GOP Scandal Dies as Republicans Are Reduced To Whining About the Back End of ACA Website

GOP Scandal Dies as Republicans Are Reduced To Whining About the Back End of ACA Website

By: Sarah Jones 

Sunday, December, 1st, 2013, 12:50 pm

CNN’s Joe Johns updated Candy Crowley on the White House’s progress report on Healthcare.gov, which they say can now handle approximately 50,000 users at a time. This didn’t stop Rick Santorum from announcing on CNN’s State of the Union that ObamaCare is still disastrous because the “back end” is garbage.
Watch a short clip here via CNN:
 

Demonstrating how in touch he is with average Americans who’ve been denied healthcare by insurance company death panels, Santorum said that while the website might work better, the main question is “Is Obama competent?”
But also, you can talk to “anybody” — well, Santorum talked to some people in the insurance industry, and while most of the front end may be looking good, Santorum said insurance companies will struggle to sign people up for plans. “The information coming out the back end to the insurance companies is still garbage. It’s undecipherable.” Listing off the “misinformation”, Santorum went into his favorite area of moral superiority, “There’s husbands labeled as wives…”
We have no idea upon whose information Santorum based his intel regarding what comes out of the “back end” of the website other than his claim that it was people in the insurance industry (known for their honesty and love for being regulated by ObamaCare), but this is a man who calls a years old law a bill out of a partisan grudge, so chances are high that he’s exaggerating for partisan purposes.
 
In case you’re wondering, the “back end” is a real thing, and not more projection from the GOP. If the front end is the interface between the user and the back end, the back end is where things go that the user can’t see, like programming, databases, scripts and other automated functions the server performs.
A very concerned Santorum said worst of all was you may think you have signed up, but you may not. Yes, this is from the party who wants to repeal the entire law, now pretending to be upset because not everyone is getting signed up. TRUST.
It shocks no one with a working brain cell that the ObamaCare website is getting better. The website was overwhelmed and underfunded, due to Republicans refusing to run state exchanges as planned and then refusing to fund an expansion to the federal site to handle the overflow. This is like building a tunnel meant for 50 cars and flooding it with 5,000 cars. There’s going to be a long traffic backup getting into that tunnel.
This is the anatomy of yet another “scandal” dying. The only difference here is that this one had actual issues, but they weren’t scandalous. They were predictable, they were not done deliberately, and they were always going to be fixed.
You can tell the scandal is dying because Rick Santorum had to be hauled out to concern troll about the “back end”.

GOP Scandal Dies as Republicans Are Reduced To Whining About the Back End of ACA Website was written by Sarah Jones for PoliticusUSA.

© PoliticusUSA, Sun, Dec 1st, 2013 — All Rights Reserved

Leaked: The Republican Obamacare Sabotage ‘Playbook’

Leaked: The Republican Obamacare Sabotage ‘Playbook’

posted by Dylan Hock November 23, 2013 

CNN recently obtained a copy of a House Republican strategy memo released late last month titled, “Because of Obamacare… I lost my insurance.” Referred to as the Republican Obamacare “playbook”, the memo contains samples for everything from talking points, social media, op-eds, videos… you name it, including a “fact” sheet for Republican lawmakers fighting the Affordable Care Act.

First reported by Roll Call, a GOP source responsible for providing the strategy memo to CNN stated that it would be updated as of Thursday.
“The administration now has a serious competence problem.  Healthcare.gov is so much more than a website.  The website should have been the easy part,” a portion of the playbook reads.  The conservative angle present in even that small section should come as no surprise.  Republicans have been quite clear and vocal about their disdain for the Affordable Care Act.
The playbook was drafted by the office of House Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers amid a Republican fairytale regarding the stumbled roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.  President Obama noted at a Wall Street Journal event last Tuesday, speaking to some of America’s top CEO’s, “One of the problems we’ve had is one side of Capitol Hill is invested in failure.”
White House spokesperson Eric Schultz echoed President Obama, stating that the Republican “18 page playbook of partisan attacks is 18 pages longer than their health care plan.”  He went on to say, “There’s not a single word devoted to helping constituents enroll or offering an alternative idea to help Americans gain access to quality, affordable care.”
Democrats plan to continue supporting the Affordable Care Act a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi affirmed.
“While Republicans continue to fixate on sabotaging health reform and root for failure, House Democrats will continue to stand tall in support of the Affordable Care Act, work to strengthen the health reform law as implementation continues, and ensure that millions of uninsured Americans get coverage,” Drew Hammill stated.
Blind party politics is nothing new, but the Republican Obamacare “playbook” demonstrates the new depths of cynicism and partisanship of Republican efforts to sway the American perspective and dialogue.
Be sure to watch for similar Republican practices on every other important issue.  You can bet nothing is done without a playbook at the ready.
CNN reports on GOP playbook for Obamacare sabotage:

Ted Cruz makes his late-night debut Texas Republican appears on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'

Ted Cruz makes his late-night debut Texas Republican appears on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'

   
Author: By CNN's Bryan Koenig 
Published: Nov 08 2013 10:19:38 PM EST 
Updated On: Nov 08 2013 10:41:52 PM EST

CNN

(CNN) - Sen. Ted Cruz is no longer limiting his speaking engagements to friendly GOP events and marathon talks on the Senate floor, appearing for the first time Friday on late-night television.

The Texas Republican was on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to talk about the tea party firebrand's growing reputation and his stances on issues such as Obamacare and same-sex marriage. 

Cruz has fast become one of the most outspoken critics of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. 

Quick Clicks Issa issues another subpoena on Affordable Care Act website Navy launches USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier Petraeus didn't want top honor for soldier After Obama's apology, talk of solutions Victim's family: Navy missed 'red flags' NORML: Pot legalization on 'greased tracks' He picked up 2016 speculation steam as one of the leaders of the Defund Obamacare movement in Congress, an effort that helped precipitate the partial government shutdown when Democrats flatly refused to pass a government funding bill that also sought to destroy the health care law. 

Those tactics have gained Cruz intense ire from Democrats and even some Republicans, a situation that seemed to suit Cruz just fine Friday. Asked by Leno about descriptions of the freshman senator as aggressive, arrogant and abrasive, Cruz said, "Don't believe everything you read." 

Cruz continued, "What I'm trying to do is do my job," he said. "And occasionally people don't like it." 

On Obamacare, Cruz continued to maintain his tried-and-true talking points -- that the law is destructive and harmful, costing people jobs and money on their premiums. 

Cruz avoided labels of only wanting to do away with health care reform. 

"I'm a big believer in health care reform," Cruz said. 

"I think we ought to reform healthcare so it's personal, it's portable, it's affordable. We ought to empower patients rather than government bureaucrats getting between you and your doctor." 

Cruz also touched on some of the controversy surrounding his father, Rafael Cruz, a businessman and evangelical pastor who's made a number of controversial comments, including calling on President Barack Obama to be sent "back to Kenya." The two have frequently campaigned together and Cruz has often called his father his inspiration. 

The comments of his father that Cruz responded to Friday was the elder Cruz's opposition to same-sex marriage, an opposition the younger Cruz shares. But the younger Cruz feels the issue is one that should be determined state to state. 

Politics is a dirty game, Cruz acknowledged in the attacks against his father. 

"Some folks have decided to try to go after him because they want to take some shots at me," 

Cruz said. "But I think the critics are better off attacking me." 

Copyright 2013 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

Jon Stewart on CNN: Wolf Blitzer Asked Michele Bachmann to ‘Dumb it Down’ (Video)

 Dailies | By Brent Lang on October 30, 2013 @ 8:05 am

 

Stewart says CNN has reduced everything to good or bad, and that’s worse than being partisan

CNN may eschew the liberal politics of MSNBC and the conservative worldview of Fox News in the spirit of journalistic objectivity, but Jon Stewart says CNN is being worse than partisan: It’s being shallow.
“CNN has moved beyond this simplistic partisan world view to a simplisticier one,” Stewart said on Tuesday’s “The Daily Show.”
Also read: Bill Maher on Piers Morgan: Women Will Save Obamacare (Video)
Stewart said the network now boils down everything — from the latest developments in a murder trial to the Obama administration’s approach to healthcare reform — to the question of whether this is a good thing, or a bad thing.
“The beautiful thing about good/bad is that, like beige, it goes with everything in an equally unsatisfying manner,” Stewart said.
Also read: ‘The Daily Show’: Fear Not Obamacare Users – Congress is on the Case (Video)
Cut to Wolf Blitzer pressing Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann to boil down her objections to Obamacare.
“I just want to make this clear: That’s Michele ‘I think vaccines give you brain damage’ Bachmann being told by Wolf Blitzer to dumb it down,” Stewart said.
Stewart noted that it’s not just Blitzer who is employing the new good/bad mandate and ditching nuance.
“It’s like the word went out from CNN HQ, ‘Look, nobody watches this network unless they’re in the airport or going somewhere, so 86 the professor talk and just let the people know: Does this story go in my happy bag or my sad bag,’” Stewart said. “Emoticon me. Chop, chop. These people have planes to catch.”
Watch the video:

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