Bob Kerrey: Obama Knew He Was Lying About Health Insurance
Monday, 31 Mar 2014 12:04
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey said President Barack Obama must have known he was lying when he told Americans that they could keep their insurance plans under his signature healthcare reform act.
"He had to know he was misleading the audience," the Nebraska Democrat said about Obama’s pledge as he was touted his Affordable Care Act.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said, "'On the other hand, he may have said it so many times that the spell-checker wasn't in the room – the spell-checker, the fact-checker – somebody who says, 'Excuse me, Mr. President, but I hope you know this.'"
Kerrey, who was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, said Obama’s "promise" was never going to be carried out because "there were a million people out there with policies that, for one reason or another, run short of the minimum standard. I mean, they bought something cheaper."
The former Nebraska governor told the newspaper that Obama has actually made an even worse lie about healthcare coverage than the one he’s known for, that is, "Everybody deserves high-quality, affordable healthcare."
Sarcastically, Kerrey added, "I don't know if you've heard about the bell curve? If I've got 1,000 doctors, 100 are great, and 100 are not so good. It's absolutely impossible. And affordable? Forget about it."
Kerrey, who was a senator from 1989 to 2001, also slammed the president for bringing out Obamacare at a time when the economy was floundering.
"I wouldn't have done health care," Kerrey said. "I think the big mistake was to say, 'Whew! We've got the stimulus done, OK, the economy's going to come bouncing back in 12 months, let's do health care.' Only the economy didn't come bouncing back.
"We’re teetering on the edge of going out of business through most of 2009. And I think you need to just keep driving, driving on the economy, and make it as bipartisan as possible."
Kerrey, who was beaten by Republican Deb Fischer in 2012 when he tried to win back his old Senate seat, also took a shot at Democrats for keeping handing out entitlements, which could eventually bankrupt the country, the Daily Mail reported.
"We're robbing from the future to pay for the past,' he said. "We just are. And we're shoveling more and more money to people over the age of 65."
Kerrey claimed that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are willing to take the first step toward cutting benefits for retirees or raising the retirement age. "'It's the one thing R's and D's can agree on," he said. "Don't screw with seniors."
Kerrey also said that he believes that Obama was re-elected in 2012 because former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney did not set the bar too high.
"After the 2012 election, what the president needed was somebody to say, 'Mr. President, I'm thrilled you won. You stand for all the things I support. But honestly, you won this election because you sucked less than Romney."' |
