http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=F46CA7D6-908E-4401-AB2D-5E4521152647 Dick Durbin: GOP leader told Obama ‘I cannot even stand to look at you’
By: Tal Kopan
October 23, 2013 06:23 AM EDT
The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, says that a House Republican leader told off President Barack Obama during a negotiation meeting, and that they are so disrespectful it’s practically impossible to have a conversation with them.
“In a ‘negotiation’ meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told the president: ‘I cannot even stand to look at you,’” Durbin wrote in a post on his Facebook page over the weekend.
Calling a government shutdown strategy from Republicans “disastrous,” Durbin did not specify which leader made the comment, what the context was or how the president responded.
The Senate majority whip offered the comment as rebuttal to the Republican argument that Obama does not do enough to communicate with Republicans, essentially saying to do so is impossible.
“What are the chances of an honest conversation with someone who has just said something so disrespectful?” Durbin wrote.
The office of House Speaker John Boehner, Durbin’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.