Obama’s AMA Comment Deleted by ‘Times’, Press Sec. Gibbs Can’t Name One Country Where Single-Payer Health Care System Works (video) — Obama to AMA: “There Are Countries Where a Single-payer System Works Pretty Well”
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 18, 2009
This week is proving to be stranger than most.
During a White House press conference, a reporter asked WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to name the countries where the single-payer health care system (translation: government-run health care, nationalized health care, socialized health care; “single-payer” seems to be the newest PR-motivated euphemism for “ObamaCare”) works.
Some background: This was a follow-up question to Pres. Barack Obama’s previous statement made to the American Medical Association (AMA) at their annual conference held on June 15. Obama had said in his address to AMA attendees that there are countries where a single-payer health care system “works pretty well.”
So now, at the White House press conference, Gibbs was asked to name some of those countries. Fair, straightforward question. But Gibbs screwed it up, awkwardly fumbling and noticeably uncomfortable.
Hemming and hawing, he couldn’t name a single country for the reporter. He weakly offered up the UK and Canada and “maybe France” like a cornered parrot, but only after the reporter had tossed those countries out as suggestions. Gibbs suggested that the reporters do research on their own, rather than, as White House press secretary, validating or finding out what the president had claimed during his June 15 AMA address and getting back to them with the information. Gibbs never supplied the reporters valid information, but merely echoed three random suggestions from the reporter. It’s embarrassing, like a kid who’s trying to cheat and get the answers to a test he didn’t study for from the kid seated next to him. This is our White House Press Secretary in action… pitiful stooge.
Now, for something even more curious. Major newspapers—specifically, the Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times,—REMOVED Obama’s “pretty well” statement. Say what? Yes, all three removed it. Brrr. That has a chilly, creepy “Big Brother is watching” aura about it…
But first, here’s the cringe-worthy video footage of our hapless press secretary Robet Gibbs, clumsily dancing around the reporter’s question:
Press Sec. Gibbs Can’t Name Any Countries Where Single-Payer System Works, Reporter Helps Him Out with Possibilities
Hmm… my own casual research on the Internet shows that single-payer/socialized health care works NOWHERE. Everywhere I’ve looked, single-payer systems fail to deliver what they promise, and those who are promised to have it help the most, instead are helped the least.
Looks like I need, as do all other concerned Americans, access to Pres. Obama’s research. I’d like to see some reliable citations that confirm that what our president told the AMA is true. From what I can locate, what he said has no veracity. That deeply bothers me.
The relevant paragraph of the Post story reads as follows:
Newspapers Spike Obama’s Single Payer Comment At AMA
According to CNSNews.com’s report, in stories about the speech in the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times, words from both before and after the president’s statement about a single-payer system working pretty well appeared, while the statement itself did not. (These stories were also searchable and available on the Nexis “Major Newspapers” database.)
The story in each of these papers quoted the passage in the speech that included Obama’s claim that single-payer systems have worked well in some countries, but then, they excised the sentence where he said it, using ellipses to mark its removal or a new paragraph break. So they used the text preceding and following, with ellipses showed where it had been, but all had taken the very same sentence out. What are the chances of that happening as a coincidence? Yeah, right…
“In his speech, Obama said, ‘Let me also address an illegitimate concern that’s being put forward by those who are claiming that a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. … When you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They’re not telling the truth.”
For more on the suspicious “sanitizing” of the president’s claim in major US newspapers: CSN News: Major Papers Expunge Obama’s Comment: ‘I’ll Be Honest, There Are Countries Where a Single-Payer System Works Pretty Well’; here’s an excerpt:
“Let me also say that—let me also address a illegitimate concern that’s being put forward by those who are claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan Horse for a single-payer system. I’ll be honest; there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well. But I believe—and I’ve taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief—that it’s important for our efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They’re not telling the truth.”
The president’s statement that “I’ll be honest; there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well” did appear in transcripts of the speech available on Nexis database, but not in articles in major newspapers. For example, it was transcribed in a CNN newscast that carried the president’s speech live, and also on MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” which used that portion of the president’s speech as a soundbite.
Official White House Transcript:
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, JUNE 15, 2009
WH Press Secretary Gibbs: Don’t you think this would be valuable info to have for the American public, particularly since Congress and Pres. Obama are trying to cram his socialized health care reform bill down our throats, ObamaCare, that would use this very method? Talk about dropping the information ball.
From what sources did the president draw his information? If there are as many countries as the president says there are, why is the information to corroborate unavailable?
Federal Deficit, Under Obama’s Current “Plan,” Does Not Include Single-Payer/Socialized Health Care | Running time: 35 sec.
Related reading on socialized / universal / government-run / nationalized / single-payer (take your pick, they’re all the same) health care:
Hot Air: Dems retreating on healthcare and Video: ObamaCare an “Old Joke”; Update: Cost now $1.6 trillion and White House throws Kennedy under the bus? and Obama: Let’s work together to destroy American health care by year’s end and Video: Are the elderly cost effective?
John Saarikko, Universal Health Care Info: The Truth Nobody Wants You To Know
CNS News: White House Stands by Obama’s Claim That Single-Payer Health Care Works In Other Countries–It’s Just Not Sure Which Countries Obama Meant
Gary Graham, Big Hollywood: Obama Wants to Buck Us Up
John Goodman, Cato’s Letter (pdf): Five Myths of Socialized Medicine
The B.S. Report: Easy As ABC…President Obama’s Official “State-Run” Media
JustOneMinute: KennedyCare
Michael Tanner, National Review Online: The Obamacare to Come, Dems’ health-care plans do not provide the reform most Americans seek
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: Why Obama Hates Obamacare
American Thinker: Back to ACORN General Hospital
Hot Air: http://hotair.com/archives/2009/06/15/video-flashback-to-dems-screeching-about-medicare-cuts/ and Lieberman opposes public plan in ObamaCare and Government insurance will kill private insurance and Quotes of the day and Obama: Let’s work together to destroy American health care by year’s end and Video: Are the elderly cost effective?
Roll Call News: Baucus Aides Warn K Street
Infidels Paradise: Obama/Dems Cutting Tens Of Billions In Medicare After Saying It Was A Sin To Do So
The American Spectator: Obama Touts Safeway Health Program, But Dem Bill Would Kill It
Right Wing News: ObamaCare: Who Cares About The Poor And Elderly
Adam Baldwin, Big Hollywood: ‘Global Citizenship’: An Unsustainable Social Injustice
Business and Media Institute: CNN Glosses Over Failure of Universal Health Care
Glenallen Walken, Salon: Ask a Wingnut: The Wingnut explains why socialized healthcare sucks
Michelle Malkin: Obamacare ground troops at the airport and The Obamacare horror story you won’t hear and Caught on tape: SEIU thuggery and Bad medicine: Obamacare poster art, Round 3 and Undercover at an Obama health care meet-up and Obamacare poster contest: Coming to a hospital near you!; Updated with new entries and Counterprotesting Obamacare and the ACORN/SEIU mob and Mobilizing against Obamacare and www.facesofgovernmenthealthcare.com and “Administration Is Open to Taxing Health Benefits” and Did Canadacare kill Natasha Richardson?
Pursuing Holiness: Railroaded Into Nationalized Health Care
Adam Baldwin, Big Hollywood: A “Cultural Fix”?: Global Citizen Educators Rethinking Sustainability into Population Control vs. Academic Freedom
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Nightmare: Heritage Foundation Exposes Universal Health Care Myths & Destruction of Free Market and The Sham of Socialism: Save America While There’s Still Time… ‘1984′ Prophesy and Video: Steven Crowder: ‘Socialized Health Care Sucks’ and Heritage Foundation: Myth Exposed – American Health Care System Not Perfect, but Superior to Socialized Health Care and Cautionary Tale: ‘Prime Minister, You Have Run Out of Our Money’
World Net Daily: Government health care ‘an abyss’ financially – ‘I think there’s going to be no end for the claims’
Tim Slagle, Big Hollywood: Democrats — Why so Unhappy?
Matthew Moore, Telegraph.co.uk: Sufferers pull out teeth due to lack of dentists
Jewish World Review: Far East illustrates the limitations and dangers of universal health care
Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal
Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion for that matter)
Pirate’s Cove: Obama Does Still Want A Government Run Insurance Company
NEOVATARA: A Conservative Health Care Solution
BBC News: Mother killed after care failures
Positive Liberty: “If you think health care is expensive now…”
GOPMom: Bring on National Health
The American Spectator: Quebec Has Helicopters for Pepe Le Pew But Not Emergency Patients and Obama’s False Choice
Pirates! Man Your Women: Wherever the Winds Blow…
Homeland Stupidity: “Universal Health Care” Has Failed Again
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[...] Here is a quote from the President’s speech on June 15th to the American Medical Association: “Let me also say that—let me also address a illegitimate concern that’s being put forward by those who are claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan Horse for a single-payer system. I’ll be honest; there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well. But I believe—and I’ve taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief—that it’s important for our efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They’re not telling the truth.” [...]
[...] Here is a quote from the President’s speech on June 15th to the American Medical Association: “Let me also say that—let me also address a illegitimate concern that’s being put forward by those who are claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan Horse for a single-payer system. I’ll be honest; there are countries where a single-payer system works pretty well. But I believe—and I’ve taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief—that it’s important for our efforts to build on our traditions here in the United States. So when you hear the naysayers claim that I’m trying to bring about government-run health care, know this: They’re not telling the truth.” [...]