During the July 7 White House press briefing, Robert Gibbs brazenly misquoted Paul Ryan.
He did so to evade answering a question posed by CNSNews White House correspondent Fred Lucas. It was a very straightforward question: Does Obama agree with his recess appointee Donald Berwick's belief that "excellent health care, by definition, is redistribution"?
But Gibbs refused to answer, attempting to trick and trap Lucas.
Video.
Transcript
FRED LUCAS: Thank you, Robert. Yes, just a couple more follow-ups on the -- Dr. Berwick’s nomination. As far as some of the -- among the controversial comments that he’s made in the past that would have come out in a Senate confirmation hearing are that excellent health care is -- “excellent health care, by definition, is redistribution.” Some of the others were mentioned. Does the President actually agree with that comment?
ROBERT GIBBS: Look, this is somebody who is uniquely and supremely qualified to run an agency that is important to our government, it’s important to seniors, it’s important to implementation of the new health care law. And this is somebody supported not just by Democrats but by, as I said earlier, Tom Scully and Mark McClellan, who ran this agency -- both of whom ran this agency for George Bush.
LUCAS: But does the President agree with the previous statement?
GIBBS: I know that this is the exact type of political game that the American people have come to understand dominates Washington and doesn’t actually make their health care more affordable.
April.
LUCAS: One more on this. You said it would have been -- you’re confident there would have been a confirmation had there been a hearing. But do you also think it would have been politically troublesome in an election year to have all these comments aired out about rationing, redistribution that Dr. Berwick had talked about in the past?
GIBBS: You just read comments. Is there like a secret comment book that somehow you got that nobody else got, and you just read a couple of them to me -- (laughter) -- and somebody they wouldn’t have come out?
LUCAS: These aren’t --
GIBBS: Did he say things like, “rationing happens today; the question is who will do it”? Did he say that? Did he say that?
LUCAS: That was one comment. The comment that I just read --
GIBBS: Actually, that was Paul Ryan. That was Paul Ryan.
LUCAS: Okay, okay --
GIBBS: He’s a Republican in Congress.
LUCAS: All right, that’s fine. You got your own comments. (Laughter.)
GIBBS: That’s not my comment. That’s Paul Ryan’s comment.
LUCAS: Okay, that’s fine -- okay, that’s your own comment book. But the comment I just read to you came straight out of a speech he gave in Britain --
GIBBS: No, no, that came out of Paul Ryan’s mouth, the one I just read.
LUCAS: No -- okay, that’s fine --
GIBBS: “Rationing happens today; the question is who will do it.”
LUCAS: The quote that I read to you --
GIBBS: But you thought that Dr. Berwick said that, right? You told me that?
LUCAS: You asked me -- I thought -- it sounded like -- the quote -- I read a separate quote to you --
GIBBS: It sounded like it, but it seems to be the viewpoint of the member of Congress that has spent a lot of time talking about health care, right?
LUCAS: Yes, but --
GIBBS: Go talk to Paul Ryan and I’d be happy to take that question at a later date.
April.
LUCAS: Okay, but I read a separate --
Gibbs cut Lucas off and moved on to address another reporter's question.
So the following day, CNSNews sent Gibbs an e-mail.
Gibbs was again asked--in the July 8 email--whether President Obama agreed with Dr. Berwick that “excellent health care is by definition redistributional”?
Gibbs again did not answer.
During the press briefing, Gibbs insisted that Ryan said, "Rationing happens today; the question is who will do it."
Gibbs didn't give Ryan's complete quote.
In fact, in an interview published on Feb. 2, 2010, Ryan told Ezra Klein of The Washington Post: “Rationing happens today! The question is who will do it? The government? Or you, your doctor and your family?”
How sleazy of Gibbs!
Ryan doesn't want government bureaucrats telling us and our families what health care services, drugs, and procedures we are allowed to have. He doesn't want the government interfering with doctors' ability to practice medicine as they see fit.
Gibbs owes Ryan an apology.
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