No matter how bleak things get for ObamaCare, no matter how bad the law looks to the public, you can rest assured that someone at MSNBC will always be ready and willing to make excuses for the law, even speaking of necessary "sacrifices" to be made as a "nation" for the greater good of "universal health care."
On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Mark Halperin of Time magazine assumed the role of ObamaCare spinmeister. [Video below. MP3 audio here.]
The panelists were discussing the recent CBO revelation that the president’s health care law will likely cause 2 million Americans to either stop working or work fewer hours. Halperin acknowledged that the law will create a disincentive to work, “but it's because people will have more choices.”
Spoken like a true Democratic operative. Host Joe Scarborough heaped appropriate ridicule on Halperin, exclaiming, “Wait, wait, more choices to what? To not work? What? What are you talking about?”
Halperin only dug in his heels. He replied, “If you believe everybody should have health care in our society, this allows some people to make the choice to not work.”
But is that a good thing if people know they can get health insurance without working? Halperin didn’t condemn the perverse incentives that the law is bringing about.
Minutes later, the panelists were discussing a Wall Street Journal story about how some Americans may not be allowed to see the doctor of their choice anymore because of ObamaCare. Halperin was grim, yet seemed to think it was all worth it for the greater good of President Obama’s left-wing paradise. He proclaimed, “It's another case where, as the Democrats passed this into law, and as the president campaigned for reelection, they didn't tell people, you know what, the nation’s going to have to make some sacrifices to have universal health care.”
How good to know that we have someone in the media to remind us that the loss of our liberty is just a “sacrifice” to help achieve a liberal ideal. Back in November, Halperin admitted on the Steve Malzberg Show that the much-scoffed-at “death panels,” made famous by Sarah Palin, are in fact “built into” ObamaCare. But Halperin was okay with that as well, saying that “we do need to have some of that in this country.”
Below are transcripts of the Morning Joe segments:
6:05 a.m.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: It's interesting, Mark Halperin, the CBO director – certainly not a right-wing conservative – said that the Affordable Care Act provides a disincentive to work. That’s not – you know, Democrats can go out and talk about opportunity and job lock and this and that and the other, but you have the CBO director talking about how the Affordable Care Act creates a disincentive to work. That's not just the headline, as a lot of people were suggesting yesterday. That's the heart of the story.
MARK HALPERIN: It is.
SCARBOROUGH: To me.
HALPERIN: It is –
SCARBOROUGH: To people who think like me.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: No, work less, add more –
HALPERIN: But it's because people will have more choices. I actually think, on balance –
SCARBOROUGH: Wait, wait, more choices to what? To not work? What? What are you talking about?
MICHAEL STEELE: Come on.
HALPERIN: If you believe everybody should have health care –
SCARBOROUGH: What are you talking about?
HALPERIN: If you believe everybody should have health care in our society, this allows some people to make the choice to not work.
***
6:19 a.m.
SCARBOROUGH: If patients, if Americans aren't able to go to the doctor of their choice, that's going to be a serious problem. What does this story say?
HALPERIN: It's not just doctors. It's also medical clinics or any kind of providers. It says that the plans are being regulated by both the state and increasingly by the federal program and it's going to deny people access to medical providers they had in their previous plans. It's another case where, as the Democrats passed this into law, and as the president campaigned for reelection, they didn't tell people, you know what, the nation’s going to have to make some sacrifices to have universal health care. Losing access to your preferred medical provider or having to drive miles and miles to get to somebody you’re allowed to see, that is a huge change in people’s life.
