Carney's talking point was that the 6 million sign-ups were unexpected based on the website problems and therefore must reflect the popularity of the awesome program.
But hold on. The baby bird media might buy such a thing but average humans should be skeptical. Do a bunch of people signing up for a program right before the deadline actually mean it's popular, or does it simply mean there was a deadline? After all, if surges of activity before government deadlines are now an indication of popularity then paying taxes to the IRS via the Post Office must be a hugely popular!
The GOP should be addressing this as a "no duh" moment. Of course there was a surge--it's THE LAW. Obama was recently out warning people they may GET FINED for not applying. The hugely popular IRS is involved, who may TAKE MONEY FROM YOU if you don't 'get covered'. So what do the numbers mean? They could mean the program is popular, but they just as easily may mean there are a lot of people are law-abiding Americans who take deadlines seriously. After all, wouldn't more have signed up earlier if it was so awesome? As the WH said, there were many ways to sign up apart from the website.
No, the only metric to gauge popularity right now is the polling data, which does not back up Carney's fantasy. ABC reporter Jonathan Karl started down that road in the press briefing yesterday but he didn't go far enough. The GOP should take it the rest of the way. After all, the administration claims to be science-friendly--they should be made to show how such a contention is verifiable.
YES, BUT 4/1/14
As predicted by some the administration just came in with just a smidgen over 7 million sign-ups, which triggered one of the biggest end-zone dances ever seen on the 25 yard line. The question "how many actually paid?" was not answered by Carney today--heck, he didn't even refer reporters to HHS/Sebelius for a non-answer, just saying "we'll provide it later". Perhaps on the evening before Memorial Day weekend.
Speaking of sports, Obama welcomed the evil Boston Red Sox (evil because they beat the Cardinals, that's all) to the White House for a World Series congratulation ceremony and made yet another sports gaffe, this time botching the pronunciation of Mike Napoli's last name. When added to the self-proclaimed "baseball lover" and White Sox fan's description of Comiskey Park as "Kamensky Field"--then not being able to name a single favorite White Sock--it surely appears the president is a pretend baseball fan.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with not being a baseball fan--he would share it with millions, but it appears he simply can't bring himself to admit it publicly. Maybe it's out of fear of being called an outsider from Kenya, etc. But ask yourself which is worse, a guy who stands up and says "I'm not the biggest baseball fan but I love basketball" or a guy who calls himself a baseball lover then calls his favorite team's ballpark "Komensky Field"? And yes it's relevant, because it reflects character and an ability to flim-flam for a cause.
1 comment:
If five million lost healthcare coverage and seven million signed up for Obamacare, how many really signed up?
If there were 45 million uninsured and we say seven million signed up, with five of them being from the "previously insured" ranks, this means a mere sliver of a fraction of people affected are now covered.
It's a wonder anyone at all signed up for a smoke and mirrors program that opens up a failure from the beginning.
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