GOP Rep. Gohmert tries to sequester Obama’s golf game

>>> amendment of house resolution 933 offered by mr. gohmert of texas. will insert the following. none of the funds made available by a division of this act may be used to transport the president to or from a golf course until public tours of the white house resume.

>> that is the great self-representative louie gohmert in action. a new amendment from the straight talking talking governor says to prevent the president from playing golf until he brings back tours to the white house . this had us wondering, since when did it become such a crime for the president to play go? i admit to being a relatively new student to presidential history, but i seem to recall it being a frequent past time with dwight eisenhower . he was famous for his love of the game. didn't seem to be a crime when he took out a driver. then there's president nixon , a chief executive who actually did commit crimes in the oval office . but his love of golf never overshadowed watergate. then there's the bushes. both father and son who also enjoyed getting out there on the links. i recall bush the younger fitting in policy announcements around the eighth hole.

>> i call upon all nations to do what they can to stop these terrorist killers. thank you. now watch this drive.

>> joining us now is msnbc political analyst michael eric dyson of georgetown university and our man on capitol hill , luke russert . mr. gohmert's amendment to the continuing resolution is d not make it. however, have heard from speaker boehner on this issue of tours to the public. let's take a listen to him.

>> it's the idea that we're going to shut down tours at the white house during the easter season when washington's overwhelmed by visitors is just silly. and i want to know who's being laid off at the white house ? is this what's going on? all i can say is the capitol is open to visitors.

>> so there you go, luke. all is well in the capitol. but doesn't this reveal the petty and personal nature of republican opposition to this president?

>> well, i think it reveals a sort of pettiness on both sides. if you look at what the white house did so far --

>> how is it petty by the president to apply the sequester as it's been imposed?

>> the idea is putting that forward there will be no more tours at the white house . who does that stick it to? rank and file congressmen.

>> it sticks it to the public.

>> correct. the public gets those tours through their congressmen. boehner playing the pr up that he's tweeting out pictures today you can visit the capitol and shows him shaking hands with a tour group from florida. if you look at it from the abstract, sitting in the middle of america tuning in at night you're saying why are they fighting about who can tour the white house , we can tour the capitol. it looks bad on both sides. i think it's a pox on both their houses which is what we're not supposed to say these days. in this case it's true. we're making light of something that in reality is quite minimal when you put it in the grand scheme of the sequester and everything else.

>> okay. professor dyson, we mentioned the legislative effort by louie gohmert . but i wound if if we might take a brief moment to refresh our audience's memory to his other pronouncements.

>> you're attacking the messenger. anderson, you're better than this.

>> do we really want folks in movie theaters and shopping malls and schools armed?

>> chris, i wish to god she had had an m-4 in her office. the allegations are not because he is muslim. i'm not one of those who says he's not a christian. you follow me around the world. you see me hugging muslims around the world.

>> so professor, as a scholar whose grasp of this nation's history is firm and clear, why is it that playing golf seemed to be okay for presidents in the past but not for this president?

>> you know, i don't know why the president's golf game is teeing these people off. the reality is if you're familiar with early american history , at least the history of the 1950s . remember gohmert pile? shazam. they see golf and spell it flog backwards. every time they say golf, they're flogging the president. they think they're doing the right thing. it's ridiculous. it's inane. it's vapid. it's any other collaboration between words you can generate to suggest we're wasting the time and the resources of the american government trying to put a rider on a bill to suggest that mr. obama not play golf when the reality is that republicans are driving us deeper and deeper into serious problems because of their refusal to negotiate. and the sequestration is just the most recent system of that.

>> flogged, you're right, sir. luke, there's a new book out by bob nee. he seems to think that speaker boehner is pretty fond of golf himself. in fact, he says and i'm quoting. that if the justice department were ever to make speaker boehner produce receipts for his addiction to golf just for the years from '95 to 2004 , he would be hard pressed to comply. of course the speaker denies the accusations made in this book, but he can't deny he likes to play golf himself, doesn't he?

>> oh, i don't think it's a secret to anyone in washington, d.c. and the capitol that john boehner is an avid golfer. he's a pretty talented golfer.

>> given the amount of time he plays, he ought to be.

>> certainly. goes down to florida to do it. now, in terms of mr. ney, they have pressed back saying he's a convicted felon, does not know what he speaks of. but john boehner is a talented golfer. he'd be the first one to tell you that if you got him on the show.

>> professor, i'm sure the president will reluctantly give up playing golf, but it's going to be tough for everyone else, isn't it? for families to survive without assistance for nutrition, for families to cope without transportation for their disabled children. these are the kind of things that are going to hurt, aren't they?

>> yeah. it's not the game of golf. it's the game of pool . they're behind the eight ball . american people are being, i think in a very serious sense, pushed into holes of want depravation and poverty. that sounds extreme, but the reality is when this sequestration goes through, when those budget cuts take effect, the poorest of the poor will be vulnerable. those whose backs are against the wall will be pushed into e the bricks further. and the reality is the golf games of the president or the speaker of the house are just ancillary to a central issue. and that is the inability to come to grips here. and you said something earlier that we should underscore. the republicans proved they are incapable of negotiating in good conscience with the president. they have a revulsion to him that is now harming the nation. it's one thing for their caucuses and for their party to find him reprehensible, but it's another thing for that to spill over into and bleed over into the business of the people. their very emotional reactions to the president are harming up politically. and the american people are going to pay a price for that.

>> professor michael eric dyson and luke russert , gentlemen, thank you so much.