Boehner: Obama "slapped table", scolded me at White House meeting

[Torie]

Obama made a mistake here. What he did I consider, well, immature.  He of course does not do this in front of the cameras, and certainly did not do it in his session that was televised with House Republicans. In any event, if his game plan is try to demonize the opposition party, it will be a massive failure in my opinion. It will reduce his support to his own partisans. Clinton never did this sort of thing. At most when he got down on the opposition party, it was more in sorrow than in anger, and that is far more effective.

By the way if I have time, I am going to put up a rather serious post as to why having learned a bit more, I think the Democratic health care plan is fatally flawed, both practically, and politically.

[Torie]

Is this a good time to point out that we're basing this whole discussion on the testimony of one (highly partisan) individual?  Read through his comments again, and hopefully you'll see that it reads exactly like somebody who just came out of an argument and is trying to revise the incident in a way that makes himself look better.  It's a playground tactic, once again.

You think the GOP leader just made all of this up?  Do you think he is really smart and creative enough, and dishonest, enough, to do that? I suspect it did happen, and it was eating away at the B man, and he finally let loose. I have been in that spot myself. Anyway, I guess we can wait for Obama's side of the story, or lack thereof.

[Torie]

I never said he made it all up.

How many times have you had an altercation with someone, and when asked about it later by someone who wasn't there, distorted the events slightly to make a probable draw (or even a victory for the other side) seem more like a win for yourself?  We've all done it.

Sure it is tough to be objective about who did what to whom in an emotional confrontation. In my professional life, when I get emotional vis a vis the opposition, it is an act done with calculation. Just indulging my emotions, without calculation, would be unprofessional, and dis-serve my client. Heck sometimes I have plotted my contretemps quite carefully in advance, on issues that I think require it. The world is all a stage - sometimes. And the most effective politicians, typically have considerabe acting talents, as do the most effective  lawyers, assuming they have the brains and discipline and knowledge, to have covered and know the facts and the law, and know it cold, with total mastery.