Robert Reich Invents Lame 'Out of Context' Excuse to Explain Away Brutal Health Care Truths

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Robert Reich has finally responded to the audio of him telling "brutal truths" to an audience at Berkeley which your humble correspondent chronicled here in NewsBusters on Tuesday. Here are the gems delivered up by Reich as to what he claims an honest  candidate for president would say about health care if he didn't worry about getting elected:

"We're going to have to, if you're very old, we're not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It's too expensive...so we're going to let you die." 

"...I am going try to reorganize it to be more amenable to treating sick people but that means you,  particularly you young people, particularly you young healthy people...you're going to have to pay more."

"...What that means, less innovation and that means less new products and less new drugs on the market which means you are probably not going to live much longer than your parents."

So what was Reich's excuse for these assertions? Why he was "taken out of context." Here is Reich making his claim on Wednesday:

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Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Rush, and the right-wing blogosphere seem interested in a talk I gave in September, 2007 to students in a political science class here at Berkeley, in which I played the role of a presidential candidate so politically incorrect and tone-deaf as to pummel every sacred cow in sight -- including the notion that our society could afford and would continue forever to pay whatever amount of money was required to keep everyone alive forever. The whole point of the mock exercise was to show that presidential candidates can't state what everyone knows to be the truth because they'll be taken apart by the Right or the Left. I slew many other sacred cows in that mock exercise, some of which are held dearly by the Left. Nonetheless, two years later the Right has exhumed the lecture and taken my words completely out of context purportedly to show that Obama and the Democrats plan death panels.

If their desperation weren't so pathetic it would be funny. After all, they have proven the whole point of my lecture. UC Berkeley maintains an archive of webcasts and my speech is available there verbatim, should you wish to listen to it in its entirety.

What everyone knows to be the truth? How is this out of context? Reich's own words contradicts his "out of context" excuse:

"I'll actually give you a speech made up entirely, almost on the spur of the moment, of what a candidate for president would say if that candidate did not care about becoming president. In other words, this is what the truth is and a candidate will never say, but what a candidate should say if we were in the kind of democracy where citizens were honored in terms of their practice of citizenship and they were educated in terms of what the issues were and they could separate myth from reality in terms of what candidates would tell them."

Let me repeat  Reich's own words and tell me how this is out of context:

I'll actually give you a speech made up entirely, almost on the spur of the moment, of what a candidate for president would say if that candidate did not care about becoming president. In other words, this is what the truth is and a candidate will never say, but what a candidate should say if we were in the kind of democracy where citizens were honored in terms of their practice of citizenship and they were educated in terms of what the issues were and they could separate myth from reality in terms of what candidates would tell them."

But wait! There's more! Reich in his "out of context" excuse post provided a link to his entire speech. Perhaps he was hoping that no one would actually listen to his speech that lasted over 47 minutes but I decided to plunge in and what I found at about the 15:45  mark, after stating what an "honest" candidate would say about health care, global warming, foreign policy, agriculture, etc., was Reich himself putting his speech into crystal clear context:

"I just gave you the kind of speech that politicians will not give. And I've said a couple of things that although they seem entirely reasonable to me are sacred cows and are therefore politically untouchable."

And thank you, Robert Reich, for putting your own speech entirely into the context we always knew it was in all along.

H/T: Verum Serum

—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.


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Standard Weak Liberal Excuses

1. I was just kidding.
2. I was taken out of context.
3. Racist.

→ Lullaby Guild

Seems the Munchkin let slip the hidden agenda of his union.

The Lullaby Guild definitely has a plan for bending that health care cost curve, don't they.

Go to sleep and don't wake up, Grandma!

Standard Weak Liberal Excuses

1. I was just kidding.
2. I was taken out of context.
3. Racist.

With so little grasp of Econ101

how did this man rise to these levels.  Some minority glitch or what.

 

How?

Robert Reich is a clear demonstration of the Peter Principle.  If I remember correctly, it goes something like,"In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence."  Come to think of it, that pretty much explains most everyone in Washington.

Re Peter Principle

Except for the Bamster of course. He reached his level of incompetence as a community organizer; see Altgeld Gardens. He managed to go further than that because of the Chicago Machine behind him.

Media Created

Appointed by Bill Clinton as Labor Secretary. He rose to these heights the same way as Rev. Al. He was created by the media. Not just by the left: Blitzer, King, Cooper , but by conservatives. Many, many appearances on Hannity and Colmes, B.O.R., Cavuto.

Remember

Robert "Third" Reich was a mayor of Munchkin Land. 

I knew he looked familiar!

ROFL, srqvet!

He probably danced with the Lullaby League.

Dressed like Hillary, of course. 

My first thought was

that he should have stayed in the Lollipop Guild.  But I think you have it right with the Lullaby League.  He's not quite tough enough to make it in the Guild!

 

Gun Control - The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

All that is missing is a

All that is missing is a red-pointed hat and he would look like the garden gnome my wife put next to the chrysanthemums.

To quote an immortal social philosopher...

In the immortal words of one Bugs Bunny:

"What an ultra-maroon!"

A timely and accurate quote that should be pinned on every liberal.

We are having socialism shoved down our throats, America.  Stand up, fight back, and throw them out in 2010. 

There is nothing more

There is nothing more satisfying than to see left wing radical nutjobs do the humma humma humma dance when their very own words are repeated back to them.

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

Love the flashing

Love the flashing BS detector.  Sort of an electronic Pinnochio's nose.

B-Town

Classic!!

"What an ultra-maroon!"

Perfect description!

Oh, that Bob!

Keep talking, Bob! 

We can't wait for the clarification of the explanation.

metaphorsbwithu

Huh?

Now I get it, he's talking to college students.

→ Yes, KG

He's talking up to them. 

They shudda given him a

They shudda given him a stool to stand on. Or a cushion to sit on, or something.

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

→ Or a booster chair

Didn't he used to play a bad guy in the original TV series Wild Wild West.

Cool~~

Put a green suit and a Flavor Flav clock on this guy and he's Munchkinland's #1 legislator for sure.

Speaking of green suits, did you catch the Sanchez binos promo in the Sanchez thread?

→ Well of course Keyser

As well as updated version.

I think of Sanchez and I see the lifeless body of a pedestrian in a rear-view mirror.  Hindsight is 20-20. 

No metaphor left unturned

No metaphor left unturned tonight, my friend! These are Dennis Miller-like.

Good memory! Dr. Miguelito

Good memory! Dr. Miguelito Loveless.

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

Coolarrow

You hit a bullseye.

He's a

He was a f--ka-s when he was Secretary of Labor and he still is.  He was a Clinton token and now his only uses are "teaching" at UC Berkley and guesting on MSNBC.  Remember, he was the guy who was offering to show Obama how to use "Stimulus" spending to discriminate against white men.  

Stop federal judges from foisting their notions of "fairness" on the States.  Amend the 14th Amendment! - tim413

celator

Reich "standing on a stool."  No, he IS a stool.

I feel so much better stooping to the level of libtards.

I will not let that image in

I will not let that image in my brain. I will not let that image in my brain. I will not let that image in my brain.

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

Last resort

"Out of context" has become a standard liberal excuse of last resort. (Or, "out of contecks", as Al Sharpton says.) I translate it to –'you caught me, now let me try and babble my way out of this spot'.

Hehe.  Had the unfortunate

Hehe.  Had the unfortunate opportunity to listen to some Sharpton's radio show the other night (or, as I refer to it, Big Al's School of Elocution).  He's barely understandable, and I'm fairly sure he's attempting to speak English on the show.

My favorite: "Nashashnerk".  That's how not-the-Sharptonest-knife-in-the-drawer pronounces "National Action Network", his own organization.

No wonder Biden was so impressed with how "well spoken" Obama was...I guess all race hustlers look the same to Joe.

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

No Trolls Tonight?

There must be a Playstation 2 tournament tonight.

Friday night is their

Friday night is their training night, where they are forced to memorize the leftist cliches approved for use next week.

No citizen's right to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, or property is safe as long as Obama is President of the United States.

You beat me to it.  I was

You beat me to it.  I was gonna say this is when they get their new supply of talking points.

That or their parents took away their PC privileges.

They are busy trying to

They are busy trying to figure out how to get Dunn out of her admission of Mao worship.

The Leftist Hive mind

Your observation reminded me of 'I, Robot' when all the the robots would go into hibernation mode when uploading 'instructions' from the main computer.

"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'

Resistance is futile

Or the BORG. "You will be assimilated!" 

"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason

celator

ROFL

I forgot the little libtards had homework on Friday nights. 

 

In their mommies

In their mommies basement.

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

Typical

That's the usual response of liberals when they get caught telling what they really think and believe:  "I was taken out of context."

Out of context if I were to

Out of context if I were to tell the truth this is what I'd say. So is it the truth or not. These people are twisted up in theer lies that up is down.

I thought the <blink> tag was dead. Thanks to CSS it lives !

 

 

Reverse lie-cology?

So what he's telling us is that politicians say one thing to get elected and do another thing once they get elected. 

At least RobertReeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiicccccccchhhhhhhhhah!

...told the truth.

For once.

Liberalism is a mental disorder, and human life is worthless to those thus afflicted.  

If you don't believe me, just ask Margaret Sanger. 

She was stark-raving, bat-shit nuts.  

-Dave

LMAO Dave... You got that

LMAO Dave...

You got that Robert Reeeeiiiiicccchhhhhah  part down right!

Bet El Rushbo agrees.

'Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea'~Breitbart

bt,

LOL. 

-Dave

???

How did all those Berkely students find the auditorium?

They were told there was free pot there..

"The bureaucracy is growing to meet the needs of the growing bureaucracy"

 

...and a Keep ROTC Out meeting.

 

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

Always amusing

Always amusing when honesty somehow breaks out, isn't it?

 

Bobby, You The Man!

Reich (as in Fall Of The Third) is still stupidly feeling hubris from last year's election. It's great when people slip and say what they really believe. This is going to be a big, hollow point bullet to be used against the whole "progressive" agenda.