Nearly every American who pays the least bit of attention is aware of the bribes that were offered and taken in order to get votes for health care. People are also aware that the labor unions met at the White House to carve out a deal for union members that the rest of us will not get but will pay for. Most people are also aware that Barack Obama and people from his administration were directly involved in these bribes.
Everyone, that is, except Barack Obama.
In an interview with Diane Sawyer, Obama denied that he was involved in these negotiations (bribes):
“Let’s just clarify. I didn’t make a bunch of deals [on health care]. … There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked Washington Examiner
Obama could be parsing words here because he said he was not involved in a “bunch” of deals. I guess that would mean he was involved in some. I think the implication is that he had nothing to do with the deals.
Where is reality? The Washington Post reports:
Schumer, who spent more than 13 hours in Reid’s office Friday, said the Medicaid issue was settled around lunchtime, and the final eight hours of the talks focused on the abortion language. Boxer estimated she spent seven hours in Reid’s offices — without ever once sitting in the same room, even though they were all of 25 steps apart.
Reid and Schumer kept up the “shuttle negotiation” between the leader’s conference room and his top aide’s office, Boxer said. Keenly aware how tense the talks were, the White House dispatched two aides who together have decades of experience in the Senate — Jim Messina and Peter Rouse — to work with Nelson. They relayed their intelligence to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who monitored the talks from a dinner in Georgetown.
Hmm, I wonder how Obama was not involved in this?
The Examiner also includes this from Michelle Malkin:
The unmitigated chutzpah here is so blinding that I don’t just need sunglasses to protect my eyes. I need blackout curtains. Watch President Obama blame Congress for Demcare bribery and sabotage of transparency. As if Rahm and all the senior goons in the White House weren’t twisting arms and cracking heads to ensure that the deal met their boss’s timeline. As if the Cadillac tax break for unions hadn’t been hashed out at 1600 Pennsylvania.
It would seem to me that Obama was involved in ALL of this and I say that makes it a bunch. He can parse it how he likes but he lied to us.
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