Can you say "October Surprise"?
A mushrooming political battle over ObamaCare involvingthe White House, two incumbent Pennsylvania congressmen, threeCatholic hospitals and a nun has just exploded in, of all places,Scranton, Pennsylvania. Charges from the Scranton medical communityof intimidation by the Obama White House and its allies are fillingthe air.Â
All of this just as Vice President Joe Biden arrives inScranton today to raise money for one of theparticipants.
There are two issues at the core of thecontroversy.
1. ObamaCare and the sale of three Scranton-area Catholichospitals.
2. The re-election prospects of the two House members,Democrats Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney, both of whom cast keyvotes to pass ObamaCare.
Here's the list of players -- major and minor -- sofar."¢Â The President of the United States."¢Â The Vice President of the United States."¢Â Three Scranton-area Catholic hospitals suddenly forsale."¢Â The CEO of the three Scranton-area Catholic hospitals forsale."¢Â ObamaCare, otherwise known as "health care reform" or the"Affordable Care Act.""¢ A Catholic nun."¢Â Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak."¢Â A pen."¢ Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of the late Senator TedKennedy."¢Â Time magazine."¢Â The Scranton Times"¢ The two Scranton-area House members Kanjorski and Carney, bothlosing in the polls."¢ U.S. Senator Bob Casey, Jr., a native and resident ofScranton."¢ Congressman Joe Sestak, the Democrats'nominee for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat.
Where to start? That would be"¦.
March 22,2010: President Obama signs theAffordable Care Act (aka "ObamaCare") into law in front of livetelevision cameras and a packed East Room of the White House.According to news accounts, the President uses 21 different pens tosign his name, the highly prized souvenirs of the historic momentgiven to Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader HarryReid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Victoria Reggie Kennedy, thewife of the late Senator Ted Kennedy along with a very selecthandful of others.
The President, after being introduced by an exuberant VicePresident Biden (who whispers "this is a big f"¦g deal" into thePresident's ear and is picked up by a live microphone)says:
"I heard one of the Republican leaders say this was going to beArmageddon. Well, two months from now, six months from now, you cancheck it out. We'll look around and we'll see."
Almost immediately -- it didn't take two months much lesssix -- the White House is confronted with a rapidly acceleratingset of unintended consequences spreading across the country. Aslisted by the Wall Street Journal, thoseunintended consequences included 2011 premium increases shooting upas high as 9%; "multibillion-dollar corporate writedowns byVerizon, AT&T, Caterpillar and others"; the disruption ofinsurance markets, a show-down with McDonald's, the imposition ofprice controls on premiums, insurers withdrawing from MedicareAdvantage.
In what appears to have become a pattern, the responsefrom the Obama Administration has been repeatedly swift and harsh-- compared by one critic as an episode straight out of theSopranos, the famous HBO mobster series.
The corporate writedowns -- done in compliance withfederal law -- resulted in angry phone calls from then-Obama WhiteHouse chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and colleague Valerie Jarrett tocorporate CEO's and the heads of the Washington corporate officesof those involved. Congressman Henry Waxman threatened acongressional investigation into those companies whose obedience tothe law put them at odds with the actual results of ObamaCare.Notification by insurers that rates were being forced up byObamaCare resulted in a threatening letter from Health and HumanServices Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to insurers warning that suchcandor would not be tolerated -- at risk of not being allowed toparticipate in a future government-run health care exchange forinsurers.
Then, suddenly, on October 6 -- five days ago -- the fuseto what is becoming a huge political explosion waslit.
Letter to the Editor
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Wow. Just think how much other crap is going on in Obama's worldthat we don't know about!
Its all about mob wants to rule everything,it is a part of biggoverment,their members the unions, big banks.
The media controls the stories and without the media Obama isnothing. Will this story get legs? No. Until people start goingafter the media for their unbelievable liberalism and bias thennothing will change. Start holding the professional left wing mediaaccountable and work your way down to the weakest link - theAdministration.
Find ways to shut off their endless money supplies. If, 20million drop their cable etc it will bankrupt them over time. Cableetc dollars do flow heavily into the networks and offending mediaconglomerates. Did you see the CEO of Time Warner on Cavuto ? He ischomping at the bit to have his programming 24/7 at a variety ofreceiving devices put upon every consumer possible. They are inparticular targeting your kids and compelling you to pay. Heexplicitly said on Cavuto forget about pay as you go and a la carteprogramming . He wants one big monthly check sent to him todistribute as he sees fit. He will see to that financially weakTime mag survives. Thus, a mag alot of you have said no to youstill pay for. This is all very complicated. I do not have allanswers but if ever a subject deserves a true congressionalinvestigation and oversight this is it.
We cut off our cable about 10 years ago. Gives you a lot moretime to do more meaningful things. Like taking on the anti-Semitesat Amspec, for example. LOL.(And before one of them tries to say I meant that toward you,gearjammer, I do NOT!)
And I think your idea is an excellent one.
God bless.
I have four TV sets, but haven't had cable, satellite or even anantenna in 10-15 years. I got disgusted with it. I've cancelled mysubscriptions to Time, Newsweek and U.S. News. I get my news fromthe internet and newspapers. 'Bye MSM!
We need more like you and Margie. Thanks Margie-I do not thinkthose evil Jews own the media. But, sadly that sorta stuff is stillout there.
Thanks!
Read Dinesh D'Souza's new book, Roots of Obama's Rage. DDpresents persuasive evidence that Obama adopted the anti-colonialgoals of his father. Obama wrote Dreams FROM My Father--not OF myfather. Obama is an anti-colonialist who hates the U.S. because heviews it as a colonial power through its military and economicpower which he wants to destroy. He thinks the rich, the middleclass, and capitalism are domestic colonialists which must bedestroyed. Many of BO's decisions that seemed hurtful to ournational security and domestic freedoms now seem quite sensible foran anti-colonialist president. When he smiles I think of a smilingcobra.
I ordered it from Amazon Saturday.
I totally agree with your statement. Obama's agenda is to breakAmerica and lead her downfall. He fully plans to make us asocialist/Marxist society with more and more people dependent onthe gov't. He's made great strides in accomplish this. His actionsshow this to be true. I don't understand why he hasn't beenimpeached for going against the Constitution: disregard for bordersecurity, bailing out companies, forcing legislation that themajority doesn't want. The bailout receivers were being paid backfor huge donations to his campaign, but the kick is: taxpayer'smoney. It's like he has been given a blank check and we areallowing it. When does it stop? When does Congress balance thepower? I call for checks and balances.
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