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Obama Blames ‘Bad Apple Insurers’ for Canceled Insurance Plans

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Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesPresident Obama tried a new tack Wednesday as he fought back against criticism of his Obamacare claims.

Fact-checkers and journalists have ruled that Obama wasn’t being truthful when he claimed that people who liked their insurance could keep it. Obama during a speech in Boston sought to cast the issue Wednesday as trying to weed out “bad apple insurers” who don’t provide enough coverage.

“One of the things health reform was designed to do was to help not only the uninsured but also the under-insured,” Obama said. “And there are a number of Americans, fewer than 5 percent of Americans, who’ve got cut-rate plans that don’t offer real financial protection in the event of a serious illness or an accident.

“Remember, before the Affordable Care Act, these bad apple insurers had free rein every single year to limit the care that you received or used minor pre-existing conditions to jack up your premiums or bill you into bankruptcy.”

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In Health Care Mess, Obama Reaps What He Sowed

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Photo Credit: Washington ExaminerGiven the Affordable Care Act’s multiple crises in its first month of implementation, there’s no way President Obama and his fellow Democrats could be having a good time right now. But imagine if, instead of passing national health care legislation with only Democratic votes in 2009 and 2010, the president had won even a little Republican support for his health scheme. What if Obamacare had passed with ten GOP votes in the Senate and 30 or 40 in the House? If that had happened, the program would still be a mess, but Obama’s political problems would be far less serious.

If Obama had 10 Republican senators and 30 or 40 GOP representatives on his side, those lawmakers would be invested in the program’s success. And the GOP would be effectively divided on Obamacare, instead of solidly united. Some Republican lawmakers would likely favor approving additional money for implementing the troubled program, or perhaps favor holding off on vigorous oversight for a while, or at least not attacking 24-hours-a-day. Instead, Obama is facing a solid wall of Republican opposition.

There’s a story about First Lady Hillary Clinton’s attempt to pass a national health care plan back in 1993 and 1994. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the old Democratic senator, told her that such far-reaching legislation had to pass with a really big majority to make sweeping changes in American life. “They pass 70-to-30, or they fail,” Moynihan told Clinton, according to a recent account by Todd Purdum in Politico.

Back in 1993, the Senate had 57 Democrats, meaning a major bill would have needed 13 Republican votes to pass Moynihan’s test. As it turned out, Clinton ignored Moynihan’s advice and her health care scheme went down in flames.

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Poll: Obama Approval at All-Time Low

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Photo Credit: APPresident Barack Obama’s job approval has dropped to an all-time low, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows that a mere 42 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s job performance, down five points from a poll conducted in early October. The president’s disapproval rating stands at 51 percent, tying an all-time high for Obama.

In all, 41 percent of respondents say they have a less favorable opinion of the president since the 16 day government shutdown, compared to 21 percent who say they have a more favorable view since the shutdown.

The Affordable Care Act has made headlines since the flawed launch of HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1, and the poll shows that the website’s glitches might have raised concerns about the entire law’s tenability. Forty percent say they are less confident in the law based on what they have heard about it in the last several weeks, while 50 percent say the last few weeks have had no influence on their confidence in the law.

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Video: Even Liberal New York Magazine Turning Against Obama’s Obamacare BS

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Photo Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesYou know things are bad for President Barack Obama when New York Magazine, no bastion of conservatism, is producing videos pointing out your lies.

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Report: Obama Knew He Was Lying About Keeping Your Insurance

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Photo Credit: APIn a blockbuster report on Monday, sources told NBC News that at least half to three quarters of those who buy individual insurance will have that insurance cancelled by their insurers over the next year thanks to changes mandated by Obamacare. A huge number of the people forced off their current insurance will have “sticker shock,” the sources said. What’s more, President Obama knew all that even as he campaigned on the promise that if you liked your insurance, you could keep it: “the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.”

Robert Laszewski of Health Policy and Strategy Associates has been a supporter of Obamacare, but stated, “This says that when they made the promise, they knew half the people in this market outright couldn’t keep what they had and then they wrote the rules so that others couldn’t make it either.” On Monday, White House spokesperson Jessica Santillo said that people might have to pay more for insurance, but that their insurance would be better: “One of the main goals of the law is to ensure that people have insurance they can rely on – that doesn’t discriminate or charge more based on pre-existing conditions. The consumers who are getting notices are in plans that do not provide all these protections – but in the vast majority of cases, those same insurers will automatically shift their enrollees to a plan that provides new consumer protections and, for nearly half of individual market enrollees, discounts through premium tax credits.”

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Democrat Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein Calls for ‘Major Review’ of NSA Spying and Says it’s a ‘Big Problem’ if Obama was Unaware

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Photo Credit: APThe U.S. Senate’s top foreign intelligence official said Monday in a scathing statement that she is ‘totally opposed’ to spying of the sort that has gotten the Obama administration into hot water this week.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, seemed miffed at the idea that she and her colleagues were out of the loop when the president’s men conducted surveillance on foreign leaders in Europe and Latin America.

And she said President Obama’s lack of knowledge about monitoring of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phones going back to 2002 posed ‘a big problem.’
So she’s tightening the leash.

‘The White House has informed me that collection on our allies will not continue, which I support,’ said Feinstein.

‘But as far as I’m concerned, Congress needs to know exactly what our intelligence community is doing. To that end, the committee will initiate a major review into all intelligence collection programs.’

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Obamacare Site Designer CGI Federal Executive Spent ‘Christmas with the Obamas’

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Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton, facebook.com/tonitwhitley
Michelle Obama’s relationship with Princeton classmate Toni McCall Townes-Whitley, whose company earned the no-bid contract to design the disastrous Healthcare.Gov Obamacare website, continued after the Obamas moved into the White House.

Townes-Whitley and her husband even enjoyed “Christmas with the Obamas” at the White House in December 2010, according to a Facebook album created by Townes-Whitley.

Although neither Michelle Obama nor Townes-Whitley has discussed their relationship, the Christmas event took place just seven months after Townes-Whitley joined CGI Federal as a senior vice president.

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‘Extortion’: Holder Abuses Law to Enrich Former Employer, Target Republicans

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Photo Credit: AP

We are going to punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us. –President Barack Obama, October 2010.

The Obama Justice Department has increased Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions over 65% compared to the prior administration, a dramatic shift that stands to benefit Attorney General Eric Holder’s former law firm Covington & Burling—the firm that helped write the law and describes itself as “a leading voice” on FCPA enforcement and compliance. Several FCPA investigations by the Obama Justice Department have included companies headed by top Republican donors including Koch Industries, Las Vegas Sands, Inc., Walmart, News Corporation, and Hewlett-Packard.

Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President and Breitbart News Senior Editor-At-Large Peter Schweizer makes the stunning charges and lays out the evidence in his new book, Extortion: How Politicians Extract Your Money, Buy Votes, and Line Their Own Pockets. Schweizer appeared last week on 60 Minutes and Hannity after the New York Times published two articles on the book’s investigative findings.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was created in 1977 to ban American companies doing business overseas from bribing foreign officials. Executives found guilty of violating the law can face up to 20 years in prison. The law was written with the help of lawyers at Covington & Burling, the former law firm of Attorney General Eric Holder and former DOJ Criminal Division head Lanny Breuer.

On its website, the firm boasts, “Covington lawyers have a unique command of anti-corruption laws, in part due to our role in helping draft the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in 1977.” The firm describes itself as “a leading voice in the private bar on US legislation and policy guidance relating to FCPA enforcement and compliance.” Breuer has since left DOJ and gone back through the revolving door to Covington where he makes nearly $4 million as vice chair of the firm. His duties, of course, include helping clients navigate “anti-corruption matters.”

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President Embraces Role as ‘Salesman’ for Obamacare

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Photo Credit: AP/Charles Dharapak)President Obama in his weekly address Saturday said he was proud to be a “salesman” for Obamacare despite criticism over the glitch-filled rollout of the law’s insurance exchanges.

“Some people have poked fun at me this week for sounding like an insurance salesman. And that’s okay,” said Obama. “I’d still be out there championing this law even if the website were perfect.”

Obama’s comments came after another week of withering criticism over the administration’s rollout of a new website designed to enroll consumers in the health care law’s public insurance exchanges.

Obama said at an event Monday that he is frustrated with the website and vowed it would be fixed, but also defended the health care law as a “good deal” for the public.

Opponents of the health care law criticized Obama, saying he was forced to resell the public on supporting his signature legislative achievement.

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Richard Dawkins On Real Time: ‘I’m Sure Obama is an Atheist and I’m Sure Kennedy Was’

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Photo Credit: mediaite.comOxford professor and celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins joined Bill Maher Friday night to talk about his personal evolution from theism to atheism, why a scientific view of the universe does not entail a series of random events, and which public figures he believes are secretly atheists.

Maher and Dawkins agreed that people like them are often called “militant” atheists, when, in fact, the real problem people have with them is their “clarity” and how steadfast they are on these issues. Dawkins acknowledged he used to be religious, adding, “When I became a man I put away childish things.”

Dawkins dispelled some truly erroneous myths about science and atheism, said that something as simple as a sneeze can change the fabric of human history, and shared this colorful metaphor for the creationists.

“If you believe that the world is only 6000 years old, as some of these people do, given that the true age of the earth is 4.6 billion years, it’s equivalent to believing the width of North America is eight yards.”

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