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 Gibbs Doublethink - White House Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 8/18/09 — Wednesday, August 19, 2009 —  Q What's been the response so far to the suggestion that the health care reform might not include a public option? I mean, is it winning any converts? Is it angering supporters?MR. GIBBS: First part of the question again? Q What's been the response so far, what kind of feedback to the suggestion in recent days that a public option might not be part of the health care reform? MR. GIBBS: Well, as I've said, now, yesterday and earlier today, the President -- his position, the administration's position is unchanged; that we have a goal of fostering choice and competition in a private health insurance market. The President prefers the public option as a way of doing that. If others have ideas, we're open to those ideas and willing to listen to those details. That's what the President has said for months. Coincidentally that's what the Secretary of Health and Human Services has said for months. It's what I've said for months. I think the suggestion somehow that anything that was said Saturday or Sunday as being new administration policy is just not something that I would agree with. Q There seems to have been a lot of people -- a lot of people took it as kind of floating a trial balloon, maybe looking for -- MR. GIBBS: Meaning the media. Q Well, no, your supporters -- some of your supporters in Congress actually do read it as a change. And in fact, Robert, if you look at what the President said to the AMA on June 15th, he said, "The public option is not your enemy. It is your friend." He's not saying that anymore. MR. GIBBS: What do you mean? Q He's no longer proactively -- forgetting about what he's leaving in or out. Let's just say he's proactively saying -- MR. GIBBS: Ed, you -- Q Can I finish my question? MR. GIBBS: No, I'll finish my answer first. Q Okay, go ahead. MR. GIBBS: The President was clear in two questions that he received at the town hall meeting on Saturday about the public option. The second question, which was a man in a red shirt over on the right-hand side, asked about the public option, and then the second-to-last question, the guy -- about the debate -- in the second or third row right off the podium, had the same question. Let me read this to you, Ed. This is -- you'll notice -- let me just read -- Secretary Sebelius, July 12th, 2009: "I think you're going to hear from senators in a little while about a variety of strategies to get to a public option. This isn't one size fits all. I think the President has said we could have competition -- the issues of competition and choice and how to bring that into the private marketplace. There are probably a variety of strategies, all of which are on the table." Any guess on what network that was on? Q I'm assuming it was on CNN, but on Sunday she was also on CNN -- MR. GIBBS: A very correct assumption. Q Okay. So on Sunday she was also on CNN and said that the public option is not the essential part of health reform. She didn't say that on July 12th or whenever you picked that out. And in -- on June 15th to the AMA, repeatedly the President proactively said, you know, the public option was the way to go, and said the public -- MR. GIBBS: I just said it was the preferred option. I just said it was the preferred option. But what I think -- Q But then why did he on Saturday say, if there is a public option or there's not, and then the Secretary on Sunday says it's not the essential part -- MR. GIBBS: No, no, the President said that on Saturday. Q Right, I said on Saturday, he said if there is one or not one -- he hasn't said that before. Well, answer that one part before you get -- he had not said if there is one or there is not one. He's not said that -- MR. GIBBS: The President said -- the President has said repeatedly that he's open to different ideas and discussions; that his preferred option was the public plan. He said that on Saturday. He said that on -- he said that on Saturday. I said that on Sunday. Secretary Sebelius on your network said that on Sunday. This notion that somehow something is markedly changed -- let's understand, first of all -- I want to step back just for one second and discuss -- because we threw around the notions of choice and competition. Let's discuss why you need choice and competition. In an insurance market where 30 million or 40 million or 46 million new participants or consumers could come into the marketplace, in a marketplace that's potentially dominated by, in some regions or areas of the country, one insurer dominating the market -- my home state of Alabama, BlueCross/BlueShield has roughly 89 percent of the private health insurance market, okay? We all understand that in a monopoly, where one side dominates the entire market, it's going to be hard to keep down costs, right? If you had one place to eat lunch before you came to the briefing, do you think it would be cheap? Q Probably not. MR. GIBBS: Probably not. If you had two places to eat, my sense is competing dishes might not be as expensive as if there were only one. The notion of adding that consumer choice through greater competition is the goal that the President has always said has to be paramount. When he talks about the essentialness of health care reform, okay, let's understand the principles that he's put up there, right? We have to cut costs for families and small businesses. That's essential. It has to be deficit-neutral. That's essential. What's essential is ensuring that we provide accessibility in health care reform to millions of those who don't currently have it. Q So when you say a public option is now the President's preferred choice, has been and is his preferred choice, is it -- MR. GIBBS: I'm not just saying that now, I'm saying -- Q Okay. MR. GIBBS: -- I said that repeatedly; the President has said that repeatedly. Q Okay, so is the public option an essential part of health reform? MR. GIBBS: I think the President answered that on Saturday. Q So it's yes. So why did -- MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, no, no. Q Why did the Health Secretary say no on Sunday? MR. GIBBS: What did the President say on Saturday? Q So it is essential. MR. GIBBS: No, no, no, no, no. What did the President -- Q It is essential. The Secretary said Sunday it's not. MR. GIBBS: Ed, Ed, what did the President say on Sunday? Or Saturday? Q Saturday he spoke positively about a public option but also said we could have or -- we may have it, we may not have it. MR. GIBBS: I think he used the word "essential." Q I'll have to go back and see if he used the word "essential." MR. GIBBS: You go back and look at the transcript -- Q So let's say, let's say -- I don't have the transcript, but if he did use the word "essential" on Saturday, why did his Health Secretary not use the word "essential" on Sunday? MR. GIBBS: They said the same thing on Saturday as they did on Sunday. Go back and look at the transcript, Ed. I think you'll find -- Q If it's essential, why did she say it's not? You can't answer that. MR. GIBBS: Go find the transcript, and I promise you you'll answer your question and wonder why you were phrasing it the way you did because, no offense, Ed, you seem to have heard what the Secretary said on Sunday but not what the President said on Saturday. Q I heard what he said. MR. GIBBS: Well, go back and take a gander at the transcript. Health Care | Legislation | Obama Administration | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | White House Press Corps Labels: Health Care, Legislation, Obama Administration, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:28:00 AM
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Comrade Pelosi blink
Slick Willy rub nose
Comrade Obama open mouth
Dumb Donkey Gibbs laugh...Hehaw..he..haw..he..haw!
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