Obama Outrageously Denies IRS Targeting Scandal on Daily Show, Nets Censor

President Barack Obama outrageously denied there was anything scandalous about the IRS-Tea Party controversy, in his Tuesday interview on The Daily Show, as he lectured Jon Stewart that: “When there was that problem with the I.R.S. everybody jumped, including you....you got this back office and they’re going after the Tea Party. Well it turned out no.”

 Obama went on to assert “the truth of the matter is there was not some big conspiracy there.” Obama was never challenged by Stewart on this dodge despite the recent bombshell news that Lois Lerner had a meeting with the Justice Department and the FBI to target Obama opponents.  

While all Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) network morning shows, on Wednesday, offered glowing coverage of Obama’s sitdown with Stewart, not one of them picked up on Obama’s scandal denial. 

 CBS This Morning’s Vladimir Duthiers offered the most nostalgic, sentimental coverage when he reminisced, “Like two old friends just enjoying each other’s company, Tuesday night, Jon Stewart and President Obama both reflected on the approaching conclusion of their careers.

” The I.R.S. portion of the video begins after the end of the 7:06 mark. Fast forward or let it play to see second part.

he following is the relevant exchange from the July 21 interview as it was shown on Comedy Central’s official The Daily Show website:  

BARACK OBAMA: When there was that problem with the IRS everybody jumped, including you. 

JON STEWART: What happened with the I.R.S.?

OBAMA: Look, look, you got this, you got this back office and they’re going after the Tea Party. Well it turned out no. Congress had passed a crummy law that didn’t give people guidance in terms of what it was they were trying to do. They did it poorly and stupidly. But that becomes, but, but -

STEWART: Wow! You really only do have a year left. That’s unbelievable! Throwing it out there. 

OBAMA: But hold on Jon - this is important. But the truth of the matter is there was not some big conspiracy there. They were trying to sort out these conflicting demands. You don’t want all this money pouring through non-for-profits but you also want to make sure that everybody is getting treated fairly. Now the real scandal around the I.R.S. right now is that it has been so poorly funded that they can’t go after, they can’t go after these folks who are deliberately avoiding tax payments. And the real scandal is a tax code where multinationals can pay zero taxes making massive profits. 

So we tend to get distracted by the fact that there are going to be elements - because government is a human enterprise - where somebody somewhere is screwing up at any given time. Because it’s a huge system. Overall it works really well to help a lot of people. What is scandalous is the fact that we are not making as much progress as we should on the basic things we know government should be doing. Rebuilding our infrastructure, rebuilding our roads, rebuilding our ports. Setting up a smarter system for distributing energy. 

STEWART: Right. 

Via: Newsbusters

Continue Reading....

WHY I PREFER TO SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS

While the likes of Jon Stewart and others in the liberal intelligentsia might dismiss the idea there is a War on Christmas, the truth of the matter is that with every passing year people are more and more reluctant to wish one another a Merry Christmas. At times, people are expressly forbidden from saying Merry Christmas, as was the case this year at an elementary school deep in the heart of Texas. This is no accident and we are the poorer for it.

Although a recent poll indicates more Americans prefer to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, I believe most of us deep down would rather say Merry Christmas. In my own observations, most people settle for saying Happy Holidays. This term has been generally used as a catch-all phrase for Christmas and Chanukah, and in recent years has encompassed the celebration of Kwanzaa. But this year Chanukah began the night before Thanksgiving, thus giving birth to the term Thanksgivukkah. Although this convergence won’t happen for another 7,000 years it does seem particularly odd to say Happy Holidays when the last night of Chanukah took place on December 5.

Now I have nothing against anyone saying Happy Holidays if they mean it from the bottom of their hearts. No Salvation Army bell ringer ought not to have their bell rung if they choose to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

Nevertheless, I do find that when people do 

Via: The American Spectator

Continue Reading....

Jon Stewart interrogates Debbie Wasserman Schultz about the “troubling” effects of Obamacare on ‘The Daily Show’

After receiving no acceptable answers about the failed Obamacare implementation from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, comedian Jon Stewart was forced to consult Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) — and the host essentially interrogated the Chair of the Democratic National Committee about the President’s healthcare law, as she tried her best to dodge his questions.

Wasserman Schultz sat down with Jon Stewart on Tuesday’s episode of The Daily Show, where the duo had a lengthy discussion about the current state of Obamacare. Their interview comes just three weeks after Stewart shredded Sebelius on his show.

The host primarily wanted to know two things: why President Barack Obama didn’t know about the problems with HealthCare.gov prior to its dismal launch and why Obama promised that people wouldn’t lose their current health insurance — and now they are.

“Both of those things strike me as really troubling at a foundational level,” the host said. “Is that understandable as a concern?”

“Well, there’s no question that it was problematic that the website was not working properly right from day one,” the Congresswoman dodged.

“But that he [Obama] was not aware of it,” Stewart pressed. “Apparently after a day, they said he found out.”

“I think we have to look past and not focus — ” Wasserman Schultz responded.

The host began laughing, but then let her continue.

Via: Red Alert Politics

Continue Reading.....

Obamacare Heading Into a Death Spiral

It was the most succinct -- and graphic -- analysis yet offered of the political implications of the Obamacare rollout.

"There's no way Democrats can spin this ----," said comedian Jon Stewart. That it was Mr. Stewart who said this is significant, because he has a big following among healthy young people, who must sign up for Obamacare in the millions to keep what so far has been mostly farce from becoming a fiasco.

And he was spot on. Most of the "mainstream" media have treated Democratic spin as news, and -- if it reflected poorly on the Obama administration -- played down or ignored genuine news.

The media shield has protected the president from failures in foreign policy, in which most Americans have little knowledge and less interest, and has limited blowback from scandals which most Americans don't think concern them.

But no amount of spin can cloak reality for Americans whose health insurance policy has been canceled, or whose premiums have doubled. Those who've spent hours fruitlessly trying to access Obamacare websites find it harder to believe the president is on top of things, his administration competent.

Obamacare screwups are too big, too obvious, too close to home for journalists to ignore. Despite the welcome distraction of the government "shutdown" -- whose mostly imaginary consequences could be blamed on Republicans -- more negative stories have been written and broadcast about the Obama administration in the last three weeks than ever before.

And now, with the "shutdown" over, Obamacare's botched rollout is the No. 1 story.

Most media attention has been directed at the "glitches" which cause Obamacare websites to crash under volumes of traffic many blogs handle with ease. They won't be fixed for months, IT experts say. If the sites aren't up and running by the middle of November, it'll be all but impossible to sign up enough people to keep Obamacare from going into a financial "death spiral." But IT problems are the least of Obamacare's troubles.

Via: Real Clear Politics

Continue Reading.....

Charles Krauthammer squares off against Jon Stewart on the merits of conservatism

Via: Daily Caller

JON STEWART’S SCATHING OBAMACARE CRITIQUE IS AS RUTHLESSLY HONEST AS IT IS FUNNY

All Democrats needed to do in order to secure a political advantage was execute the implementation of Obamacare in a “mildly competent” fashion, at least according to comedian Jon Stewart.

Well, they failed — and Stewart is letting them know it.

Comedy Central

After slamming the GOP’s shutdown strategy, Stewart claimed that the country was ready to “turn blue.” Now, there’s just one big problem… or 99 of them.

“Yes, apparently the Healthcare.gov website has 99 problems, but a glitch is all of them,” Stewart joked.

After playing a clip of a news report outlining the problems users are having with simply logging in on the website, he then noted that “the first step” doesn’t even work. The horrific rollout of Obamacare has left Democrats completely unable to “spin this turd,” he added.

Watch the rest of Stewart’s scathing Obamacare takedown via Comedy Central (Warning: Some strong language):

Via: The Blaze

Continue Reading.....

3 Liberals Who Are EMBARRASSED By ObamaCare's Disastrous Implementation ... How Many More Are Out There?

While many liberals are busy explaining away the disastrous launch of Obamacare’s online exchanges, these men of the left are big enough to admit all has not gone well.

1.) The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein

The liberal pundit is a big Obamacare booster, but he concedes that the program’s launch has been something less than triumphant.

“So far, the Affordable Care Act’s launch has been a failure,” Klein wrote in a Monday post entitled, “Five Thoughts on the Obamacare disaster.” “Not ‘troubled.’ Not ‘glitchy.’ A failure. But ‘so far’ only encompasses 14 days. The hard question is whether the launch will still be floundering on day 30, and on day 45.”

“A lot of liberals will be angry over this post,” he continued toward the end of his article. “A lot of conservatives will be happy about it. But it’s important to see the Affordable Care Act as something more than a pawn in the political wars: It’s a real law that real people are desperately, nervously, urgently trying to access. And so far, the Obama administration has failed them.”

“The Obama administration’s top job isn’t beating the Republicans,” he added. “It’s running the government well. On this — the most important initiative they’ve launched — they’ve run the government badly. They deserve all the criticism they’re getting and more.”

2.) Comedian Jon Stewart

The liberal host of “The Daily Show” isn’t exactly an Obamacare fan — it appears he would prefer a single-payer system. Nonetheless, he conducted a brutal interview of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius last week, in which he mocked the launch of Obamacare’s online exchanges for being an unmitigated disaster.

“We’re going to do a challenge. I’m going to try and download every movie ever made and you are going to try to sign up for Obamacare — and we’ll see which happens first,” Stewart joked after opening a laptop computer.

During the interview, Stewart also questioned the fairness of delaying the employer mandate while not doing the same for the individual mandate, and accused Sebelius 0f lying to him. That’s probably not the type of interview the secretary expected when she signed on to do the show.

3.) Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs

Even Robert Gibbs, who was once one of President Obama’s closest aides, is shocked by the incompetence of Obamacare’s implementation.

“This is excruciatingly embarrassing for the White House and for the Department of Health and Human Services,” Gibbs said Monday on MSNBC, where he is now a contributor. “This was bungled badly. This was not a server problem, just too many people came to the website. This is a website architecture problem.”

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading.....

Obamacare Supporters Turn on the Law

For a sense of how poorly the rollout of Obamacare’s exchanges is being received even amongst people predisposed to being supportive of the law, it’s instructive to compare USA Today’s harsh Obamacare editorial today to the hopeful one it posted a week before the exchanges went live.

At the end of the month, the paper’s editorial board posted an editorial touting the availability of affordable coverage for all in just a week’s time. “Glitches are inevitable,” the piece warned. But it reminds readers that Medicare Part D went through a rocky implementation and rollout too, and it’s quite popular now. “Maybe that's what ObamaCare's critics really fear,” the unsigned editorial declared, “that once people realize the non-stop demonization of the new health law has been mostly lies and exaggerations.”

Today’s editorial is not so forgiving. Headlined, “Exchange launch turns into inexcusable mess,” it says the exchanges amount to “an epic screw up.” The piece goes on to make the comparison to Medicare Part D once again. And this time it’s not so friendly.

President Obama's chief technology adviser, Todd Park, blames the unexpectedly large numbers of people who flocked to Healthcare.gov and state websites. "Take away the volume and it works," he told USA TODAY's Tim Mullaney.

Via: The Reason

Continue Reading.....

Sebelius: Individuals Can Get A One Year Obamacare Delay -- By Paying The Penalty

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius defended Obamacare in a very contentious interview with Daily Show host Jon Stewart on Monday night.

Stewart pressed Sebelius on why businesses get a one-year delay on Obamacare but individuals do not. After several attempts for an answer, Sebelius eventually said individuals could delay Obamacare for a year -- by paying the penalty.

JON STEWART: So this is what some would consider the first mall that's been created [for purchasing health care insurance].

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: You bet. The first -- new rules for companies.

STEWART: So why is it that individuals, though, couldn't say that they didn't want to do it just for a year, like business?

SEBELIUS: Well, they can.

STEWART: Oh, they --

SEBELIUS: They'd pay a fine. They'd pay a fine at the end of the year, but they don't have to -- I mean, they can say I didn't want to do it. The theory is they can't pick and choose if they're going to get hit by a bus or diagnosed with a illness. For a lot of young folks, there is one fall on the basketball court, one auto accident from a lifetime of hospital bills they can't pay.

Via: Real Clear Politics

Continue Reading... 

'If four Americans get killed, it's not OPTIMAL': Obama's extraordinary response to Comedy Central question about shifting story after Benghazi attack

President Barack Obama, during an interview to be shown on Comedy Central, has responded to a question about his administration's confused communication after the Benghazi attack, by saying: 'If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.'

Obama was speaking to Jon Stewart of The Daily Show for a programme to be broadcast tonight. 

Stewart, a liberal whose young audience is full of potential voters prized by the Obama campaign, asked the president about his handling of the aftermath of the Benghazi attack.

Not optimal: President Barack Obama, pictured left, discussed the killing of four men in Benghazi while speaking to Jon Stewart, right, on The Daily Show

Ambassador Chris Stevens, diplomat Sean Smith and security men and former U.S. Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were killed by terrorists on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 - an attack that the White House initially blamed on a spontaneous protest about an anti-Islam movie made in California.

 

More...

• 'I wanted to take a swing at him': Mitt Romney's son says he wanted to PUNCH Obama after he called his father a 'liar' as rivals' bad blood boils over.
• 
  
• 'I'm pro-life and I'm happy to say that': Ann Romney stands up to the ladies of The View as she discusses her stance on abortion.
• 
  

Stewart asked: 'Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions? 'Not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happened within. 

'Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us being on the same page.'

Via: Mail Online

Continue Reading...