Media Alert! Pres. Obama’s Exclusive Interview with ABC

Obama: 'This is a Health Care Bill, Not an Abortion Bill'
President Says Still More Work to be Done on Legislation Passed by House
By JAKE TAPPER, KAREN TRAVERS, SUNLEN MILLER and DEVIN DWYER
Nov. 9, 2009

President Obama said today that Congress needs to change abortion-related language in the health care bill passed by the House of Representatives this weekend.

"I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill," Obama said. "And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions."

Saying the bill cannot change the status quo regarding the ban on federally funded abortions, the president said, "There are strong feelings on both sides" about an amendment passed Saturday and added to the legislation, "and what that tells me is that there needs to be some more work before we get to the point where we're not changing the status quo."

After a contentious debate, the House passed a health care bill Saturday that includes a provision banning abortion from being covered in the public insurance option contained in the bill. The bill also prevents women receiving insurance subsidies from purchasing private plans that cover abortion. Liberals in the House Democratic caucus were opposed to these provisions but voted for the overall bill.

Video excerpt

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/abc-news-exclusi...

You know what pisses me off? They are focusing on this abortion mess when the thing the public wants to know about is the public option. I notice the media, focuses on every other aspect of HCR they can to divert attention away from what is actually going on with the public option. Because the insurance companies have the money to control the debate...and abortion is just a distraction. The public option is what the public wants to know about!

This abortion talk obscures what is happening with the bill.

I'm so sick of the abortion hyperbole...I really really am. These mofos are acting like an abortion is basic healthcare maintenance like its the same as a damn pap smear. This bizarre twisted logic is getting on my last freaking nerve. WTH?!?! Oh Jane! I have a doctor's appointment today, yeah so I'm taking a long lunch..gonna go have me an abortion! see ya in a couple of hours!!.............NO Why are they acting like an abortion is the equivalent of a mammogram or an annual exam? Its NOT...its not basic coverage for any freaking health insurance policy! If they said the public option would exclude birth control pills, IUD, patch, any prescription method I would be mad as hell and on that bandwagon..but I am NOT going to be led into this foolish vortex over abortion coverage. Its just so damn crazy! I've never heard of any health insurance policy covering an elective abortion and I work in insurance!

Miranda, I am so glad you said it. I'm a man, I respect the constitutional right of choice, but all of this is driving me nuts. Last year, only 13% of abortions were funded by private insurance in the United States. Poor women on Medicaid do not have federally funded abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or the health of the mother.

I want women to have to same access to health care that men do. Am I wrong to see a first trimester abortion as an elective procedure. I looked it up, the cost is between $300-$600 for a first term abortion. I pay that much in uncompensated dental care each year.

*** hangs head in shame in advance for having to apologize for insensitive and sexist remarks ****

Its driving me crazy because I am adamantly pro-choice, but these knuckleheads would have us believe that somehow excluding an elective abortion from coverage would make one anti-choice. Nothing could be further from the truth. The way its being spun, it makes it seem like an abortion is "the usual" for women, its NOT. I'm sorry but the reality is any woman who truly wants to terminate a pregnancy, will do so and no not in a back alley, but will pay the $300 to $600 at a clinic and keep it moving. This is ridiculous, the issue with abortion has never been the cost, the issue has been the erosion of actual ACCESS if that's her choice.

There are certain days i simply will not listen to cable...today was one of them. Obama said it succinctly..this is a health care bill not an abortion bill.

But the media wants to rouse of political hate in opposition to President Obama.

There seems to be a clear and distinct pattern emerging. If Obama does anything of historical significance the media latches on to some red herring BS to yammer about ad nauseum, to diminish the significance of what POTUS has accomplished and to continually paint him as ineffectual, politically inept and it is all about what the GOP accomplished!

No one is talking about how the GOP is getting waxed, which should be what they are saying. For the better part of 2009, congressional Republicans had to try to convince the public that they didn't really want health care reform ("You may be drowning, but don't trust those folks trying to throw you a life-preserver -- it's a government life-preserver"). Now that this landmark piece of legislation has a real shot, congressional Republicans have to try to convince everyone that this once-in-a-generation opportunity -- the holy grail of domestic policy initiatives -- is somehow a political poison for anyone who supports it.

And the media happily spins that skewed politics as political reality. NOT!

It's simply not occurring to the pundits and talking heads who shape the driving political issues to ask, "How are Republicans going to explain their opposition to health care reform to voters? How will they tell families who can't get coverage due to a pre-existing condition that they fought like hell against the solution? How can they justify to workers who lost their coverage when they lost their job that they didn't want to approve a bill that would help?"

The GOP is on the wrong side of history, but it's good news for Republicans anyway. Everything always is.

That's why WEE are HERE, LRW.

Charlie Gibson should not have ever never ever been given an exclusive, after his EFF'd up moderating of that debate.

Agree, and remember the fucked up health care forum he and Diane Sawyer moderated at the White House last June?

No, can't say that I saw that or recall it,Shanti. And from your description I probably don't need to, lol. ABC is just bad news for Obama, I bet Gibson asks some real dumbshyt questions too, watch!

Jake Tapper did the interview, and he's just as bad or worse than Gibson.

Tapper gets on my last nerve!

He was constantly writing articles during the primaries casting aspersion on Obama's character and he was particularly nasty about the cigarettes...claiming to smell smoke on BHO..on the trail...etc.
He would make me sick with that.
I was always like...if the man is not smoking in public..and takes the extra effort not to be seen...why the hell you got to bash him about it with snide remarks about the nicotine gum isn't working...geesh.

I cant stand Jack Tapper. UGH..that smug micky-fick.

I just got home and ABC is gaming big time with the PBO interview. They are slipping bits of the interview in between what they consider broadcast jounalism and prescription drug advertisements......

Jake Tapper, major FAIL!

Yep. But with the breaking news from CBS about Obama sending 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, it's gonna be all for naught.