Chuck Todd Grills Obama: Was the ‘You Can Keep Your Plan’ Line a ‘Political Lie’?

[HoosierRadical]

Source: Mediaite




During Chuck Todd‘s exclusive interview with President Obama, Todd brought up criticism by columnist and MSNBC analyst Clarence Page that the “if you like your plan you can keep your plan” line was a “political lie,” and asked Obama point-blank if he understands why people might be far more skeptical of him now for what they perceive as a big lie on a major piece of legislation.

Todd asked if the White House was so bogged down in politics that they just “shorthanded this.” Obama insisted his goal all along has been to reform a broken health care system in the “least disruptive way possible,” also noting that “everybody’s acting as if the existing market was working.”

The president did acknowledge that many people are getting cancellation letters and so a quick fix is needed to “make sure that they are not feeling as if they’ve been betrayed.”

Todd referred again to the oft-quoted “if you like your plan line” and how it fell through, asking “Do you understand if people are going to be skeptical of the next promise you make?” Obama dismissed the idea he muddled or covered up anything. He told Todd throughout his political life he has always spoken his mind and been “very clear” about what he’s been trying to accomplish.


Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/chuck-todd-grills-obama-was-the-%E2%80%98you-can-keep-your-plan%E2%80%99-line-a-%E2%80%98political-lie%E2%80%99/

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Chuck Todd is a douche, I'm sick of these corporate hacks, my president didn't LIE! The insurance companies are being purposely disruptive, people will get better care or a better price. Hey Chuck, want to grill a president about lies? how about the one on weapons of mass destruction.

[Enrique]

1. Obama wanted to address that question

it was the most obvious thing in the world for a reporter to ask. And it makes sense for Obama to want to say something about it.

Obama chose Chuck Todd to give the interview to. Todd didn't ask anything Obama wasn't 100% willing to answer.

[HoosierRadical]

2. That may be true, but, Todd is still a corporate hack.

I can't believe people are trying to pain President Obama as a liar on this issue, I mean really? We all know the insurance companies are purposely misleading people.

[alp227]

9. Well, Todd is NBC's chief White House reporter.

Only HE has the authority within the network to deliver such supposedly hard hitting Q's.

[L0oniX]

3. What "Up Chuck" has to say shouldn't even be given space on my monitor screen or DU.

It's like showing us pictures of pig shit. Who fucking cares what that asscarrot says. pffft ...smell it ...toady

[Sunlei]

4. Obama said he's going to close whatever loophole insurance corps used. (they dump some people)

I think the President was forthright about the issue.

[Blue Owl]

5. Didn't GWB have over 900 documented lies?

And yet nary a peep from young Chuck...

[Heather MC]

7. EXACTLY

Fuck Chuck
Pancake Head
But I do think The president is brilliant Making the dipshit Chuck Todd Sell the ACA for him.

[Octafish]

12. Bush lied America into an illegal, immoral, unnecessary and disastrous war and Chuck's boss danced..

...with Smirko's propaganda minister.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. Yup

and unlike many of his lies, this one (to the extent that you can consider it a bald-faced lie) is probably not going to kill anybody (or get anybody killed)

[seabeckind]

6. I made it to the part

where chuckles said "do you owe the people an apology"? and then I said fuck you and turned it off. Chuckles didn't hear or recognise anything that was said. He has an agenda and he won't be swayed.

Fuck you, chuck.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. Chuck todd is the Republicans' b*tch

[tjl148]

10. Doesn't pass the mother test

OK, deflect this to Todd or the insurance companies if you want to but I believe the President lied. He clearly and unequivocally said if you like your health plan you could keep it. Period. As it turned out millions are not able to keep their health plans. If you tell someone they can keep something when you know they cannot, that, my Mom would say, is a lie. Period. The DU community didn't like it when the media tried to ignore or rationalize Bush's lies. I don't think we should like it when any lies are rationalized away.

[seabeckind]

11. You use the word deflect

and fail to see what the deflection is.

It is not about the statement that people can keep their crappy insurance, it is about trying to use that statement to discredit the whole endeavor. That is the deflection.

These crappy insurance policies are a result of a system which is a scam of the American people. It is a system which allows unscrupulous companies to exploit those less informed or desperate. It is a deflection from an examination of that system and calling it what it is.

The entire industry is scared to death that their cash cow will be taken away if we get away from the profit insurance companies. There is a terrible corruption in the entire system, not only the insurance companies but the drug companies who are joined to them and the care(?) industry which is also joined to them and the politicos and media who work so hard for them.

Any hoosier who follows any of this knows exactly how corrupt this whole system really is. Wellpoint?

Enjoy your stay. Make sure to get the ice cream.

[BeyondGeography]

15. Not envisioning every possible contingency and lying are two very different things

Asinine.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. I think that he was maybe naive when he said what he said

I don't believe that this was a bald-faced lie but perhaps it was more like a promise that, as we have all later discovered, he probably didn't have the absolute authority to be able to keep and probably shouldn't have made but the vast majority of people are still going to be unaffected.

BTW as far as Bush's lies go, people actually got harmed and killed and. what's worse, is that he was never much prone to admitting his lies and mistakes, much less remedying them until the problem was unavoidable and long after the damage had been done. His remedies were generally half-cooked as well. What we are talking about here seems to be a minor inconvenience for some people that will probably be quickly and easily remedied. President Obama is already talking about making some administrative changes that will address this issue. I don't know why people would want junk insurance, which comprise most of the cancelled plans, but different strokes for different folks I suppose.

[Sunlei]

17. what did the insurance companies say about why they are dumping people?

[bemildred]

13. That's what Chuck does. nt

[Cosmocat]

18. Hey, dickhead

He was SELLING IT ...

Appearing on MSNBC's Morning Joe today (9/18/13), Todd responded to Ed Rendell's claim that Obamacare opponents are full of misinformation about the program by explaining that this was because Republicans "have successfully messaged against it." But wasn't journalism's job to expose misinformation? No, Todd insisted; if the public was misinformed about the Affordable Care Act, it was the president's fault for not pushing back:

What I always love is people say, "Well, it's you folks' fault in the media." No, it's the president of the United States' fault for not selling it.

[Myrina]

19. Toad is a useless hack, yes .... but for an initiative this big

... there should have been some seriously heavy NASA-style project management in place.

Most of the questions POTUS raised last night should have been thrown against the wall in the Requirements Gathering and Planning stages, and certainly addressed no later than User Acceptance Testing ... not after the product roll out.

Shows piss poor program/project management/communications. And no, I don't mean Sibelius or POTUS, although whoever had final sign off should have rode the PM like a racehorse.

[NorthCarolina]

20. Funny Chuck never saw fit to ask things like 'Was the campaign promise to renegotiate NAFTA

a political lie?' Or, 'Was adding support for a public option to your campaign website just a political lie?' Or, 'during your campaign you said ""We will revisit the Patriot Act and overturn unconstitutional executive decisions issued during the past eight years.", was that just a political lie?' Or, 'when you said " "Often the best source about waste, fraud and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism . . . should be encouraged rather than stifled.", was that just a political lie?' Or how about when you stated "My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.", wha that just a political lie?'

No, of course none of those ever came up because his GOP colleagues LOVE all that stuff just as it is...but the ACA thing, now THAT he'll ask.