Another MSNBC host demanded that conservatives apologize to the President for the failure for ObamaCare – not the other way around. Ed Schultz on Monday fumed, " The apology should be coming from the conservatives. The conservatives should be apologizing for having no plan." [MP3 audio here. ] Bypassing the issue of the President's untrue statement– that if Americans like their health insurance, they can keep it – Schultz attacked, "They [conservatives] should be apologizing to the 50 million Americans who have been without insurance because, damn it, they've been sick!" The anchor interpreted Obama's comments last week as a... continue reading
On MSNBC's PoliticsNation , host Al Sharpton began the show with a segment in which he called Virginia Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli an "anti-woman crusader" and complained about "ugly words" and "venom and hate" after playing comments from conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. Sharpton began the show by complaining about Republicans showing "hostility" to various groups: And tonight's lead, Republicans still haven't learned a thing. Voters have sent the right wing a message: They're sick of the party's hostility towards women, minorities, and the LBGT community. After griping about most Republican Senators voting against a bill to ban... continue reading
The Obama administration exempted the federal exchanges and subsidies in ObamaCare from federal health laws against kickbacks, fraud, and bribery, the New York Times reported last week. CNN has ignored this story, however. The Times stated: "The surprise decision, disclosed last week, exempts subsidized health insurance from a law that bans rebates, kickbacks, bribes and certain other financial arrangements in federal health programs." Commentary magazine noted that "it encourages precisely the kickback schemes this statute was put in place to prevent." Commentary also highlighted the irony in the administration's prosecution of Johnson & Johnson for kickbacks: "And the inconsistency is... continue reading
Trying to deflect from the political damage ObamaCare has done to Democrats, on Monday's NBC Today , White House correspondent Peter Alexander hyped GOP divisions: "...the Republican Party is facing a war within....Republicans have an issue over defining their brand, an ideological civil war of sorts." [ Listen to the audio ] In an interview with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin following Alexander's report, co-host Matt Lauer sought to stoke that supposed "civil war": "[Governor Chris Christie] called the shutdown of the government and that strategy hatched by Ted Cruz and members of the Tea Party a 'monumental failure.' If... continue reading
On Monday's CBS This Morning , Major Garrett emphasized the Obama administration was " desperate " to reverse the debacle over its so-called Affordable Care Act, twice asserting the executive branch was trying to " end the ObamaCare blues ". Garrett also pointed out that " the White House has lowered expectations – both politically and mathematically – about as low as humanly possible " regarding ObamaCare enrollment numbers. However, unlike his colleague Jan Crawford , the correspondent failed to explicitly point out how millions of Americans are losing their current health care coverage due to the controversial law. Instead,... continue reading
According to MSNBC's Michael Smerconish, it's Barack Obama who is owed the "real apology" for the disastrous rollout of the health care law. Filling in for Chris Matthews, the Hardball guest host huffed, " The facts are that many of the same people that feel betrayed now will be thanking the President later. " [MP3 audio here .] Lecturing the 52 million Americans who have lost their insurance, Smerconish added, "These are people in so-called junk plans that could bankrupt them and their families if they ever got sick." Displaying MSNBC logic, the host identified who should actually be asking... continue reading
On Monday's NBC Today , co-host Matt Lauer declared that President Obama "apologized" for ObamaCare failures, "not only the issues with the website, but broken promises as well." Turning to former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Lauer hoped Obama's vague statement of regret was the end of the story: "Did he say what he had to say?" [ Listen to the audio ] Palin shot down Lauer's assertion that the President had taken responsibility for the disastrous health care rollout: "What apology? What apology? He kind of acknowledged a bit that there is a broken website. The broken website is the... continue reading
Touting chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd's exclusive interview with President Obama on Thursday, Nightly News anchor Brian Williams proclaimed: "We are all about to hear the President of the United States apologize , and not just for the troubled rollout of this new health care website, but for the fact that his promise to the American people that 'If they like their current health insurance, they can keep it,' has not held true for all." [ Listen to the audio ] In the report that followed, Todd sympathetically observed: "...the President's apparent broken promise about folks keeping the plans... continue reading
On Thursday's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell , MSNBC political analyst Joy Reid condescended to people angry about their health insurance policies being cancelled as she fretted that President Obama may have to "placate" the "three to five percent" of people who apparently are not intelligent enough to realize the insurance they like is merely "junk." During a discussion of President Obama's interview with NBC's Chuck Todd in which ObamaCare failures were discussed, Reid began her analysis: I thought maybe I was over-thinking this because I noted that he also said, "We're going to have to go back and... continue reading
While NBC chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd did question President Obama on the failed ObamaCare rollout during an exclusive interview on Thursday, the network political director tried to downplay the notion that the commander-in-chief actively lied in promoting the health care law: "'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.' You said it a lot during the run-up. At this point, though, it's obviously something – a promise that has not been able to be kept....What happened?" [ Listen to the audio ] In his next question, Todd came close to accusing Obama of deception, but... continue reading