When confronted by Salon's Joan Walsh, who told the "Hardball" host Wednesday, "I personally don`t believe he`s honest about it," Matthews stuck to his guns:
Did they find any evidence of that? No, wait a minute...Did he at any time in the campaign create a sound bite where he said, I`m for a public option? Did he ever do it as candidate Obama?
Did they find any evidence of that? As Walsh pointed out, "[I]t took an intern 30 seconds at Salon to find it on BarackObama.com" (video embedded below the fold with transcript along with videos of candidate Obama stating what Matthews and others have conveniently forgotten, h/t Story Balloon):
CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Your thoughts on the overall study? And obviously, we can`t give him a grade on having done everything he promised to do because he`s only had one year. But what kind of grade would you give him in this moving situation here? Joan?
JOAN WALSH, SALON: I would give him about a B. I`m not going to put a plus on it even, Chris. Look, he -- we didn`t give him credit for something that I think is enormous and that is hard to credit, which is the stimulus package and the way the economy came back from the brink. Now, you can`t prove a negative. You can`t say the economy would have collapsed without what he did. However, most economists give him credit for making sure that our job loss numbers are lower than projected. Those things are tough to sell as wins, but they`re wins nonetheless.
On health care, you know, I was sitting waiting to talk to you, watching that Senate Democrat press conference, and even I, who`ve been critical of Harry Reid, think that they`ve done an extraordinary thing pulling together 60 votes on this bill.
OK, what`s the asterisk? First of all, they did sell out the public option. They had to. I admit they didn`t have 60 votes, Chris. But the president did another thing in that interview that enraged much of the left, which is he said that he never campaigned on a public option. Now, technically, I know what his wiggle room language is, but believe me, progressives...
MATTHEWS: Well, did he -- did he...
WALSH: ... knew that he supported it.
MATTHEWS: Did he campaign on it, though? Did he tell the truth? Now, this is important in politics.
PAT BUCHANAN: Yes, because Howard Dean...
MATTHEWS: Did he campaign on it?
BUCHANAN: Howard Dean...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Did he campaign on it? Is he honest in his statement as it is?
WALSH: I personally don`t believe he`s honest about it because it took an intern 30 seconds at Salon to find it on BarackObama.com. It was front and center. Now, did he go out on the hustings and say, you know, Public option, public option last year? People haven`t found much evidence of that. But people who cared about health care -- this is important...
MATTHEWS: Did they find any evidence of that? No, wait a minute. I don`t want any (INAUDIBLE) language. Did he at any time in the campaign create a sound bite where he said, I`m for a public option? Did he ever do it as candidate Obama?
WALSH: There`s a -- there`s a -- there is language around a government plan, which is the same thing. And you know...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Where was that, on his Web site? No, I`m just asking. I don`t know. Was it on a Web site?
WALSH: No, I -- there was...
MATTHEWS: Where was it?
WALSH: There was a speech or a -- there was some kind of televised interview where he put those...
MATTHEWS: Well, it`ll be...
WALSH: ... words together.
MATTHEWS: Well, somebody`s going to go -- well, Joan, you know our business.
BUCHANAN: Well, Howard Dean...
MATTHEWS: Somebody`s going to find that and we`re going to be seeing it all weekend if it does exist.
BUCHANAN: OK, but Chris, here -- Howard Dean is an honest guy...
MATTHEWS: Let`s take a look at the bite where he does make the claim which we`re talking about. Here it is, President Obama on the public option. Let`s listen. This will be gone over, so let`s do it ourselves.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OBAMA: So every single criteria for reform that I put forward is in this bill. It is true that the Senate version does not have a public option and that has been -- become, I think, a source of ideological contention between the left and the right. But I didn`t campaign on a public option.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Pat?
BUCHANAN: Well, I mean...
MATTHEWS: Is that an accurate statement because honesty`s important in politics...
(CROSSTALK)
BUCHANAN: I can`t go and find the particular point. But I believe Howard Dean`s an honest guy. He said Obama did campaign for a public option. But I don`t blame Obama. I blame Harry Reid. The best they could get, Chris, and we knew it last September, was a public option with a trigger coming in. They had that. They had 61 votes for that -- Olympia Snowe.
MATTHEWS: Right.
BUCHANAN: My feeling then was, Listen, you guys, you`ve got it. Walk away from the table with your winnings. And then they went back and tried to get the full public option and the Medicare thing, and they lost them both. So but I don`t blame the president for that. I`m sure he would have liked it. Harry -- Harry Reid...
MATTHEWS: OK, let me -- let me...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Let me explain a little bit of politics. And Pat and Joan, you know as much about politics as I do. I believe the president had to champion the public option during the last several months for this reason - - and we understood it at the time, Joan. You and I understood this at the time. He had to go out on behalf of issue you care about and Ed Schultz and others care a lot about, the public option, because he had to make the good fight for them. And he had to throw everything he had into it. And he did come out and say he was for it during the fight over it, and he did it because he had to prove that even the best effort wouldn`t work because if he hadn`t gone out and fought for it, then the left, who is a big part of his constituency, if not his main political base, would have said, You didn`t even try.
BUCHANAN: I think that...
MATTHEWS: So it was important for him to try.
WALSH: But...
BUCHANAN: And I...
MATTHEWS: And it`s also important for him to cut the best deal he can.
BUCHANAN: Chris, I think that`s exactly what happened. And I think it`s what Harry Reid did...
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: It did not happen, you guys...
BUCHANAN: Hold on a second, Joan. Look, I think what Harry Reid did is this. He could have gotten the public option with a trigger, and then he said, Look, these guys want me to fight for it. And so he puts it in for his constituents in Nevada and he says, I`m going to go fight for it, knowing that at the end of the road, he`s not going to get it. What he didn`t realize is he lost also the public option with a trigger. And I don`t blame Obama. I think he would have liked it.
MATTHEWS: (INAUDIBLE) about that.
BUCHANAN: And there`s nothing Obama could have done...
WALSH: I`m not sure about that, either.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: ... go for it. Explain your view.
WALSH: You know, I`m not -- I`m not sure about that, either, that he ever would have had 60 or 61 votes for the public option with a trigger. But look, I`m a supporter of the bill. I`m a pragmatist. I still have to say he -- Obama got both sides mad at him because he -- the left is not happy with him. We`ve heard from lots of different senators that the president never pushed this, he never twisted any arms. It never seemed to be that important...
MATTHEWS: Who told you that...
WALSH: ... to him...
MATTHEWS: ... Lieberman?
WALSH: (INAUDIBLE) he tried.
MATTHEWS: You`re not using Lieberman as your...
WALSH: Don`t -- don`t do that to me! I saw you do that -- I saw you do that the other day.
MATTHEWS: Well, I just find it very hard to...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: ... find it very hard to lean on Joe Lieberman`s credibility in this regard. Go ahead.
WALSH: I`m not talking -- I`m not. Russ Feingold said the same thing. Tom Harkin has essentially said the same thing. The president did not make it known that this is what he wanted in the bill. He didn`t, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Would that have...
WALSH: Now, we can all...
MATTHEWS: Would that have moved Joe Lieberman or Nelson?
WALSH: I don`t know. I don`t know.
MATTHEWS: You think it would have?
WALSH: You may be right, but it still -- it still was worth fighting for and he didn`t, and people will remember that. And people did not like the fact that he basically slapped the base and said, I didn`t campaign on it.
BUCHANAN: All right...
WALSH: If you cared last year, if you paid attention to health care, you knew he was for the public option. There`s no way he gets to say that.
MATTHEWS: How did you know that? I want you to -- it`s really important to you and what you have to say that people watching you like to hear what you have to say. What hard evidence can you present now or will you present that the president campaigned as a candidate for the public option?
WALSH: Because liberals were parsing his platform, Hillary`s and John Edwards`s. They were the closest, but they had key differences. And they all supported some kind of new government plan if we were going to force people to buy insurance, if we were going to expand insurance, there had to be...
MATTHEWS: But he didn`t propose...
WALSH: ... competition.
MATTHEWS: No. But you know this, Joan. In his plan as a candidate, he never advocated the public -- the individual mandate. Never. She did.
WALSH: Well, no, that I know.
MATTHEWS: And I supported her on that.
WALSH: That`s another -- that`s another...
MATTHEWS: Well, you just said he supported the individual mandate...
BUCHANAN: Chris...
MATTHEWS: ... and he did not support the individual mandate.
WALSH: No, I didn`t say that, Chris!
BUCHANAN: Chris, the very fact -- Chris, the very fact...
WALSH: I was saying...
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: You said if you`re going to force people to buy insurance.
BUCHANAN: Let me get in here! The very fact...
MATTHEWS: I`m sorry. Let Joan finish. If you`re going to force people -- I`m just saying he never supported forcing people to buy insurance, did he?
WALSH: He didn`t. I was talking about the three liberal candidates` health records. I`m sorry if I elided that point. Of course, Obama never said that, but he did include a public option. And his health people talked about it.
MATTHEWS: OK...
WALSH: Within the little circle of liberal wonks, we knew it was there. It was a good thing. The lack of an individual mandate...
MATTHEWS: You`re saying it was implied or it was in his...
WALSH: ... was a bad thing.
MATTHEWS: Was it on his Web site or was it implied? Or where was it evidenced?
WALSH: It was on his Web site. It is still there. We found it yesterday.
MATTHEWS: OK.
WALSH: It`s in many campaign papers. It`s in the O`Biden -- O`Biden! The Obama-Biden...
BUCHANAN: All right, but look...
WALSH: ... platform. I mean, it`s there.
BUCHANAN: All right...
MATTHEWS: OK.
WALSH: But this...
BUCHANAN: ... you`re talking about...
WALSH: I don`t want to get carried away with this.
Well, why don't we get carried away with this? After all, as NewsBusters has been reporting for months, Obama-loving media members like Matthews have conveniently ignored what candidate Obama said on the campaign trail.
As the President has clearly misstated what his prior position was on this matter, they should set the record straight if they want to retain any credibility.
With that in mind, NewsBusters reported on August 2:
In shocking video uncovered by our good friends at Naked Emperor News, Obama, speaking at SEIU's New Leadership Health Care Forum on March 24, 2007, said, "My commitment is to make sure that we have universal healthcare for all Americans by the end of my first term as President."
Here's the video with fuller transcript:
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BARACK OBAMA: As I indicated before, I think that we're going to have to have some system where people can buy into a larger pool. Right now their pool typically is the employer, but there are other ways of doing it. I would like to -- I would hope that we could set up a system that allows those who can go through their employer to access a federal system or a state pool of some sort. But I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out where we've got a much more portable system. Employers still have the option of providing coverage, but many people may find that they get better coverage, or at least coverage that gives them more for health care dollars than they spend outside of their employer. And I think we've got to facilitate that and let individuals make that choice to transition out of employer coverage.
Here's another video from 2007:
Here's language directly from BarackObama.com (h/t Atlantic, emphasis added):
Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHB will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on physician-validated outcome measures. [...]
The Obama-Biden plan provides new affordable health insurance options by: (1) guaranteeing eligibility for all health insurance plans; (2) creating a National Health Insurance Exchange to help Americans and businesses purchase private health insurance; (3) providing new tax credits to families who can't afford health insurance and to small businesses with a new Small Business Health Tax Credit; (4) requiring all large employers to contribute towards health coverage for their employees or towards the cost of the public plan; (5) requiring all children have health care coverage; (5) expanding eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs; and (6) allowing flexibility for state health reform plans. [...]
Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency. [...]
The Exchange will have the following features:
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the program through which Members of Congress get their own health care. Plans will include coverage of all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care. [...]
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will ensure that all Americans are empowered to monitor their health by ensuring coverage of essential clinical services in all federally supported health plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and the new public plan.
Even the liberal PolitiFact.com felt Obama wasn't being truthful with his campaign revisionism:
Obama's new claim is, "I didn't campaign on a public option." We will stipulate that it was not a particularly prominent part of his overall platform for health care. But we find that the public option was part of Obama's campaign materials, and that counts. So we rate his statement Barely True.
PolitiFact calls it Barack Obama Campaign Promise No. 518!
With this in mind, if Matthews and other so-called journalists want to fact check Obama's new claim about what he campaigned on, the truth is just a few mouse clicks away!
We'll be watching and waiting.
