Rep Walsh: Tea Party Isn't to Blame for Recession

Rep Walsh: Tea Party Isn't to Blame for Market Chaos

Illinois congressman on blame game being played by Democrats

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST OF, “YOUR WORLD”: Rain -- and lots of it -- flooding Charlotte, North Carolina. Tea Party. A rocket launch briefly delayed in Florida. Tea Party. A heat wave burning up Dallas. Tea Party. And a stock market falling 512 points in one day. Tea Party. Tea Party. Tea Party -- everything that is wrong, everything that is evil.

Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum putting it this way: "The stock tumbled 512 points, wiping away billions of dollars from the retirement and education savings of middle-class Americans. Every American should be concerned about the very real possibility of sliding into a Tea Party recession."

Say it ain’t so, Joe. Congressman Walsh, you and your Tea Party did all of that. The asteroid thing, I thought, was an impressive leap, but touché.

You join us on the phone now.

What do you make of all this?

REP. JOE WALSH, R-ILL.: Neil, this is embarrassing. It is -- I mean, I’m ticked off.

It is embarrassing as to how out of touch and arrogant these people are. I mean, you had the vice president and other folks earlier this week calling Tea Party people terrorists. Now you’ve clearly got a concerted effort by John Kerry, Senator Ben Nelson, and Betty McCollum to try to tag this recession on us.

Neil, they’re clueless. Their president and this party, they’re destroying the private economy in this country and they’re bankrupting the country. And they have -- they are bereft of arguments. They have nothing left to say.

CAVUTO: Well, how do other Tea Partiers -- you talk to them often. How do they feel about that? It’s one thing to say, all right, you’re holding up the process. You’re not letting us get the business of government on, but to equate them with holding everything hostage and everything we know that is near and dear, when they are a response to the spending that has prompted all these budgetary fiascoes.

WALSH: Neil, this is -- this is almost the last place they’ve got to go.

I mean, they’re name-calling now. The economy is tanking again. And make no mistake. This is President Obama’s economy. And they have spent us into oblivion. But here to me is the most comical reason why they’re out of touch.

Look, people who belong to the Tea Party movement, that’s every angry, frustrated, concerned and scared American. That’s more people than are in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.

CAVUTO: Huh.

WALSH: So, when they go down this road, Neil, they’re insulting the vast majority of Americans, but they don’t get that.

CAVUTO: Well, I’ll tell you, Congressman, I don’t care what your views are on the Tea Party, but it’s now bordering on stupid, these kind of attacks -- unless that asteroid hits Earth.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: And then it is the Tea Party, but, man, oh, man.

All right, Congressman, thank you very, very much.

WALSH: Have a great weekend. Thank you, Neil.

CAVUTO: The world is a strange place, friends.

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