During this trying time Dear Leader returned today to his faith roots to push Obamacare.
Let’s hope he refrained from his “fruitcake distortion” of the Bible during his conference call.
The Hill reported:
President Barack Obama on Wednesday tried to retake the upper ground in this month’s healthcare debate by casting reform as a “moral conviction” in a conference call with religious leaders.
“The one thing that you all share is a moral conviction,” Obama said. “This debate over healthcare goes to the heart of who we are as American people… This is part of an ethical and moral obligation that we look out for one another.
“In the wealthiest nation on Earth, we are neglecting to live out that call,” the president said.
Obama asked religious leaders to help him “spread the truth” about reform, and also took the opportunity to push back against critics. He accused insurance companies of spreading “misinformation,” dismissed the idea that the legislation would create “death panels” as “just an extraordinary lie,” and rejected as a “fabrication” the claim that abortions would become government-funded. “Not true,” Obama said.
UPDATE: An Obama official gave a deliberately misleading response to a question on abortion funding today during a health-care reform discussion with religious representatives on BlogTalkRadio.
The NC Register reported:
In response to the direct question posed about abortion funding, Melody Barnes, director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, provided what appeared to be a deliberately misleading response…
With respect to abortion funding, Barnes replied, “You know, I’ve heard lots and lots of rumors about what the bills do or don’t do. I really want to be clear about this. The president has said that it’s longstanding policy that federal funds won’t be used for abortion coverage. Health reform, and our health reform efforts, are not intended to force Americans to purchase health insurance that includes coverage they don’t want, and they should be able to purchase coverage that reflects their values and basic needs. And it’s not intended to reduce insurance coverage that Americans already have. “
The difficulty with Barnes’s response is that it does not address the substance of the specific concern raised by the U.S. bishops, in recent public statements warning that the health-care reform bills currently before Congress leave the door open for taxpayer funding for those Americans who opt for public insurance plans that include abortion services.
