Crazy: How Right-Wing Pundits And Politicians Distorted Bill Clinton On Obamacare

[DonViejo]

Joe Conason

October 5, 2016 11:25 pm

Bill Clinton should probably know by now that if reporters — not to mention his political adversaries — can snatch a quote out of context to embarrass him and his wife, most will not hesitate for an instant. That is what happened on Monday, when he spoke about health insurance costs and how to improve the Affordable Care Act during campaign stops in Michigan.

When the former president noted that middle-income families are seeing premiums double while coverage is reduced, he complained about our “crazy system” — adding that such unfair economic pressure on Americans who work hard “is the craziest thing in the world.” Not Obamacare itself, although that was how many in the media — and Donald Trump, of course — tried to distort his comments.

What did Clinton really say? And what did his words mean? He was addressing actual problems with the system under the Affordable Care Act and proposing solutions, not suggesting that the original bill’s reforms should be discarded. It is worth reading his remarks in full, since so many right-wing pundits and politicians have truncated what he said to fit their own partisan purposes and prejudices:

Now the next thing is, we got to figure out now what to do on healthcare. Her opponent said, ‘Oh, just repeal it all. The market will take care of it.’ That didn’t work out very well for us, did it? We wound up with the most expensive system in the world and we insured the smallest percentage of people. On the other hand, the current system works fine if you’re eligible for Medicaid, if you’re a lower income working person, if you’re already on Medicare, or if you get enough subsidies on a modest income that you can afford your healthcare.

-snip-

http://www.nationalmemo.com/crazy-how-right-wing-pundits-and-politicians-distorted-bill-clinton-on-obamacare/

[underpants]

1. Bill's actual words. Thanks.

[Gabi Hayes]

2. right wing pundits? you mean the Fools for Scandal punditocracy that's been holding sway over low

information consumers for almost 25 years

proud of your legacy, Jeff Gerth?

http://hillarybook.nationalmemo.com/

Drawn from the pages of the national bestseller, The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton, this new FREE e-book reveals her story and ultimate vindication.

and I ain't no Hillary fan, either, nor was I one of her husband

but everyone here is aware of the stakes

send this link to anyone you think might be persuadable at this point.....they go into the genesis of the untrustworthy meme, which really didn't exist until this election cycle. but everybody here probably knows this

[ProfessorPlum]

3. Still kind of a dumb rhetorical position for Clinton to take

My FB feed is filled with people complaining that their premiums have gone through the roof since obamacare (and therefore it must be the fault of the program). And here is Bill, fueling that view.

He is giving the GOP rhetorical ammo for the position that repealing Obamacare will help middle class people. Does he really think that is true? Total fail on framing.

[Blue Idaho]

6. Only when quoted out of context...

The real problem is the massive attack on Obamacare by republicans at every level - including those inside Big Insurance. Frankly it's a miracle it's working as well as it is. In the good old days when a bill became a law, those serving in government would try to improve it instead of destroy it. Today we have a whole political party doing everything in its power to deny millions of Americans access to healthcare.

For the life of me I don't know why this isn't a bigger deal in House and Senate elections...

[NCTraveler]

4. Ratfuckers should be added to the subject line. nt.

[Hortensis]

5. Sensible people think and, thus, guess the truth about this

whether they hear the rest or not. Bill Clinton dissing the ACA? Yeah, right.

Those who chortle over silly lies like this are lost to good sense and truth, and to us.