Dem chairman defends saying GOP doesn't care about people
Democratic National Chairman defends telling New Jersey crowd that Republicans don't care about people, though his language was stronger than that.
Last week, Democratic national chairman Tom Perez told a New Jersey crowd that Republicans "don't give a s- about people" — and it caused blowback.
On Tuesday, Perez said he had no regrets for using the vulgarity to describe his political opponents, and declined to apologize, as the GOP national chairwoman demanded.
"What I have regrets about are all the people who are scared to death as a result of the first 60 days of chaos and carnage in this administration," Perez said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"... The children who got dropped off at school and literally saw their father, you know, half a block away getting arrested by ICE," Perez said. "You know, the person with the disability who relies on Meals on Wheels so that they can stay in their home. The 24 million people who are relying on health care."
He was referring to Congressional Budget Office estimates that a GOP proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act would cause 24 million people to lose health coverage, stepped-up immigration enforcement, and the Trump administration's budget proposal, which would cut federal funding for the meals program for the homebound elderly.
This began last Friday, when Perez used the pungent term for GOP insensitivity at a rally for activists in Newark, N.J. He also mocked Trump for losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
At a later appearance in Asbury Park, Perez had cleaned up his language, though he was plenty critical of the GOP and Trump. His counterpart, GOP national chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, demanded an apology.
Which was not forthcoming. Perez was in New Jersey with deputy chairman, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, working to mobilize party activists for state elections this year, when voters will select a new governor and choose legislators.
The so-called "turnaround tour" has so far mirrored the militant language of most Democratic leaders, who are calling for massive resistance to Trump, in what some view as a proportionate response to the obstruction Republicans offered President Barack Obama.