Experts Respond to Obama's Pile of Lies

Last night's Health Care Speech of Desperation, delivered by Barack Obama to a rare joint session of Congress, was meant (I suppose) to finally convince all those elected representatives to get to work and stop their partisan bickering. Problem is, a huge portion Obama's speech was dedicated to his own partisan sniping. Another problem: He told lie after lie after lie. Example: Obama said that his plan would "not add one dime" to the federal budget deficit, but moments later said it would cost about $900 Billion over the next ten years, then said that "most" of that would be covered. "Most of that?" He went, in the span of minutes, from saying it wouldn't costing a dime to admitting it would cost a good (unspecified) portion of $900 Billion. Would somebody please tell me how that works in the real world? (See "Obama's fuzzy math on health care" by John Ruberry, Marathon Pundit.) Don't just take my right-wing lunatic word for it. Let's turn to some experts, people who get paid to follow this stuff, for their informed opinion. We'll start with Tucker Carlson, who lays into Obama rather severely. Tucker Carlson: This is deceptive. In fact, it’s a lie. Obama the candidate would have been ashamed to say it. Full article, "A Man on His Way to Bitterness" at The Daily Beast. John Barry: Am I alone in thinking that Rep. Joe Wilson’s shouted comment to President Obama in the middle of his address to a joint session of Congress last night was a healthy sign? Rahm Emmanuel, the president’s chief of staff, reportedly approached two senior Republicans immediately after the speech and said: “No President has ever had that happen. Ever. My advice is that he apologize immediately. You know my number.” Full article, "A Defense of Joe Wilson: the Democratic Right to Dissent" at Newsweek. Jason Shafrin, Ph.D.: Below are some highlights from the speech [with my comments in brackets].... First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future [read: I will increase taxes. That is the only way to pay for the small business/individual subsidies proposed]. Full article, "Obama’s Health Care Speech Critique" at Healthcare Economist. (Panel of Experts): In his speech to the joint session of the Congress, President Obama has taken the first step to make clear his position on health care reform, but he clearly left some key issues unresolved. Full article, "Experts Analyze Obama's Speech - Kaiser Health News" at All Kaiser Health News Congressman Charles W. Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-Louisianna) (He delivered the Republican response to Obama's speech): “Replacing your family’s current health care with government-run health care is not the answer. In fact, it’ll make health care much more expensive. That’s not just my personal diagnosis as a doctor or a Republican; it’s the conclusion of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office – the neutral scorekeeper that determines the cost of major bills. I read the bill Democrats passed through committee in July. It creates 53 new government bureaucracies, adds hundreds of billions to our national debt, and raises taxes on job-creators by $600 billion. And, it cuts Medicare by $500 billion, while doing virtually nothing to make the program better for our seniors. The President had a chance tonight to take government-run health care off the table. Unfortunately, he didn’t do it." Full text of Boustany's response here. See video of his response here. WSJ/Opinion Journal: Instead of trillions of dollars, [Obama] put his price tag at a less politically toxic $900 billion. But that is only within the first 10-year budget window and assumes "savings" that are surely illusory.... Instead of raising individual taxes right away—as the House bill would—Messrs. Obama and Baucus say they will only tax insurers and other health-care providers. But those providers will only pass those costs through to consumers, raising the price of private insurance and thus raising the subsidies that government would have to pay to make it affordable. Perhaps Mr. Obama's most remarkable sleight-of-hand was his claim that he "will not stand by as the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are." The reality is that nearly all of those "special interests" are standing with him. The doctors' lobby, the hospitals, Big Pharma, even the largest insurers have all invested enormously in government health care. Full article, "Obama Doubles Down" at Wall Street Journal. Cool Hats & Shirts for Cool Conservatives Leave a Comment... Chicago News Bench RSS Feed We're on Twitter...