Obama: Mandate is Not a Tax (Flashback 8/20/2009. OBAMA LIED, AGAIN!)

abc ^ | 9/20/2008 | George Stephanopoulos

[tobyhill]

President Obama signaled in our interview that he was prepared to address some of the concerns raised by key Senator Jay Rockefeller, who called the Baucus bill a "big middle class tax increase" this week.

That means he'll support more subsidies for middle class families.

But in our most spirited exchange, the President refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy health insurance is equivalent to a tax.

Here it is:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You were against the individual mandate...

OBAMA: Yes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: ...during the campaign. Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?

OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here -- here's what's happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average -- our families -- in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what I've said is that if you can't afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn't be punished for that. That's just piling on. If, on the other hand, we're giving tax credits, we've set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we've driven down the costs, we've done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you've just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that's...

STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but it's still a tax increase.

OBAMA: No. That's not true, George. The -- for us to say that you've got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase.

[dinodino]

Obama lied? Hardly news.

Now, if Obama said something that WASN’T a lie, THAT would be news!

[Oceander]

Even so, the tax route is an even easier slam-dunk than the failed Commerce Clause route - the individual mandate is clearly a tax, and is just as clearly a so-called head tax or capitation tax - i.e., it's imposed on you just because you're a citizen or resident of the U.S. - and because it isn't imposed in accordance with the census, it's an unapportioned head tax, making it unconstitutional.

[BuffaloJack]

Keep your mouth closed. It’s Obama’s yellow rain.

[LibLieSlayer]

HE has NEVER told the truth in his evil lifetime.

LLS

[norwaypinesavage]

"How is that not a tax?

OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. Here -- here's what's happening. You and I are both paying $900, on average -- our families -- in higher premiums because of uncompensated care. Now what I've said is that if you can't afford health insurance, you certainly shouldn't be punished for that. That's just piling on. If, on the other hand, we're giving tax credits, we've set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we've driven down the costs, we've done everything we can and you actually can afford health insurance, but you've just decided, you know what, I want to take my chances. And then you get hit by a bus and you and I have to pay for the emergency room care, that's..."

This is truly the rambling of a fool. No one could possibly call this a coherent argument. To those who think Obama is smart, but evil, I submit this exchange. It is proof he is dumber than a box of rocks.

[hondact200]

What do you expect from a parasite! he will never be able to tell the truth about anything. Wait till the final judgement and God states “I knew you not, and you are cast into eternal damnation>” Obozo will tell God, who do you think you are I am god, and I can tell you what to do. The bastard child has a serious problem - he is nuts and a pathological liar.

[blau993]

Obama and Holder need to get their stories straight. In at least one lawsuit seeking to enjoin the individual mandate, the Justice Department has argued that the court has no power to enjoin it because it is a tax and the separation of powers doctrine bars a court from enjoining the collection of a tax.

[ThunderSleeps]

Of course obama lied. obama lies every time he opens his mouth, literally. Now, not every word or sentence he utters is a lie. But in any and every prepared public statement longer than a couple of sentences...he has a history of lying in every one. In this regard obama is the most un-trustworthy President ever. He will lie to the American people at any and every opportunity to advance his anti-American, anti-business, socialist/fascist agenda.

obama/Reid/Pelosi's health care plan for America is a huge tax. They are forcing everyone to buy in, including young just-entered-the-workforce types who have typically not carried insurance for a few years relying on their youth and good health to see them through with no significant expenses. Well people, you have a significant expense now - obamacare. You will be paying into it. Your taxes will be going into it. You're going to get doubled-dipped unless and until a conservative Congress can rip that monstrosity apart.

[Diogenesis]

OBAMA: (lies)

STEPHANOPOULOS: (defends lies. says he is Christian.)

Obama lying, and Stephanopoulos lying and covering
things up for the DNC-certified Liar from Kenya, is NOT news.

[RandallFlagg]

I’ve also been told that it’s also unconstitutional because it’s a violation of equal protection. Some are required to pay into it, some aren’t.

[13Sisters76]

OBAMA LIED. THE AMERICAN ECONOMY DIED.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

For Obama’s voting base, this evil will be pretty close to free. For the rest of us, we will be completely strapped and unable to do much else than pay taxes so that these deadbeats can live like the middle class, without the usual discipline of hard work, study and sacrifice to get to that level.

This will guarantee a steady following for these people. We either stop this thing now, or it will be too far gone to fix.

[Oceander]

I don’t know if there’s an equal protection violation, because - as far as I know - the only real exemption for writing a check to Uncle Sugar is because you already wrote a check to a democrat-preferred insurance company. However, in that case, there is no difference (other than the actual amount paid - insurance premiums being more expensive than the fine levied if you don’t have democrat-preferred insurance) because it’s all a tax - whether you write the check to Uncle Sam or to Democrat Party Insurance Co., it’s still all monies that have been coercively paid, and therefore a tax, at least to the extent of the penalty amount that would have been levied had a particular individual not had democrat-preferred insurance. Of course, since those amounts bear no correlation to income, or any other transactional-based measure of tax, that means that the tax cannot be an income tax (not measured by actual income), nor an excise tax (no transaction on which it’s imposed), and therefore it cannot be anything other than a capitation tax - a direct tax that must be apportioned among the states in proportion to the census population figures - and since it’s not apportioned, it’s unconstitutional.

[cranked]

Look......one important rule to follow in regards to lamearse Jack Squat Barry and anyone in his idiot-ridden administration: if their lips are moving, they are lying, period. =.=