Watch as Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner freaks out when pushed on how Republicans would (via Politicususa):
This is my favorite exchange between Boehner and Norah O’Donnell:
NORAH O’DONNELL: Why not, then, if you like some of the provisions in the Affordable Care Act, why not work with it rather than ap– repeal the whole thing.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (overlapping): No, no, no.
NORAH O’DONNELL: Even Mitt Romney said–
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (overlapping): No, this has to be– this has to be ripped out by its roots. This is government taking over the entire health insurance industry. The American people do not want to go down this path. They do not want the government telling them what kind of insurance policy they have to buy and how much they’re going to pay for it and if you don’t like it, we’re going to tax you. It has to be ripped out and we need to start over, one step at a time.
NORAH O’DONNELL (overlapping): And so you say so– so– so to heck with all these provisions like additional preventative care for children, for women–
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER (overlapping): All of them. All of– we can– we can replace. While we replace this, we can have a common-sense debate about which of these provisions ought to stay and which ought to go.NORAH O’DONNELL: So all those people who have preexisting conditions, you say we’re going to get rid of this and then at some point we’ll deal with it?
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN BOEHNER: Listen, I’ve already outlined we believe there’s a better way to provide access to high quality health insurance in a different way than we have in Obamacare. We believe ours will work just as well at much less cost to the American people.
To be honest, I’m kind of surprised John Boehner didn’t break down in tears at some point during the interview, given his penchant for turning on the waterworks.
I saw the whole thing as it was broadcast Sunday AM. I credit Norah O’Donnell with an Excellent Interview. She actually pressed for answers, instead of settling for generalizing and blather, like so many jounalists do.
There seems to be a lot of hand-wringing about how the investigative journalism once pursued so eagerly by print and broadcast is threatened by the rise of online everything. Well, it will take a LOT more interviews like Norah’s to convince ME that commercial journalism as an institution has anything like the teeth and gumption that Norah showed on with Mr. Boehner. She’ll have to show it when Dems are evasive and vague as well.
As long as there are sponsors to be offended, and the business community concentrates its efforts against the economic success of its employees, who are also its end-customer’s, commercial journalism will have precious few Norah’s, and a lot more bland fluff like the Ann Coury-less Today Show, and lots of interviewers who take anything for an answer except an actual answer. MBB
Yes, Michael, it always erks me when interviewers ask pointed questions and then allow the interviewed to segue into another message. Paul Ryan is especially good at that…Boehner not so much, which is why he cries a lot.
Boehner should do a comedy routine that’s a variation on Jeff Foxworthy’s “You could be a redneck” act:
ISTBY
If you lost your job … iit sucks to be you.
If you don’t earn enough money to feed your kids … it sucks to be you
If you lost your home to foreclosure … it sucks to be you.
If you cannot get health insurance due to pre-existing conditions … it sucks to be you.