President Obama Said Voting Against Health Care Reform "will encourage the extremists.”

In a House health care vote private pep talk, President Obama refereed to opponents of the Democrat's health care reform bill as "teabag, anti-government people" and said failing to support health care reform would "encourage the extremists."

From Prescriptions blog at the NYT.

Mr. Obama, during his private pep talk to Democrats, recognized Mr. Owens election and then posed a question to the other lawmakers. According to Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who supports the health care bill, the president asked, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”