Today’s Q’s for O’s WH – 7/21/2009
EmailTAPPER: The House Energy and Commerce Committee canceled a markup and it’s said that the reason is because of Blue Dog Democrats from the committee balking at — at some of the provisions in the bill. I know that Blue Dogs are here, right now, with the president, but what — what's his intention of — what does he intend to tell them…
GIBBS: Well, I think they are working through — I mean, I think they — as you mentioned, they've — they've delayed a markup for a little bit of time to come down here and talk through some of the issues and concerns that — that they have on — on costs and things like that. They're going to meet with the president — they may be doing it, probably, right now — to work through some of the issues and concerns that they have and that — and, again, try to work toward meeting in an area where we can agree to move health care reform forward.
TAPPER: As you know, one of the — one of the concerns they have is they don't want to be “BTU”’ed*; they don't want to vote for a provision that passes in the House and the Senate does something else that's less controversial. Is the president on board with that? Does he think that the House and the Senate should have basically the same funding mechanism for this bill so that no one side has to walk the plank?
GIBBS: I don't know — I don't know if that will specifically come up or has specifically come up in today's meeting. I know that the president is encouraged, as you heard him in the Rose Garden say, in terms of the amount of progress that we've made, that we're closer to health care reform than we've been in 40 or 50 years. I assume many of these issues, particularly costs — not just costs of health care but how to pay for it — will come up. I don't know if he believes that both proposals should be identical, but hopes that we continue to make progress on both sides of Capitol Hill so that we can get a bill closer to his desk.
TAPPER: Does he understand philosophically why the House wouldn't want to…
GIBBS: It’s understood.
*As Matthew Yglesias explains more comprehensively HERE, to be BTU’ed is to vote for a controversial provision in the House only to see members of the Senate remove it from the legislation, making your moment of “courage” for naught, save for the political ramifications.
-jpt
Obama: 'Now Is the Time For Common Sense Action' 
Romney Takes Aim at Conservatives
How on earth do you deal with him?
” Well, I think they are working through — I mean, I think they — as you mentioned, they’ve — they’ve delayed a markup for a little bit of time to come down here and talk through some of the issues and concerns that — that they have on — on costs and things like that. They’re going to meet with the president — they may be doing it, probably, right now — to work through some of the issues and concerns that they have and that — and, again, try to work toward meeting in an area where we can agree to move health care reform forward.”
What on earth did he say? Do you know? Why do you not challenge him when he gives you an answer that says absolutely nothing and certainly doesn’t answer your question? As I have to do with Obama when he is speaking off-the-teleprompter, I have to edit the remarks to even come close to discerning the meaning…
==They’re going to meet with the president to work through some of the issues and concerns that they have and try to work toward meeting in an area where we can agree to move health care reform forward.==
Nothing about what Obama intends to tell them. And certainly nothing of interest.
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 3:58 pm 3:58 pm
Did you know that Obama did some arm twisting over at the CBO?
The Congressional Budget Office was created by Congress to serve as a non-partisan oversight of the Executive Branch and its use of the budget and fiscal projections.
It’s not supposed to get its arms twisted by the very same people they are keeping watch over.
Posted by: Hmmm... | July 21, 2009, 4:02 pm 4:02 pm
Obama is in PANIC MODE and Gibbs is stuttering thru Q&As
Posted by: The tax man cometh | July 21, 2009, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
Reform doesn’t mean positive change. Just because we are closer to health care reform than ever before, doesn’t mean it’s for the good. I’ve reformed in the last 40 years, and it isn’t all that pretty.
Posted by: jak | July 21, 2009, 4:12 pm 4:12 pm
Kudos to you Jake, for not pulling out a flamethrower and using it on this stuttering boob.
It’s often been said that Gibbs (aka the ugly BeeGee) is the perfect mouthpiece for the jugeared dunce because he knows so well what president idiot child is thinking.
Sad that gibbs is a stuttering, muttering, mope- doesn’t speak well for the “thinking” that the empty suit is capable of.
But hey, who wants frozen custard? Or cheezburgers?!!!
Posted by: 2Brixshy | July 21, 2009, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
Did you know that Obama did some arm twisting over at the CBO?”
Hot air spews, right wing parrots repeat.
Of course they have already walked their lies back when the head of CBO posted
“I was invited to the White House to meet with the President, his key budget and health advisers, and some outside experts. The President asked me and the outside experts for our views about achieving cost savings in health reform. I presented CBO’s assessment of the challenges of reducing federal health outlays and improving the long-term budget outlook while simultaneously expanding health insurance coverage–just as we had explained these challenges in a letter to Senator Conrad and Senator Gregg last month. I also described CBO’s view of the effects of the health legislation we have seen so far, as I did last Thursday in a hearing at the Senate Budget Committee and a mark-up at the House Ways and Means Committee. In addition, I discussed various policy options that could produce budgetary savings in the long run, drawing on CBO’s Budget Options for Health Care released in December, our letter to Senators Conrad and Gregg last month, and my comments last Thursday. Other participants in the meeting expressed their own views on these various topics.”
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
===Posted by: Ryan C | Jul 21, 2009 4:21:56 PM===
Yes, but the real test is did Bush do it?
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 4:28 pm 4:28 pm
Posted by: Axey | Jul 21, 2009 4:28:47 PM
Bush doesn’t actually have to be around or in office. He made Obama do it, like continue the wars, bailout Wall Street, hire a tax cheat for Treasury…The O Man just picked up the notes Bush left on the desk.
Posted by: Same Old | July 21, 2009, 4:33 pm 4:33 pm
Arm twisting and bullying, followed by smears and threats, if necessary. It’s the Chicago way now being played out at the White House.
Posted by: jennifert7 | July 21, 2009, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
“Yes, but the real test is did Bush do it?”
Not really but since you asked.
From 2004
“The forecasts by the budget office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, indicate, however, that deficits will begin rising again toward the end of the next 10-year period, after the Bush tax cuts take full effect. And like the administration’s budget, the budget office excludes some large expenses like the cost of operations in Iraq.
The most revealing part of the office’s projection is the outlook from 2010 to 2014.
Deficits would total almost $1.4 trillion over that period, and the annual deficit will be $289 billion, and growing larger, as the nation heads into a wave of soaring costs from Social Security and Medicare payouts as more baby boomers reach retirement age.
Republicans argue that 10-year projections are flawed and unreliable and that the tax cuts were needed to get the economy going in the short-term while encouraging job growth and new business investment in later years.”
The hypocrisy by the GOP is something that happens so often you start to take it for granted.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 4:44 pm 4:44 pm
===Posted by: Ryan C | Jul 21, 2009 4:44:00 PM1===
So it is safe for us to criticize Obama for doing it? Great!
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 4:46 pm 4:46 pm
===Posted by: Same Old | Jul 21, 2009 4:33:33 PM===
If only. I wouldn’t be in such a panic if Obama was actually acting like Bush.
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 4:47 pm 4:47 pm
“So it is safe for us to criticize Obama for doing it? Great!”
The claim was that Obama was bullying the CBO.
I demonstrated that was not the case but yet another right wing lie.
Then I exposed hypocritical Republicans.
But as far as criticizing someone for doubting the CBO? Have at it.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 5:01 pm 5:01 pm
“Deficits would total almost $1.4 trillion over that period, and the annual deficit will be $289 billion”
Ah, the good ol’ days…when annual deficits were measured in billions…
Posted by: tjp612 | July 21, 2009, 5:08 pm 5:08 pm
===Posted by: Ryan C | Jul 21, 2009 5:01:56 PM===
Nope, the president has no reason to meet with the Congressional Budget Office. If he doesn’t understand something, he should ask his own economic advisers. He only brings people to the WH he wants to persuade, Chicago style.
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 5:12 pm 5:12 pm
Where is the crisis? I didn’t know we had a health care crisis until the Democrat primary season.
Posted by: Woody | July 21, 2009, 5:17 pm 5:17 pm
“Nope, the president has no reason to meet with the Congressional Budget Office.”
ROFLMAO!
I can smell the desperation.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 5:18 pm 5:18 pm
I can smell the desperation.
======
I know, right?
Posted by: MayBee | July 21, 2009, 5:23 pm 5:23 pm
“Where is the crisis? I didn’t know we had a health care crisis until the Democrat primary season.
Posted by: Woody | Jul 21, 2009 5:17:47 PM”
Healthcare was a big part of the 2004 election and the 2006 election.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 5:23 pm 5:23 pm
We can all be very certain that this risky scheme will be a big part of the 2010 election as well. That’s why Democrats are like rats deserting a sinking ship.
Posted by: Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta | July 21, 2009, 5:40 pm 5:40 pm
If the president hadn’t been so willfully deceitful in his presentation of this risky scheme, he might have had a better chance of ramming it through. But of course it’s the truth of the thing that people don’t like, which is why he felt the need to lie.
Posted by: Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta | July 21, 2009, 5:42 pm 5:42 pm
===Healthcare was a big part of the 2004 election and the 2006 election.
Posted by: Ryan C | Jul 21, 2009 5:23:54 PM===
Not it wasn’t. Terrorism was 2004 and culture of corruption was 2006.
Posted by: Axey | July 21, 2009, 5:42 pm 5:42 pm
VIERA: But — not to beat a dead horse here, but again, the Congressional Budget Office is looking at those bills that are out there, and they’re saying they do not contain costs. Any one of those bills, would you sign them, based on what you see?
OBAMA: Right now, they’re not where they need to be. But I promise you, I just met with the Congressional Budget Office today, so I know exactly what they’re saying…
The CBO is a numbers crunching entity. Obama should not be trying to influence them either way. They research what is being said or proposed. Why would Obama meet with them?
I smell fear but it’s coming from the White House.
Posted by: Hmmm... | July 21, 2009, 5:50 pm 5:50 pm
“Not it wasn’t. Terrorism was 2004 and culture of corruption was 2006.”
The War, Healthcare and Social Security were the major issues in the 2004 campaign.
Bush had just signed the ‘script bill.
And healthcare was a major policy contention in 2006.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 6:07 pm 6:07 pm
Hmmm … aparently I said something wrong when I simply asked, “Where is the crisis?”. I didn’t realize that was inflamatory. Ryan mentioned that health care was a campaign issue in ’04 and ’06 as well. Of course it was. But when did it become a crisis? Why the sudden need for the tectonic shift in the delivery of our health care?
Posted by: Woody | July 21, 2009, 6:36 pm 6:36 pm
“I didn’t realize that was inflamatory.”
Not at all Woody.
“Ryan mentioned that health care was a campaign issue in ’04 and ’06 as well. Of course it was. But when did it become a crisis? Why the sudden need for the tectonic shift in the delivery of our health care?”
The healthcare crisis (as recognized as a crisis) seems to have started in the early 90′s and has had attempts at tackling it by both Clinton and Bush.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 6:47 pm 6:47 pm
I agree with everyone else in saying that healthcare was NOT a major issue that most people were voting on in 2004 or 2006. It is also interesting how this has become an emergency and this ridiculous idea that healthcare costs are what is bankrupting the US. Interest on the debt will bankrupt us, unfunded entitlements will bankrupt us. Politicians have been cowards for too long in not addressing the unfunded liability in Social Security and then they went and created another massive one with the prescription drug benefit. Our parents, and some of us are enslaving our kids and grandkids just so we have the security of retirement. What a bunch of selfish jerks we are. Everyone needs to wake up and just say no to Washington, for our kids’ sake.
Posted by: Jason | July 21, 2009, 7:50 pm 7:50 pm
“I agree with everyone else in saying that healthcare was NOT a major issue that most people were voting on in 2004 or 2006.”
While 2004 exit polls had only 8% of people pick it as their most important issue but some 70% were very concerned about the cost and availability of healthcare.
In 2008 exit polls 9% had it as their top issue (which basically put it in a 4 way tie with everything but the economy which dominated) with 66% rated healthcare as a major concern.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 8:02 pm 8:02 pm
ryan, those numbers prove my point. Everything is a major concern because they are told it is by the media. When it comes down to it, unless you are directly faced with massive hospital bills, health care is not a concern to you. For a very small percentage of the population, health care is everything, for the rest of us, it is only an issue when something catastrophic happens. This is why I argue the best option for most people is for a catastrophic coverage option at a low cost and then the ability to pay for doctor’s visits and medications out of a health savings account. HSA’s are an ingenious way to encourage responsible spending and then if they have coverage for major medical issues, most people would feel that is good for their families.
Posted by: Jason | July 21, 2009, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
“Everything is a major concern because they are told it is by the media.”
I disagree, the rapidly rising premiums are a concern to many people.
Posted by: Ryan C | July 21, 2009, 8:38 pm 8:38 pm
“the rapidly rising premiums are a concern”
Then you and President Obama should be all for TORT REFORM.
Manufactured crisis, evil insurance companies, no time to think or debate. We’ve seen and heard enough. Just because Obama got elected does not mean the country wants to go Socialist.
Posted by: Blue Dog | July 22, 2009, 12:28 am 12:28 am