(UPDATE: Chad Henderson has locked down his Twitter account. His Instagram account remains, for now.)
Earlier today, I noted (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) that "Obamacare Poster Boy" Chad Henderson, who was written up in the Washington Post, Huffington Post and several other news outlets, and who at one point was scheduled to appear on a Health and Human Services Department conference call (but ultimately didn't), has not purchased health insurance on the Obamacare exchange.
Before letting all of this fall down the media memory hole, John Sexton at Breitbart.com reported that Henderson "claimed earlier this year that he'd 'traveled to Florida' to help with Obama's reelection and also donated $1000 to the campaign" — leading to a further claim, complete with a photo of the alleged invitation, that he had been invited to the 2013 Obama Inaugural Ball. There's even more in Mr. Henderson's Instagram collection for the lazy establishment press to digest, including something they'll secretly love — an immature attack on Sarah Palin — after the jump.
On July 29, 2013, Henderson posted a photo of an admission ticket: "Amazon.com CHA-1 Warehouse -- just picked up my ticket with xxxxxx to see President Obama tomorrow in Chattanooga! SO EXCITED!!" The next day, he posted a picture of "The President shaking our hands today in Chattanooga!" On July 24, he posted a picture of a tweet he wrote which said (punctuation unaltered): "So my entire life will be put on hold this Tuesday BECAUSE PRESIDENT OBAMA IS COMING TO CHATTANOOGA! And I. WILL. BE. THERE!" On July 25, he posted a picture of a bakery's "Obama doughnut," which showed that "Chattanooga is already getting pumped for the President's visit!"
When combined with what Sexton at Breitbart reported, this is all really precious, because yesterday on Twitter Henderson tried to pretend that he is just an ordinary Obama supporter: "The fact that I'm an OFA volunteer has nothing to do with my #Obamacare story. I didn't get 'special access' & I do not 'work' for them." No, kid. You've got a fever, and the only cure is more Barack Obama.
Make that "more of any Democrat." On June 9, he posted a "Hillary Rodham Clinton 2016" photo, three weeks after posting a photo of Mrs. Clinton as "Madam President."
On April 17, Chad was a busy guy. He posted a photo of a "Shame on You, U.S. Senate" poster for its failure to pass Obama's gun-control legislation, and proudly posted the following response to Sarah Palin's celebratory tweet:
He's obviously crossed into the fever swamps.
That's all I can stand. Point made.
Chad Henderson clearly doesn't recognize the red line, if you will, of decency, and tried to pretend he's something he's not: just an ordinary guy purchasing Obamacare insurance on an Obamacare exchange. Rubbish.
Twitchy.com has also noted Henderson's penchant for calling Mitt Romney and other Republicans "liars" during the 2012 presidential campaign.
It will surprise absolutely no one here that the Associated Press's national site has no coverage of Chad Henderson, or that Kyle Cheney at the Politico let him get away with a lame "we have not paid for a specific plan. We have, to my understanding, enrolled in the marketplace" defense.
The press's failure to look into Mr. Henderson's publicly available information or to exhibit the tiniest bit of skepticism about Mr. Henderson's Obamacare claims, which should have raised red flags from the start, is appalling — but all too typical.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
