Last Friday your humble correspondent noted the absence of Sarah Kliff on the topic of ObamaCare and now he is unhumble enough to believe that this put pressure on her to return to that painful topic today at Vox after nearly a month of avoiding it. As you can read, poor Sarah seems to have gone from acting like a cheerleader aboard a sinking Titanic to taking on the role of radio reporter Herbert Morrison breathlessly reporting on the crashing Hindenburg:
Jonathan Gruber
By Tom Blumer | June 23, 2015 | 10:55 PM EDT
Two recent NewsBusters posts have demonstrated that the major broadcast networks other than Fox News have failed to cover new information reported Sunday evening at the Wall Street Journal. Newly available emails reveal that MIT's Jonathan Gruber "worked more closely than previously known with the White House and top federal officials to shape" the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
Monday afternoon, NB's Scott Whitlock noted that "All three network morning shows on Monday ignored" the clearly newsworthy revelations. Very early Tuesday morning, NB's Curtis Houck observed that "The top English and Spanish-language broadcast networks" did the same thing Monday evening. The Associated Press and the New York Times, the nation's de facto news gatekeepers during the Obama era (far more the former than the latter, in my view) were instrumental in this deliberate averted-eyes exercise. Neither outlet has printed a word about what the Journal found.
By Curtis Houck | June 23, 2015 | 12:23 AM EDT
The top English and Spanish-language broadcast networks again ignored on Monday night a new development in the Jonathan Gruber saga as new e-mails have surfaced that revealed how his role with the White House on ObamaCare was more detailed than previously thought. As initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, e-mails “show frequent consultations between Mr. Gruber and top Obama administration staffers and advisers in the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services on the Affordable Care Act.”
By P.J. Gladnick | June 22, 2015 | 2:32 PM EDT
Are you so gullible as to place your faith in the credibility of the current White House? If so, you might have to find yourself end up eating crow and apologizing to the skeptics for your gullibility as happened to Bloomberg Politics managing editor Mark Halperin on Morning Joe today. Halperin's apology came on the heels of a report yesterday in the Wall Street Journal that despite previous White House denials, it actually had quite extensive contacts with Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber.
Here are some of the details that made Halperin feel foolish for placing his blind faith in the White House:
By P.J. Gladnick | May 26, 2015 | 2:06 PM EDT
Say my name. ---Walter White aka Heisenberg in Breaking Bad.
New York Times writer Robert Pear knows his name but he didn't say it in his article about how four words in the Obamacare law was simply a mistake. Pear quotes a number of people involved in the law's writing process but fails to mention the one who was acknowledged as the architect of Obamacare...until it became politically inconvenient to do so---Jonathan Gruber. And the reason why Gruber's name went unmentioned in the article is because of his claim, recorded for all eternity on video, that only state established health exchanges would be eligible for subsidies.
By P.J. Gladnick | March 2, 2015 | 12:00 PM EST
Please believe in the integrity of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber. If he disavowed his own remarks, emphatically repeated several times on video, that only state based health exchanges were eligible for subsidies you can believe this honorable gentleman. Such is the attitude of General Electric Vox's Sarah Kliff as she regales us with the history of the King vs Burwell case which will be heard this week at the Supreme Court.
By Curtis Houck | December 31, 2014 | 11:33 AM EST
Each of the network morning shows devoted some time on Wednesday to looking back at the biggest news stories of year and, while they certainly could not have included every story in the allotted time, they all failed to spend even a few seconds on topics such as Jonathan Gruber, pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, President Obama’s unpopularity, and the Hobby Lobby case to name a few.
In addition, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC each mentioned the midterm elections and how Republicans were able to win control of the Senate (in addition to the House), they devoted a scant 21 seconds to the topic over the course of their roundups, which totaled 42 minutes and 50 seconds.
Gruber at Harvard Before Vermont's Fail: Single-Payer Won't Happen Unless It Succeeds in Some States
By Tom Blumer | December 26, 2014 | 10:28 AM EST Earlier this morning, I posted on Vermont's abandonment of its attempt to impose and implement a "single-payer" (i.e., government-controlled) healthcare system, and on how muted the press coverage has been.
It's difficult to overstate how devastating the Green Mountain State's blowup is to the left's oft-stated long-term goal of imposing single-payer, occasionally referred to a "Medicare for all," on the entire nation. This goes a long way towards explaining the light press coverage. President Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi are among those who are on record asserting that they want — and expect — that nationwide single-payer will happen. Another such person is the now familiar and infamous Jonathan Gruber, an admitted architect (when it was convenient) of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.
By Tom Blumer | December 11, 2014 | 11:20 PM EST
Tuesday afternoon, Kyle Drennen at NewsBusters observed that the Big Three networks "Appear Finished With Gruber Coverage," and that their Tuesday morning shows had no coverage of the de facto Obamacare architect and his congressional appearance.
One factor likely influencing the nets' posture is how original news sources like the Associated Press and the nation's largest dailies have managed to shield their readers from almost anything relating to Gruber for weeks. One particularly comical example of that has been the Los Angeles Times.
By Tom Johnson | December 10, 2014 | 6:03 PM EST
The Talking Points Memo editor and publisher contends that no matter what right-wingers say, Obamacare is “almost certainly the most deeply scrutinized, discussed and argued over piece of legislation of the entire 20th century and early 21st century.”
By Kyle Drennen | December 10, 2014 | 4:18 PM EST
Despite ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber being grilled by both Republicans and Democrats in a Tuesday congressional hearing over his infamous remarks that the health care law was passed due to "the stupidity of the American voter," none of the Big Three network morning shows on Wednesday made any mention of the latest development in the controversy.
By Scott Whitlock | December 10, 2014 | 3:14 PM EST
Three of the nation's major newspapers downgraded ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber's testimony to the U.S. Senate, keeping it off the front page. The New York Times on Wednesday demoted the story to page A-20.