British import Piers Morgan showed himself to be a left-wing hack on Monday night when he openly stated his support for ObamaCare on his eponymous CNN program Piers Morgan Live. The host brought on White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and asked a couple of critical questions about the rollout of the health care law. However, it soon became apparent that Morgan’s criticism came from his desire to see the law succeed.
After one defensive answer from Carney, Morgan let the press secretary know that he was sympathetic to the president’s health care industry overhaul: “ I agree with you. You haven’t got to persuade me.” Morgan then explicitly declared himself an ObamaCare supporter: [See video below the break.]
"But my position, though, is it's very frustrating for your supporters like me and others. I don’t agree with all of ObamaCare, but I broadly agree with the ethos behind it."
Later in the program, during a heated roundtable discussion, Morgan again proclaimed himself a fan of the law. After arguing that ObamaCare has had a rough beginning, Morgan added, “And I speak as somebody -- I support the basic ethos of Obamacare. I come from Britain where everyone gets health care.”
On the same program Morgan also spoke to Karmel Allison, the woman who nearly fainted while standing behind President Obama at his health care speech on Monday. Morgan seized the opportunity to ask a somewhat odd question: “Do you see yourself as a great example of ObamaCare at its finest as the president himself leaned back to save you?” I guess the point is that Obama cares... and sometimes he’s actually there to take care of someone.
Below is a transcript of the segments:
PIERS MORGAN: Now let's take Senator Cruz's point first of all. Many people are calling for Secretary Sebelius to resign. Your predecessor Mr. Gibbs has come out and said that heads should roll. At what point if this continues, say we're in, I don't know, six weeks’ time or two months’ time and you're having the same amount of difficulty with this system, at what point do you consider a head rolling?
JAY CARNEY, White House press secretary: It shouldn't be about, you know, making -- having heads roll or firing people, Piers. I mean it is – the Senators whose comments you broadcast earlier, you know, I think -- we know that there have been opponents of ObamaCare. I mean, Republicans, Ted Cruz in particular, not John McCain, but Ted Cruz led a campaign to shut the government down over his opposition to ObamaCare. And remember what that means, that's opposition to a plan and a program that will provide affordable health insurance to millions of Americans, private sector health insurance through these marketplaces.
MORGAN: Right, but I agree with you ...
CARNEY: So ...
MORGAN: You haven’t got to persuade me.
CARNEY: But therefore is on ...
MORGAN: But my position though is it's very frustrating for your supporters like me and others. I don’t agree with all of ObamaCare but I broadly agree with the ethos behind it. I come from a country where everybody gets free health care if they want it. So I totally subscribe to the ethos of what you're doing, but there's got to be a point, a limit, hasn’t there, to the president's patience on his flagship program. The one that many believe may be his great legacy, and if the system that is designed to facilitate it continues to fail, someone's got to be accountable. If it's not him who's it going to be?
(...)
MORGAN: Do you see yourself as a great example of ObamaCare at its finest as the president himself leaned back to save you?
KARMEL ALLISON: It's a fun metaphor, I suppose. I think that, you know, as the president was saying today, ObamaCare at its finest is, you know, my experience earlier, you know, the reason I was there, I wrote a blog post about the fact that I'm a Type 1 diabetic since I was nine and since that time, I've been lucky enough to be covered because I was covered before I was diagnosed but have never been able to switch coverage and have always lived with the fear that, you know what, if something happens, if I want to move out of California, if I want to, you know, if I needed a job that was somewhere else, that might not be possible because it's too expensive or I won't be able to get coverage if I leave my current coverage but ...
MORGAN: And what did he say to you afterwards, the president, anything?
ALLISON: He was, you know, he asked how I was doing, made sure I was OK and, I mean, I was extremely appreciative of that.
MORGAN: Well listen, I'm glad you joined me, Karmel. It was a dramatic moment and fortunate everything is fine and I wish you all the very best with your baby.
(...)
MORGAN: It's her responsibility that Obamacare could start in an effective way.
(CROSSTALK)
And I speak as somebody -- I support the basic ethos of Obamacare. I come from Britain where everyone gets health care. I get what ...
(CROSSTALK)
To a place where 11 million more people than we’re going to ...
PENN JILLETTE: Yes.
MORGAN: ... will be put under health care. I like the ethos.
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: ... but you can’t have a system that is so chaotic.
