millions of Americans that are out there," Preibus said. "The reality is, it's a fair analogy in regard to leadership in a moment of crisis that this president is more interested in his own job, number one than the jobs of millions of Americans that are out there hurting right now when he promised them that he would be better."
Preibus continued, expressing his condolences to those who died in the disaster, but also accusing his detractors of blowing his comparison out of proportion.
"No I think it's awful, people have died of course, terrible and our prayers go out to those people without a question. But to take this comment and turn it into something that it was not, that's wrong too and that’s political gamesmanship as well," he said.
So far, the disaster has claimed at least 17 lives, though more passengers and crew remain missing and are presumed dead.
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