Carney: Harkin 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: The Hill

On the heels of criticism from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) over the delay in ObamaCare's employer mandate, White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday that those who suggested delaying the employer mandate in the president's signature healthcare law was unusual were "willfully ignorant about past precedent."

"People who suggest that there's anything unusual about the delaying of a deadline in the implementation of a complex and comprehensive law are, you know, deliberately sticking their heads in the sand or are just willfully ignorant about past precedent," Carney said. "It's just not — it's not serious."

Republicans have highlighted comments by Harkin, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in an interview with The New York Times, in which he suggested that delaying the provision requiring large employers to offer healthcare coverage subverted the law.

"This was the law. How can they change the law?" Harkin asked the paper.




Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/310201-carney-harkin-willfully-ignorant-on-obamacare-delay

[JDPriestly]

1. Harkin is right.

Obama does not delay when it comes to appointing Republicans to top positions in his administration, but when it comes to making this health care program that so many Americans need and are counting on a reality, delay, delay, excuses, excuses.

If employers don't want to do their part, then we need to switch to single payer and simply tax all employers and employees for health care -- all of them.

That's what European countries that I have lived in did. They just took the money out of your paycheck and pursued employers who did not pay for the single payer coverage of their employees.

No ifs, ands, or buts. And everyone gets covered.

[MotherPetrie]

2. Whoa... Harkin clearly hit a nerve. And Carney once again shows

the Obama Administration's ass.

[forestpath]

5. +1000

[geek tragedy]

12. So you agree with the Republicans then. nt

[ForgoTheConsequence]

16. Sarcasm?

Republicans are criticizing the delay because they hate the bill and want proof that its not going to work. Harkin is criticizing the delay because he knows that its one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. Harkin voted for the bill and he also supported single payer, he's one of the most liberal/progressive senators and has a great voting record.

[geek tragedy]

17. Carney was very respectful of Harkin if you actually read the transcript.

It was the Republicans he took a swipe at.

[KamaAina]

3. My new favorite phrase in Beltwayese: "regulatory capture".

That's what someone called this yesterday, "regulatory capture".

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. is that what happens when someone is inside the Beltway for too long,

and they lose all sense of reality?

[KamaAina]

8. Probably

but I think they mean "passing a grand, sweeping law for show, then dragging your feet about implementing the regulations".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Heumann#Life

She also organized the sit-ins at the U.S. Department of Health Education, and Welfare offices in San Francisco and around the U.S. which resulted in HEW Secretary Joseph Califano signing the Rehabilitation Act's Section 504 regulations.

[xocet]

6. The Hill Changes Titles -> "Carney: Harkin, critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay" TO...

NOTE: My apologies to the OP for the criticism of the OP's title which changed again after I posted this. I am sorry for the criticism.

...previously...

For LBN: Use the EXACT TITLE of the article you are posting, without additional comment. If there is no title yet, be descriptive.

It seems that The Hill has a bit of a slant in its imprecise headline and that the OP left "..., critics..." out of the title.

Carney (time index 1:17) to Jonathan Karl: "Jon, you can pretend this is about Tom Harkin, but you know its not."

Here is a similar rebuke of a FOX News reporter:

Here is the New York Times article that contains the Harkin quotation:

Seeing Opening, House G.O.P. Pushes Delay on Individual Mandate in Health Law
By JONATHAN WEISMAN and ROBERT PEAR
Published: July 9, 2013

WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders on Tuesday seized on the Obama administration’s one-year delay of a mandate for larger employers to offer health insurance or face penalties, demanding the same postponement for the mandate on individual insurance purchases and promising a series of showdowns aimed at dividing Democrats from the White House.
...

Some Democrats were also dismayed by the White House’s actions. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and an author of the health law, questioned whether Mr. Obama had the authority to unilaterally delay the employer mandate.

“This was the law. How can they change the law?” he asked.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/10/us/politics/house-gop-pushes-delay-on-individual-mandate-in-health-law.html?_r=0

(N.B., The White House does not seem to have this video up yet on their site - otherwise, I would have sourced the video differently.)

NOTE: The Hill seems to be adjusting its article headline: the original headline probably read as in the OP. My apologies to the OP. The article now has a headline of "Carney: GOP critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay":

Carney: Harkin, critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay
By Justin Sink - 07/10/13 02:28 PM ET

On the heels of criticism from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) over the delay in ObamaCare's employer mandate, White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday that those who suggested delaying the employer mandate in the president's signature healthcare law was unusual were "willfully ignorant about past precedent."

...

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/310201-carney-harkin-willfully-ignorant-on-obamacare-delay#ixzz2Yg3hISgz

became

Carney: GOP critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay
By Justin Sink - 07/10/13 02:28 PM ET

On the heels of criticism from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) over the delay in ObamaCare's employer mandate, White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday that those who suggested delaying the employer mandate in the president's signature healthcare law was unusual were "willfully ignorant about past precedent."

...

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/310201-carney-harkin-willfully-ignorant-on-obamacare-delay#ixzz2Yg2QUIWk

[Doctor_J]

14. Why does Carney take questions from Karl and Fox?

That is really stupid IMO - patronizing anti-American terrorists.

[xocet]

20. That is a very good question. n/t

[forestpath]

7. Whoa, defensive much, Carney?

[wpelb]

9. Past precedent

... Jay Carney said on Wednesday that those who suggested delaying the employer mandate in the president's signature healthcare law was unusual were "willfully ignorant about past precedent."

The problem is that if you're running, or have run, on a platform of "hope and change," you can't really appeal to "past precedent" to justify your actions. It would have been smarter for Carney to direct reporters to language in the bill that allows or even requires the administration to delay the implementation, assuming that such exists and isn't couched in so much legalize the layperson can't understand it.

[Hydra]

10. Selective enforcement FTW

And what's with the PR sloppiness lately? It's like there's no motivation to make it look polished anymore.

[AllINeedIsCoffee]

11. I watched this press conference.

He said this during a rant about Republicans using this as an excuse for repeal.

When questioned about Harkin, he was very respectful.

Someone at The Hill is trying to make a big stink about nothing.

[Tx4obama]

13. Article headline at the link= Carney: GOP critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay

Please edit your OP subject line to reflect the 'published' headline.

Thanks

[xocet]

21. The Hill has been changing the published headline on that article....

What you are seeing is, I believe, either the second or, possibly, third headline that article has had.

[Cha]

15. Actual Headline: Carney: GOP critics 'willfully ignorant' on ObamaCare delay

You're going against LBN rules here, Freddie.

[Enrique]

18. i agree the Hill's headline is a lie

i just watched the video of Carney, he resisted the reporter's efforts to make it about Harkin.

[Peregrine Took]

19. If true, Tom Harkin should take that little horned rim glasses brat

and put him over his knee for a good spanking.