Obama Health Care Summit: Live Coverage

UPDATE: The Obama infomercial is in full swing. Obama just introduced Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, to give a presentation.

That moment came right after Obama completely dissed John McCain.

There should be no doubt that this meeting is an Obama White House propaganda production.

From what I've seen, it's a disaster for Obama.

He's showcasing the Republicans, giving them an opportunity to point out that the Dems have spewed baseless health care talking points and allowing them to challenge the Dems' disgraceful process of bribes, closed door meetings and backroom deals.

Obama and the Dems are on defense. Actually, they've done the Republicans a huge favor.
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UPDATE: Obama just slapped down John McCain. Really inappropriate. I don't think McCain is happy.
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UPDATE: Exclusive: What happens next in health care

After a brief period of consultation following the White House health reform summit, congressional Democrats plan to begin making the case next week for a massive, Democrats-only health care plan, party strategists told POLITICO.

A Democratic official said the six-hour summit was expected to “give a face to gridlock, in the form of House and Senate Republicans.”

Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week, the strategists said.

Keep that in mind while watching this joke of an alleged bipartisan effort to work together to create a health care plan.
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UPDATE: The White House is doing live spin of the health care summit on Twitter.
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UPDATE: The Democrats are not coming off well. They aren't giving Republicans equal time. Of course, the stuttering, stammering, teleprompter-less Obama has an explanation for that:

"I don't count my time because I'm the president."

Sounds like the deck is stacked and Obama has no problem saying it.
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From Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico: "The big bipartisan lie"

Heading into Thursday’s summit, there’s been a lot of talk on both sides about how they’re the reasonable ones, willing to meet in the middle — and it’s the other side that’s to blame.

But the reality is, both sides have been responding to the overwhelming incentives to play to the home team, and to tailor their positions to seek partisan advantage and political gain.

So in the end, the health care summit seems most likely to clarify what has been an obvious reality lurking just below the surface at almost every turn in this episode, which is that neither side is really on the level when they say they were committed to bipartisanship.

Nor do they really want to split the difference — to do something in six hours at Blair House that they wouldn’t do all year.

The parties have become so entrenched in their positions that Republicans say they will never accept the Democratic comprehensive reform bill, and Democrats say they will never start over and adopt the GOP’s scaled-back, market-driven approach.

What a royal waste of time!
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This is it!

Are you ready?



Funny.

Health Care Summit Won't Be Seen Live on Most C-SPAN Channels

Despite pleas for greater access to coverage of health care reform debate, viewers may not be able to watch live coverage of Thursday's White House health care summit on C-SPAN -- or even C-SPAN 2.

You won't see it on C-SPAN. More than a year after candidate Barack Obama promised that the entire health care debate would be broadcast live on the channel, and after months of Republican complaints that Democrats were negotiating behind closed doors, Thursday's health care summit will not be broadcast on C-SPAN.

Obama's top-level bipartisan summit won't even be seen on C-SPAN 2.

Television audiences who rely on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2 for uninterrupted coverage of public affairs events will have to tune to C-SPAN 3 or other cable outlets, including Fox News, to watch the event.

FoxNews.com will stream live coverage of the White House summit in its entirety.

C-SPAN may have to bail out because it is committed to its long-standing tradition of airing live floor proceedings in the House of Representatives, and C-SPAN 2 does the same with the Senate. Even when bills, amendments or votes are not scheduled, the two channels will always air procedural business, such as special orders and morning business.

Both congressional chambers are expected to be in session Thursday while lawmakers attend the day-long summit at Blair House. The House is taking up intelligence authorization; the Senate's schedule is not set.

So what is C-SPAN 3, and who gets it?

C-SPAN 3 picks up the slack when events are not covered by the other two channels, and at other times it airs archival historical programming. For example, earlier this week C-SPAN 3 aired the Toyota recall hearing, which was a committee hearing held while the House and Senate were in session.

Direct TV and DISH Network do not carry C-SPAN 3, leaving a paltry 31 million households who get it from their cable systems.

This thing is going to be such a joke.