Harry Smith Lets DNC Chair Dodge Question 'Do Democrats Have Plan to Save Medicare?'
Harry Smith asked Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) a spectacular question on Sunday's "Face the Nation."
Unfortunately, when he asked his guest if the Democrats have a plan to save Medicare, the substitute host let her completely dodge it (video follows with transcript and commentary):
HARRY SMITH, SUBSTITUTE HOST: But the trustees also said just what, a couple of Fridays ago, that this thing could be insolvent in the next decade. Doesn't something really dramatic have to happen, and as the Congressman suggested, the Republicans have a plan. Do the Democrats have a plan?
Great question right? Here was Wasserman Schultz's totally pathetic answer:
CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FLORIDA): Like I said, the Republicans have a plan to end Medicare as we know it. What they would do is they would take the people who are younger than 55 years old today and tell them, “You know what? You're on your own. Go and find private health insurance in the healthcare insurance market. We're going to throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for pre-existing conditions. We're going to give you x-amount of dollars and you figure it out.”
And these are people who have paid for their whole life into the system, are counting on that safety net. Americans sent a very strong message not just in New York this week but in Jacksonville, Florida, last week when they elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in 20 years. In a state House race in New Hampshire same issue. Americans support Medicare, and the structure that we have for Medicare. They want us to sit down together and work on some long- term reforms which is what the Republicans and Democrats are doing with Vice President Biden right now. That's the direction we need to go.
Given that total evasion, you would have expected a quality journalist to press the point and ask again what the Democrat plan was. Unfortunately, a quality journalist was nowhere to be found:
SMITH: One of your colleagues has suggested that Medicare puts the House back in play in 2012. Would you go as far as to agree with that?
Well, I'm sure she agrees that Medicare puts the House back in play in 2012 as long as folks like Smith aren't going to require the Democrats to offer the public a rival plan to the Republican one.
Nice job, Harry. Your check from the DNC is in the mail.
Don't spend it all in one place.
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Comments
In other words: no
Submitted by CobraMan on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 8:36pm.
"They want us to sit down together and work on some long- term reforms which is what the Republicans and Democrats are doing with Vice President Biden right now. That's the direction we need to go."
In other words: no. But they're planing on developing one, someday.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
"Are you serious?"
Submitted by jdlybrand on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 8:41pm.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS??"
Meet Nancy Pelosi Junior.
"What a revoltin' development this is!"
Chester Riley
What a Newsman
Submitted by Redrowan2000 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 8:44pm.
Turn Harry's lapel around on his Brooks Brother suit and theres a big D or maybe S.
"Don't let the bastards grind you down."
Debbie Wheresmybrain Schultz,
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 8:44pm.
Debbie Wheresmybrain Schultz, the gift that keeps on giving. Never will you meet a more vile and misinformed creature running the DNC.
The GOP should seriously look at putting together a load of clips of the stupidity she has uttered. It would be priceless in showing what the libturds are like.
Somehow if the dems win, the
Submitted by syvyn11 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:08pm.
Somehow if the dems win, the GOP will use the tag line... "See, we told you so" when medicade goes broke.
He's nothing but a DNC pimp
Submitted by fatboy on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:10pm.
He's nothing but a DNC pimp to a Democrat whore.
Way to go Harry
Submitted by GregE on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:10pm.
I guess he really didn't want the answer, or for us to hear the answer, else he would have asked it again.
Democrats, party of "no?"
"as we know it"
Submitted by GregE on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:18pm.
Since Democrats only want bigger government and higher taxes, Republicans are going to have to come back at this "end Medicare as we know it" crap. Notice it's always "as we know it."
Ending something "as we know it" pretty much sounds like ending something period. The media has used the phrase as the Democrats have.
Yes let's END MEDICARE AS WE KNOW IT!!! And what do we KNOW OF IT???? It's going BROKE. It, along with Medicaid and Social Securty, will bury this nation 6 feet under. If a program is breaking the nation, BY ALL MEANS, end the method of the program that we KNOW, because what we KNOW of it is going to kill us.
That's NOT ending the program. Word games in DC, while Americans argue and bicker about something being told to them by the liberal media and DNC. Most Americans have NO CLUE what is or what isn't in Ryan's plan, yet will still argue with their neighbor until they reach over the fence and strangle them.
Did we EVER HEAR........................Healthcare reform will "End healthcare and health insurance as we know it?" NO, because that phrase is most often used to denote a negative, and the liberal media wouldn't dare breath a negative syllable about it.
Thanks, GregE
Submitted by ProudAmerican58 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 10:28pm.
That "as we know it" line and the total lack of follow-up from anyone in the GOP has been driving me crazy as well. Like you said, it's all "word games" and I think most of the American people are sick of them!
Remove "as we know it"
Submitted by ThisnThat on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 8:27am.
The Dim line is "republicans are ending Medicare". Period. Steve Israel (D-NY) was on CNN this morning. He said "ending Medicare" no fewer than 6 times. He was asked about this by one of the CNN people once -- very lightly, with no follow-up. And he kept on hammering the phrase -- "Republicans are ending Medicare". And he followed up with "democrats are being responsible", and he kept complaining that democrats simply aren't being allowed to show their reasonableness. His solution, of course, was to increase taxes.
And CNN just sat there and allowed his message to echo in the studios. So that their audience could hear it loud and clear. And go away believing the republicans want to end Medicare and kill old people.
CNN's broadcast license should be pulled. Immediately. And Steve Israel needs to resign from office and grow up.
__________
“Didn't win the Medal of Honor? Didn't even serve? Then lie about it. We'll support you." — 9th Circuit Court
Treading Thin Ice
Submitted by Dave81 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:19pm.
The blood pressure of the producers at CBS must have gone through the roof at that! There was probably someone on the other end queuing Schultz to drag out her answer while they gave Harry Smith a good lashing off camera.
Plan?
Submitted by Joe W. on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:20pm.
Plan? Sure they have a plan. Tell the people that the republicans want to kill granny, that Bush drove the car in the ditch and it's his fault, and Sarah Palin is dumb. Oh...and a quitter......Yep....that's the plan.....and the media will execute the plan faithfully.....
Journolist 2.0
Submitted by Free Stinker on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:24pm.
No doubt they are coordinating this in the Journolist 2.0 chat room.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
I have no doubts whatsoever
Submitted by NL207 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:48pm.
that something akin to JournoList still exists and is being used to orchestrate the narrative. I say this because the news narrative for new stories is still uniform across outlets as if it were coordinated. e.g. The Egypt and Libya insurrection narratives : these were both false and they were adopted almost without exception across all MSM outlets. That sort of thing does not happen by accident.
The Democrats do have a plan to save Medicare . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:34pm.
. . . it's Obamacare.
How soon the MSM forgets. The Affordable Health Care Act is supposed to save Medicare though some miraculous combination of cutting out fraud and waste while Federally controlling prices.
Yet despite these assurances, the actuary for Medicare recently moved up its insolvency date to 2024. At that time, the program will pay out more in benefits than it takes in through payroll tax revenue.
And as was predicted, many doctors are taking o no more Medicare patients because the compensation is inadequate and the bureaucratic hassles are too painful.
The Democrats think they can attack the Ryan Plan with "Medi-scare" claims as a distraction from the bad economy, but it's likely to boomerang on them as they are forced to explain why Medicare goes belly-up in 2024 even with Obamacare.
Yep
Submitted by GregE on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:38pm.
Any liberal media boob going to ask "So how does pulling $500 billion from Medicare save it?"
I aint holding my breath.
And voters in NY 26th ....
Submitted by NL207 on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 9:45am.
have forgotten this too as have the incompetent Republican political leadership there.
Dem's Plan
Submitted by Tuari on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:40pm.
We all know that the dem's plan to save medicare is like their plan for everything else, including the economy: Make fun of the Republican's plan; press out really bad and misleading commercials, like pushing Grandma off a cliff; and when all else fails, blame it all on Bush, talk radio, Breitbart, or Palin.
The Mayor of Jacksonville.....?
Submitted by NeoKong on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 9:49pm.
What the hell the does the Mayor of Jacksonville have to do with Medicare....?
Probably using medicare
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 10:42pm.
Probably using medicare himself.
WOW! In addition to WOW, i was also planning to write the
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 10:49pm.
word "Unbelievable," but since we are talking about CBS and Harry Smith, it is not only believable, but sadly expected, that he would let her off the hook.
I did notice that Wasserman Schultz was inaccurate when she said that Republicans were going to throw citizens "to the wolves." I have seen actual video footage, that proves beyond a doubt, that Republicans want to throw Medicare-qualified citizens over the cliff. Shame on Republicans.
Mizzzzzzz
Submitted by HockeyKid on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 10:49pm.
Wasserman-Schultz would roll up into a babbling ball of idiocy if she was ever confronted by a real journalist. She can't give a straight answer to save her life.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Schultz For Brains
Submitted by stratman on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 11:07pm.
Yes, Debbie, unlike the Democrats plan-less plan that will end Medicare as we know it. (Thanks for teeing up the ball for me, Deb.)
You mean how Medicare recipients already have to find a privately managed healthcare plan already, Debbie? (Honestly, this is too easy, Deb)
Hold on their Deb. Are you also living like it's 2008 like your messiah in London? Doesn't ObamaCare prevent mean old private insurers from denying coverage? And wasn't it already law that no one could be dropped for pre-existing conditions? (Cocktails are for after 5 PM, Deb, not 5 AM)
Yep, just like Medicare does now. The difference will be that under the Ryan Plan the dollars are increasingly controlled by the Medicare recipient. As such, the Medicare recipient becomes more the client to please than the bureaucrats at HHS since the Medicare recipient now controls more of the purse strings. He who holds the money holds the insurer's attention and may get better service. (Praise be government and the Democrats for giving us money we were forced to fork over in the first place. Stuff it, Deb)
Anyone wanna bet Wheresmybrains-Schultz (H/T to Scuba Dude) has read the Ryan Plan?
stratman....."Schultz for Brains". Nice play on words, and
Submitted by Rush Fan on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 2:02am.
excellent post. As someone who has been on Medicare Advantage ( the type of plan Obama wants to discontinue) for a number of years, I am looking forward to the repeal of ObamaCare and the implementation of a Ryan-type plan for my children and grandchildren.
Thanks Rush Fan
Submitted by stratman on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 2:14pm.
Medicare Advantage is a good plan. My mother has it as well. May you both continue to.
Kill ObamaCare before it kills us.
Harry the Hack
Submitted by AgentAmerican on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 12:00am.
Harry the Hack Smith is top... I mean low form.
i want you money.... commie
Submitted by dano509 on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 12:06am.
we need to take all of this bimbos money and give it to me
she can live like i do
on mac and cheese and frozen vegees
and if i can scrap up the money i buy some hotdogs and a loaf of bread
i am so sick and tired of these libscums taking my money and leaving me with the left overs..... shut the F---K UP you commie PIG
and stay out of my life...leave me alone and leave my money alone
Hateful Amoral LIAR
Submitted by Phryj1 on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 3:19am.
Just like her predecessor Howard Dean, this deranged, psychotic, lying freaking WITCH just LIES and spews invective and talking points. Just like the POS POTUS and the snooty, snobby Senate majority leader, they are arrogant, narcissistic, elitist, LYING sacks of garbage! What does that tell you about the Democrat party? It has nothing whatsoever to do with being empathetic or compassionate as they always claim, it's all about doing whatever it takes to get into and stay in power. Democrats are pure concentrated scum.
Progressives seem to be completely averse to facts and logic. Apparently, reality has a conservative bias.
Does it REALLY matter?..Geico
Submitted by Paul G on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 5:01am.
Does it REALLY matter?..Geico Caveman Gregory asked McDonnell about this...a thousand times(facitious to our libturd friends here) ...I(and most of of us) know what to to do....but the dems are gonna cut off our ankles, knees, hips and heads.......(I'm including the LSM)(rhetorical) I don't expect it. Although in 15 yrs I might need it. ...I knew 30 yrs ago it wasn't gonna be there ...BFD............If you're not a piglet sucking...why should I pay for you?
Who is who???
Submitted by LaVallette on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 5:09am.
Hey!!!! CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FLORIDA) ; do you understand English?
The questions was " Do the Democrats have a plan?" and not what are the Republicans doing about it!!!
When you avoid questions like these you are not being smart and clever by pulling a fast one on your interviewer. You are deliberately selling short your masters the American people. I have no doubt about your reaction to my "your masters the American people".
HARRY SMITH: Are you a political interviewer or a 'straight man" for your Democratic handlers. I wonder if they gave you a prepared script?.
That show should be called
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 6:36am.
"Fleece the Nation."
Smith is nothing but the "journalistic" version of the comic's straight man.
Nice how, as soon as she finished that "answer," he moved right on to the next setup.
The Dem Plan
Submitted by aposematic on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 6:38am.
Hey...what's the problem? This Schultz creature described the Dem "save Medicare plan" exactly as the DNC has outlined it--demagogue the Republican Plan, hit the Republicans over the head for daring to try and save Medicare, and scare the depends off of seniors. I think Schultz did a good job of describing the Democrat plan. The real question from these DNC supporting talking heads (formerly called Journalists) should be: How is Medicare going to survive directly being stripped of 500 Billion dollars, reduced medical services payments to Doctors, and restrictions on medical services to seniors imposed by the Democrat supported Obamacare Bill? Obamacare has already killed Medicare; so, what is all the fuss over Ryan's Plan to save Medicare about other than trying to stop the Democrats plan to destroy Medicare "as we know it". Just politics as usual--Democrat lies, lies, lies, and then more lies, all the time; and never a rebuttal from the Marxist owned and Democrat despotic propaganda ministers at the MSM.
The only plan the left has is
Submitted by jessieH on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 9:56am.
The only plan the left has is to stay in power, no matter who gets hurt. Get in their way and they will use every means at their disposal to destroy you. Just look at the way they use their media to throw out lies. No journalists, just paid hacks with no honor.
Basics
Submitted by jaywl on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 10:17am.
The first step is to get the basics out of the way. Harry Smith has no business being the host of a "News" program, he belongs with a sidekick entertaining groggy stay-at-homes with the latest gadget for cooking his goose (actually his day job!). Next he does not ask actual questions. For those guests he agrees with (very easy to discover) the lead-in to the guest's monologue is a cue based on fore-ordained topics the guest is told in advance will be covered. How else could these shows and guests agree that certain topics will not be covered? How many times have you seen a guest become livid when an agreement is breached? As for Whatshername-Scoots, she is a very effective proponent for the Lib-Dems and cares not a hoot about misrepresenting, lying, claiming absurdities, promising the impossible and, finally, treating her audience as if they are the most uninformed, most gullible, and most ignorant citizens in the country. This woman really must hold them in the highest contempt.
its so creepy
Submitted by scarletandgold on Mon, 05/30/2011 - 10:32am.
watching 2 progressive idiots talk...harry earned his pay check sunday...albeit on his knees in front of wheresmybrain shultz...lol and they say conservatives are the problem....we need to vote these mental defectives out of office and make sure old loaded diapers like harry smith go away..these people are insane..
And it is easy to beat them too
Submitted by legacyrepublican on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 2:53am.
And it is so easy to beat the Dems too. All we need to do is a TV ad showing a tombstone saying ...
Medicare
1966 -2016
Dems Lied
Medicare Died
While a voice over says, "Democrats are lying about pushing grandma over a cliff. They are not telling you that if we don't act now, Medicare will die in a very few short years and Obamacare will take over. The Democrat plan is to replace Medicare with Obamacare."
Please refer to ....
Submitted by NL207 on Tue, 05/31/2011 - 8:37am.
NY-26 of May 24, 2011.