If you haven’t already heard the news about Obama’s townhall yesterday and his assertion that he doesn’t want anyone thinking he has a bunch of plants in the audience:
But then cute little Julia stands up…..awwww, how cute. Ain’t she darling?
She asked a question about those big meanies who say mean things about ObamaCare and how do kids know what to believe which of course allowed Obama to seguewa to the fearmongering.
But:
Julia’s mother was an early Obama supporter in Massachusetts during the presidential election, so she had previously met First Lady Michelle Obama, the Obama daughters Sasha and Malia, and Vice President Joe Biden.
“This was my first time meeting Barack Obama, and he’s a very nice man,” Julia said. “I’m glad I voted for him.”
She said Obama won a mock presidential election at the Cheverus School in 2008. And on Tuesday, he approached her after the town meeting.
“He said ‘great question,’” Julia said. “I shook his hand and got his picture.”
And the mom’s facebook was found:
Kathleen Manning Hall, the kids mom, has donated thousands of dollars to Obama ALONG with her law firm. Check out her facebook friends: (h/t AR15.com)
- Martha Coakley, (Democrat) Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Adam Parkhomenko, former aide to Hillary Clinton, Democrat running for VA House of Delegates (who has the support of the Brady Campaign, President Clinton and Wes Clark)
- Addisu Demissie, National Political Director of Organizing for America and former Ohio Get out The Vote director of Obama for America
- Adrienne Elrod, Chief of Staff to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
- Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress (and HuffPost blogger)
- Alayna Van Tassel, Budget and Policy Director for MA Senator Pat Jehlen
Check out this ad for a speech:
Aug 12 (Tues)
Boston Roof Deck Reception with David Cutler and Carol Fulp
Dorothy Keville and Kathleen Manning Hall invite you to join them on Dorothy’s roof deck overlooking Boston Harbor, to meet and hear from:David Cutler, Harvard professor and key advisor to the Obama campaign on health care policy matters; and Carol Fulp, Chair, MA Women for Obama.
Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Suggested Contribution: $100/$150
For more information or to RSVP contact nefinance @ barackobama.com
Hmmmmm, no plant there eh?
The fact of the matter is the daughter of a Democrat insider who has met and been pictured with Obama asked a question from a pre-written note.
Pure baloney.
Then there is the first person to ask a question, Mr. Peter Schmidt, or better known as:
Representative Peter B. Schmidt (NH), Democrat.
So first question is from a State Democrat Representative. Second from the child of a Democrat insider. A few more pro ObamaCare questions and bam….he has a easy cakewalk of a townhall meeting.
Or as Michelle Malkin calls it, Kabuki theater:
Here’s your illustrated guide to Obamacare human props.
In July, Obama hosted a White House citizen town hall that featured three face-to-face questions. The lucky three?
*Debby Smith. You remember her. She choked back tears as she talked of her battle with kidney cancer, her joblessness, and her lack of insurance. Obama hugged the trembling woman and dubbed her “Exhibit A” for his massive entitlement program.
Debby Smith, however, is no ordinary patient. While she may be “unemployed,” she has been rather busy working for the Obama campaign – as a volunteer for the DNC’s Organizing for America. Smith also identified herself as a worker for the Virginia Organizing Project, which has been coordinating lobbying trips and health care forums with HCAN. Yes, that same HCAN. In December, Smith moderated a “a community discussion on health care issues” in Appalachia, Virginia and told her local paper that the meeting “would be reported back to former Sen. Tom Daschle, who has been directed by President Elect Barack Obama to form a committee to report on health care issues.”
*Jason Rosenbaum. Rosenbaum works for the Washington, D.C.-based Health Care for America Now (HCAN). That’s the K Street Astroturf outfit with a $40 million budget to lobby for government-run health care linked to left-wing billionaire George Soros. And yes, the same HCAN directing its mob to “drown out” opponents at town hall meetings.
*SEIU member. Yes, wonder of wonders, this randomly chosen questioner just happened to be a member of the Purple Shirt Army that poured $80 million in independent expenditures into Democrat coffers, made 4.4 million phone calls for Obama, sent out more than 2.5 million Obama mailings during the 2008 campaign, and dispatched thugs to drown out town hall protesters.
Here’s how the tough exchange went down:
Q Hi, Mr. President. I’m a member of SEIU and I’m down here in Fairfax County working on Change That Works. What can I do, as a member of the union, to help you with your reform bill?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I appreciate the question..
Of course he did.
She has much more at her post.
Oh, and that standing ovation at the end of the townhall meeting?
Priceless!
He must of been sweating hard from all those “non-plants.”
Sigh…..
Meanwhile the USA Today had a few problems with some of the answers Obama gave. Ed Morrissey picks it apart:
They leave out the biggest whopper, which is Obama’s claim that he has never favored single-payer health-care systems, but they do catch a couple of other big fibs, including Obama’s snow job on AARP endorsement. One of the best catches from USA Today concerns Medicare Advantage, about which Obama has lied for over two years:
“Insurance companies basically get $177 billion of taxpayer money to provide services that Medicare already provides.”
About 10.2 million Medicare recipients are in Medicare Advantage. Under that program, the government pays insurers a set amount per Medicare beneficiary. Obama ridiculed it as costly and redundant, but the plan provides additional benefits, such as vision, dental and hearing, to seniors and helps coordinate health care for those with chronic conditions, says Robert Zirkelbach at the trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans.
In fact, Medicare Advantage is a Godsend for those trapped within the Medicare system. Recipients pay substantial monthly premiums, but the plan allows for better provider payments, which keep providers from locking patients out of their clinics. The extended insurance provides coverage for services which Medicare ignores, and some create a co-payment system rather than the 60/40 system Medicare gives seniors and the disabled in practice.
How do I know this? The First Mate has Medicare Advantage, and we saw what Medicare did before we got the supplemental coverage. It’s a disaster for anyone needing anything more than just maintenance care.
Next:
“Under the reform we’re proposing, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”
Not necessarily. In an analysis of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that 10 million workers could lose employer-provided benefits and would have to find other insurance.
Some analyses put that number much higher — as high as 83 million. Obama insists on making this argument despite all evidence to the contrary, especially since businesses control insurance options for most people in the US. If Obama makes it attractive for businesses to dump their employees into a public plan, then most people won’t be able to keep their existing plans. And thanks to ObamaCare, they won’t have many options to find private insurance, either.
“The rumor that’s been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for ‘death panels’ that will basically pull the plug on Grandma. … (T)he intention. .. was to give people more information so that they could handle issues of end-of-life care when they’re ready, on their own terms. … (O)ne of the chief sponsors of this bill originally was a Republican … (Sen.) Johnny Isakson from Georgia.”
Isakson issued a press release saying Obama misused his name. A provision he attached to a Senate health care bill would allow seniors to obtain help in formulating a living will something Isakson said is different from House language. The House bill would require Medicare to pay for end-of-life counseling sessions, but it would not mandate that anyone use the benefit.
The media had a field day with this yesterday, using Isakson as a bat with which beat conservative critics, but it never occurred to the layers of fact-checkers and editors that a Senator would have had nothing to do with a clause in a House bill. In fact, Isakson does support making end-of-life planning available, but doesn’t support the mandate for it that exists in Section 1233 of the House bill.
Lies? Let me count the ways. Seems to me there were many more lies:
No plants in my “town hall” meeting…..check
AARP endorsement….check
I’ve never said I’m for single payer…..check
You can keep your doctor…..check
The evil insurance companies get taxpayer money for services already rendered by Medicare….check
This will cut costs and save the economy…..check
And he wonders why people are upset.
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