White House Press Secretary Jay Carney released a statement following the House passage of Speaker Boehner's debt ceiling bill that's chock full of partisan rhetoric -- then calls for everyone to find common ground.
"The bill passed today in the House with exclusively Republican votes would have us face another debt ceiling crisis in just a few months by demanding the Constitution be amended or America defaults," the statement said. "This bill has been declared dead on arrival in the Senate. Now that yet another political exercise is behind us, with time dwindling, leaders need to start working together immediately to reach a compromise that avoids default and lays the basis for balanced deficit reduction."
Then, after taking a swipe at House Republicans and calling the passage of the bill a "political exercise" and praising fellow party member Sen. Harry Reid's proposal, the statement then urges leaders to work together.
"The President urges Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to find common ground on a plan that can get support from both parties in the House – a plan the President can sign by Tuesday."
Carney may have gotten some of the basic facts right (only GOP votes for Boehner bill, and it will probably be killed in the Senate), but he got the rhetoric all wrong if the White House goal is anything but a "political excercise."
