As NewsBusters has been reporting, late night comics have been tearing the White House apart for its disastrous rollout of ObamaCare.
Comedy Central's Jon Stewart opened Monday's Daily Show with a blistering excoriation of Barack Obama's “'Glengarry Glenn Ross'” closer spiel" in the Rose Garden which included such howlers as, "When did the President of the United States turn into Gil from The Simpsons?"
JON STEWART: Turns out the ObamaCare rollout was plagued by a lot more than just glitches, so much so the President of the United States - who as you know, does not usually man this country's IT support center - summoned us all this morning to the Rose Garden for a little “Glengarry Glenn Ross” closer spiel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: The Affordable Care Act is not just a website. The health insurance that’s available to people is working just fine. Instead of paying $1600 per month, we have a plan that will only cost us $692 a month, and that’s a good deal. The product is good. I want people to get this great product, and that product is working. It's really good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART AFTER FACEPALMING: [Laughter] When did the President of the United States turn into Gil from The Simpsons? [Laughter]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP):
GIL GUNDERSON, The SIMPSONS: She's a beaut. You can't beat a Coleco. How many can I put you down for? A lot. Please say a lot, I need this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[Laughter]
STEWART: This is a good product. Alright. But listen. [Cheers and applause] He didn't stop baby. Ron Popeil kept on selling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: You just heard Janice’s story. She owns her own small business. She recently became the first woman to enroll in coverage through Delaware’s exchange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: So that's one. [Laughter] You know, people say you can't use the website. Have you told them about Janice from Delaware? Hey, but you know what? God bless. She signed up. She deserves to be up there to prove that this can be done easily.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN: It took her seven hours on the phone and online. Eventually she had to go through and clean out the cookies from her cache and then she was able to sign up, but she did sign up from the small state of Delaware.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: She had to move. She had to move and she's no longer married but it is done. She's done. She had to move, she had to do a giant tattoo of a spider [Laughter] on her neck but it's done. She has it, it’s done.
As it turns out even the photo-op to address the poorly-planned rollout of ObamaCare suffered from a clear lack of planning as evidenced by the decision – perhaps unwise in hindsight - to place the pregnant woman with diabetes in the sun next to the president. [Video of Obama in Rose Garden saving woman from feinting] [Laughter] Good save.
[Stewart got woozy and fell over in chair] [Laughter] Give the woman some water!
But fear not, help is on the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: We've had some of the best IT talent in the entire country join the team, and we're well into a tech surge to fix the problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: A surge! Your website is so f—ked we have to use the same strategy we used to salvage the Iraq war?
Yes, people are starting to compare this rollout to Iraq. Others have likened it to Hurricane Katrina.
As I mentioned in a previous post Tuesday, the administration better get this website working fast or they on a nightly basis are going to be excoriated by late night comics.
After all, this rollout is such a joke that gags practically write themselves.
