Surprise, NOT! Media erroneously implies that Obama wants to tax health Benefits

[FrenchieCat]

What obama actually said last night on ABC that it is some in congress who are proposing this, and that he thought it was a bad idea. Plus, on top of that, he also said that what was being discussed in Congress was not what John McCain had proposed, but rather the capping nontaxable health benefits at about $13,000-$16,000, e.g., the Cadillac Plans.

MSNBC however has decided that this is not the message that they want to report. So instead, they have "chosen" to report that it is the President who is considering proposing this tax, and they have been running a piece of video from ABC where it is easy to imply that this is his proposal....because they cut out the part where he states that he doesn't believe that this is a good way of generating additional revenues to pay for health care.

In otherwords, it appears that it matters little what the President is actually saying, because the Media will make him appear to say what they have decided. Guess they rely on those they are supposed to be informing to having not seen the program, or if they did see it, having misunderstood it, or folks simply being confused.

That is why the Corporate media is Public Enemy No. 1.
The GOP being the skunks that they are is expected....
but the Corporate media being enablers should let us know
that just because something is published in newspapers,
or reported by the electronic media, doesn't make it true.

[masuki bance]

1. Obama said it was a bad idea?

I thought I heard him say-
"I don't want to prejudge what they're doing,"

[polmaven]

2. I absolutely heard

him say "I think it is a bad idea".

[masuki bance]

4. I found this with a quick google-

WASHINGTON – With lawmakers trying to crunch the numbers on a $1 trillion health care overhaul, President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to a new tax on employer-provided health care benefits.

Senior senators said Wednesday the benefits tax could be essential for the complex plan to be fully financed.

"I don't want to prejudge what they're doing," Obama said, referring to proposals in the Senate to tax workers who get expensive insurance policies. Obama, who campaigned against the tax when he ran for president, drew a quick rebuff from organized labor.

...

At the White House, Obama sidestepped when asked if he was open to taxing health care benefits, a proposal he opposed vigorously in the campaign for the White House.

"I have identified the ways that I think we should finance this. I think Congress should adopt them. I'm going to wait and see what ideas ultimately they come up with," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Organized labor weighed in quickly.

Gerald W. McEntee, president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said in an interview that union leaders believe Obama is "a person of his word." He was referring to Obama's opposition to taxing those benefits during last year's campaign.

"They're not going to tolerate that," McEntee said of workers' views of that proposal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090625/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_overhaul

[FrenchieCat]

7. Transcript

OBAMA: Well, I continue to strongly disagree with John McCain's plan

that he presented during the campaign which was to eliminate the

deduction

(Gibson grunts in an attempt to interrupt the President as he is speaking right here!)

-- let me finish…

GIBSON: But you went after -- you went after him for suggesting that we

tax that money.

OBAMA: I'm about to answer your question, Charlie.

GIBSON: OK, good.

OBAMA: The -- I continue to believe that it would the wrong way to go

for us to eliminate the deduction -- or the exclusion on health care

benefits that essentially taxes current benefits.

What is being discussed in Congress right now is capping those -- that

deduction or that exclusion at a certain level. I continue to believe

that's not the best way to do it, because I think that what you would

see, certainly if you eliminate it completely, essentially employers

would stop providing health insurance.


And then we would really have to have either a public plan or what John

McCain was proposing, everybody just gets that money back in wages and

then -- or tax credits and you go out and you shop by yourself.

The problem is that the amount of money you're getting back is not going

to be the same as the cost of an average insurance plan, especially if

you're not in a pool. What's being -- that's not what is being discussed

right now in Congress.

They're saying, at a certain level, whether it's $13,000 or $17,000 a

year, which is what they consider to be a high-end or a "Cadillac plan,"

maybe your deduction would phase out. I continue to believe that the

better way for us to fund this is through the capping of the itemized

deduction.

But I think there are people, you know, in good faith who are saying a

cap would at least prevent these "Cadillac plans" that end up having

people over-utilizing the system. That's a debate that is taking place

in Congress right now.

I'm pushing my idea, other folks are pushing their ideas. There is going

to have to be some compromise at the end of the day.

GIBSON: All right. Mr. President, we'll take another break. NIGHTLINE
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/Story?id=7920012&page=4

[Phx_Dem]

10. Thanks Frenchie! I knew I heard him say that.

The only way to verify anything absolutely is to get the transcripts because the media just makes shit up and then reports it as fact. And, while a lot of people on DU and blogs know the media is full of it, they continue to freak out and then push the media's misrepresentations.

:puke:

[FrenchieCat]

13. The part that they are showing as the video to support their faulty assertion

that Obama considering taxing health benefits is this snipet:

That's a debate that is taking place in Congress right now.

I'm pushing my idea, other folks are pushing their ideas. There is going

to have to be some compromise at the end of the day.

Which, if you look at the portion of the transcript that I posted,
that part is at the way end and is not directly addressing the taxing health Benefits
question so much as what Obama says at the beginning. In otherwords, they are
using selective omission and out of context soundbytes to misinformed.

They are a bunch of fuckers, and I don't believe shit that they "report".
I'm serious.

Also watch for non reporting of Health Care March going on today in D.C.,
although we had to listen about sparsely attended Tea Bag Parties for
weeks on end.

Again I stress, The Corporate media is our No. 1 Public Enemy. Period.

[masuki bance]

5. The good news is that he has always been against it

campaign video against taxing health care benefits-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l8ZOMd468o

[FrenchieCat]

9. That is why the MSM is twisting it.....trying to say that he was against it.....

but is now "considering" it......which of course is the lie. Others are considering it, while he doesn't believe that it would work.

That's the point of my op.

[Eric J in MN]

3. There are low-paid workers at charities who have good health benefits.

I don't want for them to have to pay higher taxes.

We should be enouraging organizations to give better health coverage, not discouraging it by taxing health benefits.

[glowing]

6. Does it matter. Most of us are willing to pay more tax or more in the medicare

bracket for healthcare.. so we can toss away crappy insuranceCare. Its a moot point. We are willing to be more socialistic at this point. You know how sucky it is to watch a co-worker.. and un-wed almost to be mother get healthcare from medicare, help with food stamps and WIC, and when she goes on maternity, welfare? I got married, so now I make too much money. Go figure my hubby and I are just as poor as she and her boyfriend are, but they put these stipulations on people. Which is why middleclass people are resentful of the proverbial "cadillac Queen", why? because we pay taxes and when we need a "social service" we are denied. The easiest way to stop the slashing of much needed socialized services is to allow more access to all people to them. You know how nice it would be to have some help with daycare costs. AND I'm tired of hearing I "make too much money" when most nights I'm scrambling to pull anything together for dinner.

Healthcare for all would be a wonderful sigh of relief. It would be really nice not to have to worry that if I get cancer, I would at this time choose to die, rather than put my family out on the street for treatments that might not work.. all while having the crappy insurance that we do.

[FrenchieCat]

8. Does it matter that the media makes shit up that isn't so and reports as though it is

I'd say.....HELL YES!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. Leading Democrats should go on the media and spell it out

the more the merrier!

[glowing]

16. The media sucks. Its a thorn in our side.

I really don't think we are going to get what we need or want until Americans finally get off their collective asses and work together.

Life is not fair; but damn it, shouldn't we try and make it more so. The media is just part of the battle. Their lies do not faze the people who have been collectively screwed.

[Cha]

12. They're fucking lying..

It's their mission to confuse, obfuscate, and make sure a health plan beneficial to all Americans does not happen.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Which is why the folks here attempting to aim their ire at this President

in reference to Health Care are barking up the wrong fucking tree.

If they want to make a difference, they need first to know who they are fighting,
and it really ain't this President.......even if they want to think so cause it is easier
to demonize that one, rather than addressing the real culprit (because that culprit has so much power, they know that they are almost defenseless).

I said this last week, and I stand by it now.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8484631

[Cha]

15. Of course..you see it, I see, and a

lot of people on DU know what's going on.

I know how frustrating it is with all these posts that don't have a clue and what a distraction they are from getting what they want(that is if they really do want comprehensive health care for all Americans).