While the liberal media may finally be admitting the obvious -- that the ObamaCare rollout has been an “embarrassing,” “botched” [1] failure that has thrown millions off their insurance -- that’s not what they were predicting about the Affordable Care Act when it was first introduced. Not long ago, they assured their viewers that they could keep their health plans if they liked them; predicted Americans would embrace ObamaCare once they experienced it; and even claimed it would “reduce the deficit.” They also warned any obstruction of ObamaCare by conservatives would result in the death of children and the end of America as a “world power.”
The following is a Top 10 List of the Worst Liberal Media Quotes Pushing ObamaCare:
10. Don’t Believe the ‘Noise’ About Not Being Able to Keep Your Healthcare Plan
Barack Obama: “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan.”
Correspondent David Wright: “And that’s true for 95 percent of people. According to the Congressional Budget Office, an estimated nine million people who currently have insurance through their jobs would end up changing their insurance plans, but not necessarily changing their doctors....The facts are, the bill includes tax breaks and mandates designed to prevent a mass exodus from the current employer-based system. But finding the facts in the midst of the noise can be difficult.”
— ABC’s David Wright on the August 11, 2009 World News “fact-checking” opponents’ claims that people will be thrown off their insurance.
9. You Seniors Are Going to Like ObamaCare
“Millions of seniors are about to get their first taste of health care reform, and a lot of them will probably like it. For the first time, the 45 million seniors on Medicare can get free annual physicals, no more co-payments. They’ll get free screenings for diabetes and cancer....Advocates say most of these first provisions taking effect are quite popular and will be hard for anyone to take away.”
— Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson on the December 31, 2010 CBS Evening News.
8. If Only Stupid Public Realized How Great ObamaCare Is
“The history of big social legislation like this is that there is this period before it kicks in, before people get used to the benefits, where there’s a lot of anxiety....There’s a lot of anxiety in the public, but there’s not a sense of all the good things that could come.”
— New York Times correspondent Matt Bai on ABC’s This Week, April 1, 2012.
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7. Yes We Did...Ruin America’s Health Care System
“Yes, we did.....Without this concrete achievement, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept warning her troops, Democrats would have been stuck with their votes for reform bills and nothing to show for them. The real and imagined flaws of their proposed system would have been hung around their necks, yet they would have had no way of demonstrating its advantages. With success comes the chance to defend what is, in many of its particulars, the sort of plan a majority of Americans said they wanted. Yes, it is imperfect and it won’t come cheap. But it fills a gaping hole in the American social insurance system. It affords protections that Americans had long hoped for against insurance-company practices that could deny them coverage. It also grants the security of knowing that sickness would not carry the threat of bankruptcy....By temperament, the president is more a consensus builder than a warrior. But he is also a practical man who wants to accomplish big things. On Sunday, he did just that on health care, and he earned a place in history.”
— Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne in a March 22, 2010 column.
6. Just Wait Until Public Sees How Much ObamaCare is Going to Benefit Them
“On health care — that’s partly a failure of communication, it seem to me. How do you go a year and a half where so many Americans don’t even understand the benefits of this legislation when they apply to them?”
— New York Times columnist Tom Friedman on NBC’s Meet the Press, April 1, 2012.
5. NBC Doc: If We Don’t Get ObamaCare Passed We’re Not Going to be ‘A Great World Power’
“As a physician, you know, I felt like I understood the complexity of the problem. As an American citizen, I was rooting for the President to hit a home run....We’re going to pay big time if we don’t get this [Obama’s health care plan]. I don’t think we’re going to be a great world power.”
— NBC medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman on a special edition of MSNBC’s Hardball following President Obama’s July 22, 2009 press conference.
4. ObamaCare Will Reduce the Deficit!
“The Senate Finance Committee said today it will vote on its reform plan next week, and according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the plan costs less than expected and would actually reduce the deficit. So why do Republicans still oppose it?”
— Fill-in anchor Maggie Rodriguez on the CBS Evening News, October 8, 2009.
3. Once Morons ‘Understand’ ObamaCare, They’ll Be Thrilled
“A lot of people are going to like [the health care bill] a whole lot once they see what’s in it. For the first time, it’s got some long-term care in it, which everybody is desperate for as the population gets older. It’s paid for, totally paid-for long-term care insurance. So, I think that there’s a lot in the bill that people are going to like. It’s just a question of understanding it.”
— ABC’s Cokie Roberts on This Week, December 20, 2009.
2. Failure to Uphold ObamaCare = Death Sentence for Toddler
CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen: “These nine Supreme Court Justices will forever affect the life of 3-year-old Violet McManus. [to Julie Walters, Violet’s mother] Are you worried about what the Supreme Court might do?”
Julie Walters: “I’m really scared. Very scared. Like, ‘I can’t sleep’ scared.”
Cohen: “Violet’s mother, Julie, knows if the Justices overturn health care reform, Violet will lose her health insurance. [to Walters] Tell me why it’s scary for you.”
Walters: “Our daughter could die and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
— CNN Newsroom, March 27, 2012.
1. Ignore Republican Lies: ObamaCare Is Best Thing in 50 Years
“[Republicans] have spent their summer running around the country at town halls lying about ObamaCare. I’m not going to let them off the hook....Make no mistake. ObamaCare saves lives and it is good for America. You know, so much of what we see in the news is negative. But you know what? It’s not negative. This is the most positive thing that this country has done since the civil rights legislation that was passed back in the ’60s. And, of course, we know they’re trying to go after that, too.”
— Ed Schultz on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, August 26, 2013.
BONUS QUOTE: Healthcare.gov is So ‘Easy’ to Use
“This is the Web site folks, healthcare.gov. If you go to this Web site, you will find out how easy it is to read, how easy it is to navigate all the information, all the basic questions, and all the direction you need to take to get involved, to get health care. This is a great guide, if I may say, for any of you out there who feel so confused by all of these right-wing commercials that are just permeating through your television screen.”
— Ed Schultz on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, September 30, 2013.
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— Geoffrey Dickens is Deputy Research Director at the Media Research Center. Follow Geoffrey Dickens on Twitter. [3]