The White House is striking back at news websites and blogs criticizing President Obama's healthcare proposals- especially if they include past footage of things then-senator Obama said. Says White House spokeswoman Linda Douglass, "So what happens is that because he’s talking to the American people so much, there are people out there with a computer and a lot of free time, and they take a phrase here and there — they simply cherry-pick and put it together, and make it sound like he’s saying something that he didn’t really say.”
Fair enough. As one of the people who reproduced the cherry picked footage of then-senator Obama seeming to say he wanted single-payer coverage, let me include the context:
I'll even provide a transcript: “I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program. I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”
See there? Completely refuted. How could anyone accuse him of being a proponent of a single payer universal health care program?
3 comments:
You sound pretty fishy here Joel... we'll have to report you.
If you don't know what Bill's talking about, the White House official blog asked that critical items be reported: "These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."
I'm trying to imagine what the reaction would have been if Dick Cheney had asked that anything critical of a Bush proposal- including casual conversations- be sent to the White House? Of course, the Obama white house would never make an enemies list, but...Did you know that the Presidential Records Act forbids the erasure of white house email, so anything you send becomes a permanent record?
I've started the FOI to make sure I see my record....
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