President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Solicitor General Donald Verrilli in the Oval Office, after learning of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” June 28, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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AP: ….In the split-second rush to report the Supreme Court’s health care decision Thursday, CNN and Fox News Channel got it wrong.
…. CNN apologized for its error, saying it “regrets that it didn’t wait to report out the full and complete opinion” that upheld the mandate requiring virtually all Americans to have health insurance. Fox, however, insisted it was right. “Fox reported the facts, as they came in,” said network executive Michael Clemente.
The inaccurate reports were the first ones seen by Obama, who was watching four television monitors outside the Oval Office. White House Counsel Katherine Ruemmler came in moments later with the true story.
…. Anchor Wolf Blitzer and reporter Kate Bolduan reported at 10:08 a.m. that the health care law had been struck down …. the screen read: “Supreme Ct. Kills Individual Mandate.” The news was tweeted and emailed to the network’s followers.
“The court striking down that mandate is a dramatic blow to the president,” said CNN reporter John King.
…. “Let’s take a deep breath and see what the justices actually decided,” Blitzer said. “It could be more complicated than we originally thought.”
Two minutes later, CNN reported the correct decision … that the entire law had been upheld, with King calling it “a huge, huge victory for President Obama.”
…. Obama’s first news about the decision came from television monitors outside the Oval Office, where the cable channels were reporting that the mandate had been struck down, according to administration officials. Within moments, Ruemmler hurried toward the White House and flashed the president two thumbs up. She explained her reading, and Obama hugged her as Chief of Staff Jack Lew looked on.
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Charles Pierce: …. you should really read Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s opinion in the health-care case, if, for no other reason, than to watch as, I think at least partly for the pure mischief-making hell of it, she roasts Antonin Scalia on a spit over that stupid argument about broccoli that, because he’s more bored with his day-job than the average toll-taker on the Mass Pike, Scalia dragged into the Court’s oral arguments from some drive-time doughbrain on AM radio:
That is so of the market for cars, and of the market for broccoli as well. Although an individual might buy a car or a crown of broccoli one day, there is no certainty she will ever do so. And if she eventually wants a car or has a craving for broccoli, she will be obliged to pay at the counter before receiving the vehicle or nourishment. She will get no free ride or food, at the expense of another consumer forced to pay an inflated price. Upholding the minimum coverage provision on the ground that all are participants or will be participants in the health-care market would therefore carry no implication that Congress may justify under the Commerce Clause a mandate to buy other products and services.
I hope she giggled while she read that.
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UK Independent: Huddled round a TV, with news-radio blaring in the background, Jerry and June Caldwell anxiously awaited the Supreme Court’s all-important verdict at breakfast time yesterday.
When it emerged that, against many expectations, ‘Obamacare’ had survived more-or-less intact, the couple leapt from their sofa, punched the air, and performed a celebratory high-five. “This,” declared Jerry, “is a great day for America!”
He should know. As victims of the free-market excess of the current system, the Caldwells are among hundreds of thousands of Americans who each year face bankruptcy because of unpaid medical bills….
…. ‘Obamacare’ won’t fix their problems overnight. But when it takes effect in 18 months, it will at least allow the Caldwells – who thanks to recent stays in intensive care are currently unable to find any health cover, at any price – to once more join the ranks of the insured. “From 2014, people can’t be turned down because of some pre-existing condition. And the cost of insurance will fall to a decent level,” says June. “That’s all that matters. We will be allowed and able to purchase insurance. As to the future, almost all civilised countries have some form of public healthcare. I feel that the US will get to that point some time. And the Supreme Court has now taken us to step number one on that road.”
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Charles Pierce: … as this whole pursuit of Eric Holder has gathered speed, I had no doubt in my mind at all that, sooner or later, he was going to be the first cabinet official ever held in contempt of Congress, and that it didn’t matter that the cheapjack grifter Darrell Issa already has said he doesn’t think that any crimes were committed, or that the White House was in any way involved, or that Fortune magazine pretty much blew up the raison d’etre for the whole business over the weekend. I just assumed, based on long experience, that, once they opened the ball on Eric Holder, they weren’t going to stop until they got at least a piece of what they wanted. This isn’t because they’re reckless partisans. It’s because they’re fking vandals who have the votes.
… So 17 Democrats went over the side and voted with the Republicans. The NRA has managed to scare themselves up a “bipartisan majority” about which the Republicans can crow. The rest of the Democrats proceeded to walk out en masse and Holder is now the first cabinet member in history to be held in contempt of Congress. What could not happen to John Mitchell during Watergate, Caspar Weinberger during Iran-Contra, or Alberto Gonzales during the scandal over U.S. attorneys, has happened to Eric Holder over something hardly anyone thinks is a crime, and almost nobody really understands. This is a triumph for know-nothingism, for the rule of the talk-show and the black helicopter crowd. And the Democratic party doesn’t have the faintest idea how to fight this.
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Friday:
10:25: President Obama departs the White House
12:55: Arrives in Colorado Springs
4:45: Departs Colorado Springs
8:05: Arrives at the White House
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