It sure seems like it’s time for President Barack Obama to throw in the towel with his “if-you-like-your-plan-you-can-keep-it” rhetoric, as 44 has even lost the support of famed liberal and HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher.
Maher and guest Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) battled over Obama’s broken promise to the American people during his show Friday night. While the Democratic National Committee chair attempted to perpetuate Democrats’ rhetoric surrounding the claim Americans can keep their current health plans under Obamacare, Maher wasn’t having it, saying Obama clearly lied.
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“So it was a bad week for the President. Let’s be honest here. We’re not like them. We don’t live in the bubble,” Maher said. “It was a bad week. It looks like he told a lie. I think he kind of did.”
But the Florida Democrat disagreed, arguing Obama did not lie at all.
“It was not a lie, let’s just be very clear. So let me knock that down right away,” Wasserman-Schultz said. “When the president and myself and every other Democrat that talked about that if you like your health care you can keep it, that was referring to the overwhelming majority of Americans who had health care … and in fact, what the reality of Obamacare is is that, not only are they able to keep their health care, but it is very likely going to cost less and have better benefits.”
Maher wasn’t having it, though, prompting Wasserman-Schultz to just be honest as some people can’t actually keep their plans.
“Obamacare says basically if you have a really crappy plan, you can’t keep it. That’s the truth. Now, I would say to people, ‘Why do you want a crappy plan?’ But some people want crap. What can I say?” Maher said. “And because of Obamacare they are not being able keep it. To me that is a lie.”
The “Real Time” host asked fellow guests movie director Rob Reiner and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson if they felt Obama’s promise was a “lie or no lie,” but each skirted the question.
Maher though, equated Obama’s failed affirmation to President George H.W. Bush’s “no new taxes” promise, calling it a “campaign pledge that didn’t quite hold up to the realities of governing.”
Watch the clip below, courtesy of Mediaite.
