Arguing Simpson-Bowles, Trump calls Nadler a 'lightweight' and Nadler says 'consider the source'
Donald Trump.
11:59 am Aug. 16, 2012
Donald Trump doesn't like Jerry Nadler's idea about not focusing on the Simpson-Bowles plan during the upcoming presidential debates.
“Jerry is a guy who is a lightweight, he’s not respected, he’s not somebody that’s a big thinker," Trump told Fox News' Neil Cavuto yesterday. "I’ve known him for many, many years, and Jerry Nadler is truly the kind of guy that gets us in trouble, and so frankly when you look at him and you look at what his suggestion is, that we shouldn't put this on the table, it was his boss, it was Obama, that brought it up in the first place.”
In a letter earlier this week, Nadler asked the Commission on Presidential Debates not to focus specifically on the Simpson-Bowles plan, since it offered only "one menu of options" for dealing with the economy. Nadler, a liberal, has argued for more federal spending to combat the country's jobs crisis, urging President Obama not to accept the idea that budget cuts are an immediate necessity.
Nadler's letter was in reaction to another letter, sent by four senators, to the debate commission, which asked the commission to specifically question the candidates about which of Simpson-Bowles' recommendations they would adopt.
Nadler shrugged off the criticism from Trump.
“That’s a good one," he said in a statement. "As to the ludicrous personal attack, I’d say ‘consider the source.’ And, the mere fact that conservative partisans are attacking our letter vindicates its content. We need a real, broad economic discussion among presidential candidates – one that includes Simpson-Bowles, sure, as well as progressive approaches – one that takes no good idea off the table.”
Trump, who gave $500 to Nadler's 1989 campaign for comptroller, has been embraced as a surrogate for Mitt Romney, after becoming the most conspicuous spokesman for the birther conspiracy that Obama was not born in the U.S.
CORRECTION: This story originally stated Trump made the comments in an interview with Greta van Susteren; the interview was with Neil Cavuto.
