According to Laura Ingraham, President Obama, in his speech at the U of Maryland yesterday, repeated the spurious anecdote he used in his Congressional address last week. It's the story of Otto Raddatz, in which Obama got the ending wrong. The actual events wouldn't provide the desired emotional effect. The president has to know by now that his version of this story is wrong. And if he doesn't know, he should.
Also on the subject of Obama's veracity, Charles Krauthammer's latest column gives three examples of the president's deceptive skills, all taken from the big speech. Here's the one that provoked Joe Wilson's outburst:
(2) And then there's the famous contretemps about health insurance for illegal immigrants. Obama said they would not be insured. Well, all four committee-passed bills in Congress allow illegal immigrants to take part in the proposed Health Insurance Exchange.
But more important, the problem is that laws are not self-enforcing. If they were, we'd have no illegal immigrants because, as I understand it, it's illegal to enter the United States illegally. We have laws against burglary, too. But we also provide for cops and jails on the assumption that most burglars don't voluntarily turn themselves in.
When Republicans proposed requiring proof of citizenship, the Democrats twice voted that down in committee. Indeed, after Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" shout-out, the Senate Finance Committee revisited the language of its bill to prevent illegal immigrants from getting any federal benefits. Why would the Finance Committee fix a nonexistent problem?
Why indeed. Mr. Krauthammer also points out something that's been mentioned by callers on talk radio, husband Pundit, and many other Americans with common sense:
RTR.(3) Obama said he would largely solve the insoluble cost problem of Obamacare by eliminating "hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud" from Medicare.
That's not a lie. That's not even deception. That's just an insult to our intelligence. Waste, fraud and abuse -- Meg Greenfield once called this phrase "the dread big three" -- as the all-purpose piggy bank for budget savings has been a joke since Jimmy Carter first used it in 1977.
Moreover, if half a trillion is waiting to be squeezed painlessly out of Medicare, why wait for health-care reform? If, as Obama repeatedly insists, Medicare overspending is breaking the budget, why hasn't he gotten started on the painless billions in "waste and fraud" savings?
Comments welcome.
Linked at Michelle Malkin (buzzworthy)
Most recent posts here.
1 comments:
If Republicans cut that much from medicare they'd be accused of stealing healthcare from the taxpayers who already paid for it.
Post a Comment