Three videos show why ObamaCare is in trouble
posted at 10:55 am on August 3, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
If anyone questioned why Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi wanted to get a health-care reform bill passed before the August recess, the following videos will explain it clearly. In three town-hall meetings with Democratic denizens of Capitol Hill, crowds reacted angrily to a government takeover of health care. In the first, Rep. Keith Ellison moves through the crowd in his very liberal district taking comments — but not answering any of his constituents’ questions (via Janet at SCSU Scholars):
The reaction in this clip is almost universally negative, and downright hostile. When one man reads a prepared question asking Ellison whether he’d put forego his “Cadillac plan” as a Congressman and put his family on ObamaCare, Ellison plays emcee rather than answer it — and another constituent loudly demands his response.
Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s crowd was even more hostile in his Blue Dog district of Texas (via Power Line and John Lott):
Back in Central Texas while Congress is on a month-long recess, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett faced an angry audience at a town hall meeting at an Austin Randalls grocery store Saturday.
Doggett, D-Austin, spoke at the store at Brodie and Slaughter lanes. A video of the event on YouTube shows that many in the crowd had signs denouncing President Barack Obama’s proposed health care plan.
Witnesses said that when Doggett was asked whether he would support the plan even if he found that his constituents opposed it, Doggett said he would. People then began chanting “just say no” and overwhelmed the congressman as he moved through the crowd and into the parking lot.
Meanwhile, back in Pennsylvania, newly-minted Democrat Arlen Specter finds out that Pennsylvanians don’t much care for the rush to have government pass bills that their representatives don’t read. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius doesn’t help much when she tries to defend the honor of people like John Conyers (via Michelle):
The administration knew that supporters of ObamaCare would encounter not just opposition, but outright anger once they returned to face their constituents. They wanted to ram ObamaCare through Congress before constituents had a chance to have their say. Specter and Doggett would have expected to hear resistance among their constituents, but Ellison perhaps was the most surprised. MN-05 is as safely Democratic and liberal as any seat in Congress (which is why Ellison, an acolyte of Louis Farrakhan, won the seat in the first place). If a Democrat gets a hostile reception in MN-05, it’s just about akin to Nancy Pelosi getting booed in San Francisco.
If Pelosi and Obama had a tough time holding the Blue Dogs before the recess, they will have a lot more headaches when Congress returns in September — and hopefully a lot more skeptics as well.
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A comment timestamped before the post even goes up. Now that’s a Bishop!
happytobehere on May 17, 2013 at 11:57 AM
The rats are leaving the ship…
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 11:58 AM
“I’m a Dem and stupid! But please still vote for me”!.
Only in the Democratic Party.
Oil Can on May 17, 2013 at 11:59 AM
I think we all know the answer to that.
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Well, at least this one is closer to the truth.
WryTrvllr on May 17, 2013 at 12:01 PM
How did you do that?
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:02 PM
This is a question?
Cylor on May 17, 2013 at 12:03 PM
The Vulcan in me can’t resist.
The logic is irrefutable. WH officials admit to being being idiots and liars…but mostly idiots.
BobMbx on May 17, 2013 at 12:04 PM
Umm, four dead in Benghazi would beg to differ with that.
AZfederalist on May 17, 2013 at 12:05 PM
An idiot is someone who is incapable of thinking. Leftists merely choose not to think.
Fenris on May 17, 2013 at 12:05 PM
I simultaneously applaud and fear for Ms. Attkisson.
BobMbx on May 17, 2013 at 12:05 PM
Obama, the IRS and the Führerprinzip
Resist We Much on May 17, 2013 at 12:06 PM
70/30
Electrongod on May 17, 2013 at 12:06 PM
This is one of those myriad government groups created with really snappy names by a congresscritter who needed some bona fides with a one group or another for an upcoming election.
I call them foundation plants. Those are the ones the builder sticks all around your house to make it look pretty on the day you buy it, don’t ever do anything except grow, and then when you consider taking them out you remember what your neighbors house looked like and decide to just keep the status quo.
Overtime, you simply forget about them.
BobMbx on May 17, 2013 at 12:06 PM
No Sharyl, we, the American voters that RE-elected this Marxist cabal to a second term, are the idiots.
Meople on May 17, 2013 at 12:07 PM
Alright..
Who stole the deLorean and screwed up the time-line here at HA?
Electrongod on May 17, 2013 at 12:08 PM
Care to amend?
Bishop on May 17, 2013 at 12:08 PM
Their idiocy caught up to them and they lied about it. Same tactic Clenis took. Democrats lie because they can. Their constituents are okay with it.
DanMan on May 17, 2013 at 12:08 PM
If you’re not first you’re last!
Meople on May 17, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Sharyl needs to watch her backside…
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 12:09 PM
And that excuses this how?
Yeah…it doesn’t.
ProfShadow on May 17, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Well, we knew that. The question is how much they lied about being idiots.
inviolet on May 17, 2013 at 12:10 PM
The modifications of the talking points can’t be attributed to idiocy.
Try again.
blink on May 17, 2013 at 12:10 PM
A few more whistleblowers in the same vein we saw last week and we might finally get around to the truth, which is that the question isn’t a choice between idiots and liars, but whether we have both.
CoffeeLover on May 17, 2013 at 12:11 PM
you go
inviolet on May 17, 2013 at 12:11 PM
Sharyl is freaking awesome. Doesn’t give a crap about who’s on what side of the story. Just reporting the facts. In a sane world she’d be the next Woodward and Bernstein.
jdpaz on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Can we go with malicious idiots?
mwbri on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Who broke HotAir..?
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
LMAO…
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
(Said it elsewhere, but I’ll repeat)
This won’t wash with regards to 8 months of obstruction of justice inquiries and cover-up’s.
Nice try but no cigar.
Sir Napsalot on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
btw, ed, that awful sound you hear is my fingers scraping the bottom of my obama pickle barrel.
sesquipedalian on May 17, 2013 at 12:14 AM
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
At least this pathetic excuse is plausible, I’ll give them that.
NoDonkey on May 17, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Report: IRS Deliberately Chose Not to Fess Up to Scandal Before Election
NBC’s Lisa Myers reported this morning that the IRS deliberately chose not to reveal that it had wrongly targeted conservative groups until after the 2012 presidential election:
But, it’s NOT political!!! They pinky swear.
Resist We Much on May 17, 2013 at 12:14 PM
TRUTH SQUAD
Shouting “FIRE!” when there is none is lying or providing incorrect information at a vital time.
Ok, First Amendment fans, if it is illegal to shout “FIRE!” in a crowded theater, can we pass another tiny law?
After the next attack, and there will be another attack, anyone who wrongly starts BS about “Columbine” or “self radicalization” “workplace violence” or “angry, frustrated film reviewers” or the other nonsense is committing a felony. It should be specifically identified as a “high crime and misdemeanor” for the purpose of punishing news outlets or even elected officials. Not that I am thinking of one elected official in particular.
Since we are getting killed and don’t have a phalanx of Secret Service, personal guards or even the right to carry and protect ourselves, can’t we at least handle the tragedy with some er, TRUTH?
I know this is a radical idea and tough for you PC bovine Americans to do but even stupid herd animals communicate alarm among themselves. They don’t pretend that a young one of their own has grown fangs and is eviscerating a relative or that ongoing predatory actions by hungry wolves can be ignored and the wolves will sooner or later turn vegan on their own.
It is an insult to the fallen or falling to lie and very unnatural. History has shown that nations do very well by hitting back when attacked as awful as their actions may seem sickening to the squeamish.
Sometimes it is a wise investment in the education of the other side.
So send notes to your elected officials and hope that they will take the plunge. The experience of telling the truth may feel so good that they might even do it more than once.
IlikedAUH2O on May 17, 2013 at 12:14 PM
This shows increasing desperation.
No one wants to be seen as an incompetent fool, but if the choice is fool or knave, the administration’s choice seems understandable.
And this is understandable – Barky’s decisions here
1) To run guns to Islamists in Libya, and then try and recover some of them to ship to Syria
2) To arrest a scapegoat video producer
are going to piss off anyone who is paying attention…
18-1 on May 17, 2013 at 12:14 PM
Apparently, I’m 5 minutes ahead of you all.
Losers.
BobMbx on May 17, 2013 at 12:15 PM
It’s the IRS tracking software.
So ixnay on alkingtay about your irearmsfay.
Bishop on May 17, 2013 at 12:15 PM
Oh…you silly people. Don’t you know:
bigmacdaddy on May 17, 2013 at 12:16 PM
I lost all of mine in a tragic boating accident.
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:16 PM
Government is trying to blunt Sharyl’s reporting by leaking to her better spun info…
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 12:17 PM
OK, so the WH admits they covered up the fact it was terrorist attack by claiming their idiots…whatever. We’ll game that out later. What I want to know is whether or not all of our Baghdad Bob trolls around here are finally going to acknowledge the obvious cover up since the administration just admitted to it.
NotCoach on May 17, 2013 at 12:18 PM
I’m thinking they are idiots who lie!
AND why are they establishing the Obama administration’s analysis and response?
gonnjos on May 17, 2013 at 12:20 PM
Does Guam finally tip over?
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:20 PM
…phuckmeordie…spermsequestrian…noforeskin…and DBare will now give us their expert analysis!…(as soon as their anal passages clear!)
KOOLAID2 on May 17, 2013 at 12:20 PM
Jeez, man up a bit. If the administration screwed up, say so. Admit it. Come clean. Keep on stonewalling, and this scandal will get bigger and bigger. More whistleblowers, more traction in the media etc. The 6th year curse is real alright.
tommy71 on May 17, 2013 at 12:22 PM
The obvious tactic here is to explain the cover-up without actually explaining it because the only other option is malice. And malice is more likely to require an explanation of motive.
NotCoach on May 17, 2013 at 12:22 PM
Can’t wait until Hot Air time-warps back to 1969 so that we can see that Neil Armstrong actually planted the flag on Mars, not the Moon.
Resist We Much on May 17, 2013 at 12:23 PM
“…and it’s important to note that they universally claim that any errors or missteps did not cost lives…”
They were very finely tuned mistakes, the kind that didn’t cost any lives in a fiasco that nevertheless cost four Americans their lives. But the mistakes were all realted to aspects of the fiasco that had nothing to do with their deaths.
Akzed on May 17, 2013 at 12:23 PM
Fish in barrel.
They were idiots and then they lied about being idiots.
PackerBronco on May 17, 2013 at 12:23 PM
This administration calling themselves idiots is akin to a blind man saying he can’t see.
DDay on May 17, 2013 at 12:24 PM
Any scoop on Major Garret’s piece on the GOP distorted email edits?
DDay on May 17, 2013 at 12:25 PM
I’d be glad to watch it for her. ;-)
TXUS on May 17, 2013 at 12:26 PM
At this point, what difference does it make!
Saltysam on May 17, 2013 at 12:26 PM
And if they’d said all this back in September, they would now have one less scandal to deal with.
Chris of Rights on May 17, 2013 at 12:27 PM
Yep, and apparently good with shotguns too.
DDay on May 17, 2013 at 12:28 PM
“We’re all idiots on a no-brainer situation where we should have provided Marines to protect a consulate, and when we should have tried to rescue American citizens under attack.
But don’t worry, we’re totally ready to implement an uber-complicated BarkyCare system with the help of the IRS.”
Bishop on May 17, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Me too! This is awesome!
Hey HotGas, can you fix the Atari Server already because I have an old Pong Machine that would do a better job.
Bishop on May 17, 2013 at 12:29 PM
But he can stand up, right? – Joe Biden
18-1 on May 17, 2013 at 12:30 PM
*facepalm*
Honestly, when you have folks like Victoria Nuland and Tommy Vietor providing input on talking points – it’s clear that they’re not interested in providing the truth – they’re interested in establishing the “spin”.
Hill60 on May 17, 2013 at 12:30 PM
A few more whistleblowers in the same vein we saw last week and we might finally get around to the truth, which is that the question isn’t a choice between idiots and liars, but whether we have both.
There’s one other choice: criminals.
TXUS on May 17, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Just got back…..and for the record….I’m the guy holding the camera when the lunar lander blasts off back to the command module.
Solves that mystery.
BobMbx on May 17, 2013 at 12:32 PM
Well we are not going back without helium balloons!
VegasRick on May 17, 2013 at 12:35 PM
Greetings from Guam!
Resist We Much on May 17, 2013 at 12:37 PM
So it was a coverup with no malice…LOL. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
d1carter on May 17, 2013 at 12:38 PM
So, it’s somewhere in between lying and idiocy, but closer to idiocy.
Okaaaaaay.
Got ya, chief! *wink*
*walks away shaking head*
Saltysam on May 17, 2013 at 12:41 PM
Time traveler.
TXUS on May 17, 2013 at 12:41 PM
It’s not illegal if there’s a fire. Jus sayin.
Akzed on May 17, 2013 at 12:41 PM
Claiming to be idiots, they must think we are idiots.
If decisions were made out of stupidity or ignorance, the mistakes should be close to 50/50 in favor or against the Administration. Instead we have 100% of the idiotic acts in favor of Obama.
This administration’s goal was to get Obama reelected and was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen. This administration is the most coldly calculating since Clinton left office. That’s where Obama learned that delay, delay, delay and then “that’s old news, move on”.
WestTexasBirdDog on May 17, 2013 at 12:41 PM
You mention NBC’s reporting on the IRS scandal.
It’s interesting that both CBS (Atkisson) and ABC (Karl) have contributed to some degree on Benghazi, while NBC has not gone near it with a ten-foot pole.
In the case of the IRS scandal, NBC apparently feels comfortable enough to report on something that will make Obama squirm because it’s an easy item to report on.
BuckeyeSam on May 17, 2013 at 12:42 PM
They are lying, malicious, idiots but they are also cunning and hateful.
jukin3 on May 17, 2013 at 12:46 PM
God bless Sharyl Attkisson. She’s doing a great job, doing what reporters are supposed to do, speaking truth to power. How she ever lasted so long at See-BS is a mystery, but she’d better have good bodyguards!
Having diplomats held hostage in Iran in 1979-80, and a botched rescue attempt, probably led to President Carter’s defeat in 1980. To avoid that in 2012, somebody decided that the easier solution was to let the hostage be (Ambassador Stevens) be killed, and cover it with some BS story about an anti-Muslim video on You Tube.
Reagan: We don’t negotiate with hostage-takers. We kill them.
Obama: We don’t negotiate with hostage takers either. We let them kill the hostages.
Steve Z on May 17, 2013 at 12:46 PM
They must really be scared if they’re universally offering themselves up as simply ‘idiots’. Sounds like a “we’ve tried saying everything else, this is all we have left that’s ‘better’ (less worse) than the truth.”
Midas on May 17, 2013 at 12:52 PM
One theory has it that the whole thing was a charade to set up a prisoner exchange – Stevens for the Blind Sheik. It would explain:
1. Why there was reduced security.
2. Why the platoon on the way within Libya was told to stand down.
3. Why it was called a hostage situation.
The men who fought back apparently weren’t in on the plan. This enraged the attackers, who thought they’d been lured into a trap or betrayed. So they went and got more friends and made a second attack.
Akzed on May 17, 2013 at 12:58 PM
Not incompetence. Deliberate. If they are claiming to be idiots then they aren’t idiots, they are lying.
rbj on May 17, 2013 at 12:59 PM
Incompetence is a hallmark of this administration. And since they are incompetent, how do they know their decisions – or lack thereof – did not, in fact COST LIVES?
GarandFan on May 17, 2013 at 1:01 PM
When will we hear from the 32 people who got out alive?
When they’re stories are no longer being covered up?
Akzed on May 17, 2013 at 1:02 PM
OK let’s see
An idiot would say here, “I was an idiot”
A liar would say here … “I was an idiot”
In other words, these remarks are devoid of any information content
rightmind on May 17, 2013 at 1:11 PM
So they are too stupid to tell the truth?
I’ll buy that.
But what they actually meant was they thought that WE were so stupid we wouldn’t know that THEY weren’t telling the truth.
Lily on May 17, 2013 at 1:11 PM
Obama should be forced to leave office right now and let Romney take over. Clearly it would have been a landslide if the press did it’s job last fall. Between the IRS and Benghazi scandals, a bag of rocks could’ve beat Obumbler. What a goddamn disgrace. Our enemies have to be laughing their asses off and licking their chops. God help this world. The press and administration sure did a great job effing my children’s world up.
ratherbskiing on May 17, 2013 at 1:14 PM
Definitely not seeing those as mutually exclsuive……..
GWB on May 17, 2013 at 1:15 PM
SORRY BARRY……I, GHOULAID, AM A GODDAMN IDIOT. I AM NOT HOWEVER…..UNAMERICAN.
GhoulAid on May 17, 2013 at 1:16 PM
I said from the beginning that this was a “major screwup” followed by a gaggle of overpaid idiots.
J_Crater on May 17, 2013 at 1:23 PM
How embarrassing can this be to the “smartest man in the room” administration ? An administration filled with slackers, hanger-ons, and just plain idiots .. and that at the EOP.
J_Crater on May 17, 2013 at 1:26 PM
Vietor was not simply “in the e-mail chain on talking points.”
Vietor was the MF-ing National Security Council spokesman!!!!!!!!!
Dude didn’t know FEST was?! Wasn’t it his job to know?
Is the White House staffed with Romper Room rejects?
Robert_Paulson on May 17, 2013 at 1:28 PM
Idiots like Obama, Holder and Hillary should not lead the US then.
Schadenfreude on May 17, 2013 at 1:37 PM
Well, darn it! Where are the trolls? I want to hear what they have to say about this.
C’mon, libbabies! Your me-so-smart leadership folks said it’s OK that you’re all stupid, so jump on in! My breath is bated, waiting for your brilliant idiocy to shine forth!
creekspecter on May 17, 2013 at 1:44 PM
Watch this, especially now.
“…creating more sheep”.
Schadenfreude on May 17, 2013 at 1:51 PM
Are there no other aircraft at Sigonella? Could any of them have provided help in any way shape or form?
Why did we not use every asset available? Please stop trying to sell the “stupid” meme. Not buying it.
dogsoldier on May 17, 2013 at 1:51 PM
No ,you guys are actual hitmen for jihadies.
burrata on May 17, 2013 at 1:53 PM
For many of us, being an idiot does not excuse or recuse us from being responsible. If a patrolman pulls you over for speeding, the idiot excuse does not fly.
You can say, like Holder, “We’ll, I didn’t know.” As so many people who work under the DOJ who have passed down sentences to lawbreakers have said over time aplenty, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
Lastly, to say that with all the fires going on in the D.C. neighborhood in regards to the IRS, AP wiretapping, EPA, Bengazi, etc. is something akin to living in your house and seeing the whole neighborhood on fire, and not bothering to call the fire department.
Now, what excuse would you like to use again, Mr. President?
Turtle317 on May 17, 2013 at 1:58 PM
It was my opinion before the 2010 elections that they could be the most important in our lifetime. Now I think they may have been one of the most important elections in the history of our Republic.
House leadership may frustrate and disgust us, but Pelosi isn’t running things. Without Republicans in charge of committees to speak out, so many things would never have come to light or have been addressed.
The 2010 elections were brought to you by the Tea Party. That’s you and me and all the American citizens who attended them, who wrote and phoned and worked. No wonder the Obama administration hates and fears us. They hate and fear the American people who love our country and who support the Constitution.
We the People.
INC on May 17, 2013 at 1:58 PM
Action matters
Schadenfreude on May 17, 2013 at 2:00 PM
So, the country is being run by something close to idiots.
And, to the extent they’re not idiots, they’re liars.
Socratease on May 17, 2013 at 2:03 PM
Yes.
GWB on May 17, 2013 at 2:20 PM
Time for an Independent Special Prosecutor(s) on the competence of administration and any abuse(s) of power in agencies in the Executive Branch.
State
DOJ
IRS
NHS
Agriculture
All of them.
workingclass artist on May 17, 2013 at 2:20 PM
Notice who is making the criticism a partisan one? The portrayal is coming from people who are not brain dead or easily fooled, chump. Let’s not buy into the “narrative” created by this Obama administration official.
onlineanalyst on May 17, 2013 at 2:23 PM
If you participated in the Excuse Draft, Mistakes Were Made paying off huge dues right here.
Ah, classic Clinton: “Mistakes were made.”
Axeman on May 17, 2013 at 2:24 PM
The Rat-Eared Ba$tard took an especially large dump this morning, so they are taking a bit longer to drink it up.
slickwillie2001 on May 17, 2013 at 2:28 PM
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