Lies of Obamacare: Senate Dems edition

John McCormack and Michael Warren joined forces to gauge the reaction of Senate Democrats to one of the foundational lies of Obamacare. They caught up with our own Amy Klobuchar. Where was Al Franken? There is no evidence that they were able to attempt contact Al Franken, without whom Obamacare would not be Obamacare. As it happens, Franken is up for reelection next year. You can be sure that Minnesota’s unfunniest former comedian would have engaged in evasive maneuvers if McCormack and Warren had managed to get him in their sights. McCormack and Warren report:

Asked Tuesday to explain the news that millions of Americans were losing their insurance policies, contrary to the president’s promise, Senate Democrats responded with a mixture of denials, evasions, and historical revisionism. Nearly all refused to say if they opposed Johnson’s bill.

“He didn’t say anything wrong,” Senate majority leader Harry Reid said when asked about Obama’s promise. “That was true.”

According to Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Democrats had only promised that Americans could keep their insurance if it was “good insurance.”

“We said when we passed that, ‘If you had insurance that was good insurance that you wanted to keep it, you could keep it,'” Landrieu said.

She declined to say if she would support a measure to let Americans keep the plans they had in 2013. “I haven’t looked at it specifically,” Landrieu said.

“We can look at that,” said Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. “That’s something we can look at.”

When asked if Americans should be able to keep their current plans, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin would only say, “What I’m understanding is that people, like in Florida, are getting advice on transitioning and hopefully they’ll have a higher quality, lower-cost plan.”

Many Senate Democrats tried to avoid answering questions about the president’s broken health insurance promise. Senators Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas (both of whom are up for reelection next year) held their cell phones against their ears when approached for questions. Mark Warner of Virginia simply scoffed and walked away when asked if Americans should be allowed to keep their current health plans. Oregon senator Ron Wyden asked if we could talk later.

Others blamed the insurance companies.

“Insurance companies cancel insurance policies. That’s what they do,” said Reid.

“You should talk to the insurance companies if they’re dropping people,” said Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. “The idea here is to have affordable insurance to people that don’t have it.”

“I think whenever possible, they should be able to keep their plan,” Klobuchar finally admitted.

“I don’t think there’s any surprises yet,” said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland of reports of insurance cancellations.

“The free market did not change,” Cardin added. “The ability of an insurance carrier or employer to maintain their plans was there, and some are taking other actions.”

Cardin was the only senator asked by TWS to flatly reject the measure to let people keep the plans they had in 2013. “I think it’s just too early to look at changes for 2014,” he said.

The Senate Democrats have a lot in common with Obama. Among other things, they are his enablers and they think we’re really, really stupid.

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