Meet the Press -- July 7, 2013
Selected segment of panel discussion on the recent change to the Affordable Care Act:
link to the entire segment.
Isn't it something how the MTP Host uses his own ignorance, as an excuse to join in on the Republican "sabotaging." All under his paper-thin guise of being some kind of 'a Journalist.'
Or rather, a Smoke-in-mirrors Huckster, would be a much more accurate description on how Gregory practices the tricks of his trade.
The usually blunt transcript, is found over the jump.
Meet the Press -- July 7, 2013
Selected segment of discussion on Affordable Care Act -- with the transcript cleaned up and annotated for easier readability:
David Gregory >> The political system, E.J., is House Republicans thinking back to the glory days of 2010 when Republicans took the House based on health care, and Eric Cantor tweeting this week,
Why does president Obama think businesses deserve a delay from the mandates in ObamaCare, but you don't? it's time for a #PermanentDelay.
EJ Dionne >> One of the things I tell that businessman is a lot of people in business that made a lot of money by taking chances. It's not as if trying to do something new is easy and trying to do something new is often the right thing to do. And I think in the case of that Health Care Law, David's right, there is a clash with the political system because in the past, in many cases, we've always passed complicated laws that Congress went back and they could fix it. And the Republicans in this case say we're never going to fix this. We're going to let it run forward. We fixed Social Security over and over again after it passed to make it better.
This has been a bad week for Obama because the last thing they wanted to do is say these Mandates -- this Mandate won't work as well this way and we don't want to relook at it -- they don't like that. But the big tests are due do these exchanges, these marketplaces where people can find insurance work? Do they sign up young people? And will there be States out there that actually make this thing work so that the Obama people and supporters of reform can say, look, this can work if States put their shoulder to the wheel with the Feds?
David Gregory >> Eugene Robinson, I don't understand exactly how the Exchanges are going to work, but I don't understand all the ins and outs of the Employer Mandate and how that works. But anybody who gets a paycheck in this country understands one thing, that there's a new line item and it says 'Medicare Surtax.' So the tax part's working. You're paying more taxes for ObamaCare. That part's working. It makes a lot of people mad.
Eugene Robinson >> Yeah, look, but let's back up for a second. This fight really is wholly political. ObamaCare is not going to be repealed. They're not going to have majorities in either house to repeal it, and in fact president Obama would never sign that. So it's going to be messy. It's going to be politically contentious. But in the end it's going to work out the way it works out. And, you know, if it's a big bust, then there's political problems down the road. But it's going to happen.
Andrea Mitchell >> But for it to work, the Exchanges have to take place, and state after state now, run by Republican governors and Republican legislatures are trying to roll back or have rolled back, or saying that won't participate. And you have to have a certain coherent whole for this to work economically. You can't nibble away at it. In fact, these are big bites out of it. I think also in the reporting, losing that Mandate is such a concession, it may not be the biggest piece of it, but it's a concession to the critics, that something needs to be delayed, that something's not working. I think that's a politically damaging moment.
Chuck Todd >> Well, they'll admit that the Business Mandate was poorly written, that they normally would have sought a Legislative Fix, what EJ was talking about. But they can't get a Legislative Fix out of the House. But the bigger issue here I think for the Administration is, that they don't seem -- they've got to build all this, they know that -- they thought that Republicans after the election would basically concede this is going to be 'the Law of the Land' and they would be in the mode of, okay, we'll try and fix it, try to get as much as we can to change it, in ways that we think business wants to change, or change in ways we think will make it a little less bureaucratic and things like that. But they're not getting them.
You could argue that there are some Republicans that are trying to sabotage the Law, that they're hoping to not get it off the ground, and then they can suddenly make the case, 'See, we have to get rid of it.' And they've got some state governors that are openly trying to sabotage it. Look what McConnell and Cornyn did to the sports league. That was a shakedown. That was a threatening letter by the two leaders of the Senate Republican Committee who essentially said 'If you help them try to enact this Law of the Land, be careful, there's going to be political repercussions.'
[...]
Isn't it something how Republicans can totally ignore the
established Law of the Law, and
even actively fight against its successful roll-out (no matter what the
Supreme Court ruled about it);
and our Media Ringmasters just go right along with the GOP Circus, never calling them out on their rebellious hypocrisy, never pointing out the great harm they will ultimately do, to those seeking adequate, affordable health care, in the United States of America.
Isn't it something? ... something profoundly broken, in these United States, when even the Supreme Court is cast aside, like only so much bleeding-heart road-kill ... by those would demand their own way, always, no matter what ... They Win. ... It's their Law.