Kans Republicans Ever Learn?
Just one day after Soledad O'Brien turned John Sununu into a stuttering bowl of partisan hack goo as he repeated the blatant falsehood that President Obame "Stole" from Medicare, Tim Pawlenty actually has the nerve, gall, audacity and assholishness to question whether she can properly understand English - her native tongue - when discussing exactly how and what the President did to extend the Medicare Trust Fund by another eight years.
From Raw Story.
During an interview on Wednesday, O’Brien told Pawlenty that one of the presumptive Republican presidential candidate’s ads falsely claimed that President Barack Obama had cut $716 billion from Medicare — but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had determined that it was actually reduction in spending, not benefits.
“Isn’t that just patently untrue in that ad?” she asked the former Minnesota governor.
“No, that’s not correct, Soledad,” Pawlenty replied. “It is absolutely beyond factual dispute that [Obama] has cut $716 billion out of the money that was projected to be spent on Medicare over the next 10 years.”
“But, sir, it’s not a cut in Medicare, right?” O’Brien observed. “Let me just read from the CBO. It’s a ‘permanent reduction in the annual updates to Medicaid’s payment rates.’ It’s a cut in the spending — future spending. And it’s cut that actually goes to insurers, right? I mean, it’s not cuts to individuals.”
“No matter how you say this, it’s a cut to Medicare,” Pawlenty insisted. “You can’t even with a straight face, look your viewers in the eye and tell [them] that it’s not a cut to Medicare.”
“Well, I can’t look viewers in the eye from where I am,” O’Brien pointed out. “I’m saying the way the CBO puts it. … That is a savings.”
“Do you know what that is in [Plain] English?” Pawlenty quipped.
Uh, a "Savings" would be kinda like not spending as much money while getting the same thing in return, or even something better. According to the CBO
that's exactly what Obama Did.
I have a better question for Gov. Pawlenty - Are you simply Thick, Deluded or nothing more than a Partisan Shill?
Just wondering.
Vyan
11:52 AM PT: Just to be clear, the comment went be pretty quickly and Soledad took it in good cheer without any racial overtones. Pawlenty wasn't saying anything about her heritage, he was criticizing the CBO for speaking in "Gobbledygook!". Raw Story technically misquoted him (I just finished listening to the exchange on a different browser - this one (Firefox on OSX) wouldn't play the video, and the other (Safiri) doesn't work with Kos - and what he actually said was "Do you know what that is in Plain English?"