Megyn Kelly was yet another vision of scripted outrage last night as she debated Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Obamacare architect and brother of former Obama administration Chief of Staff and current mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel. Kelly’s opening question gave a good clue to what kind of bias she'd soon display: Did Emanuel “believe the president was intentionally misleading or just grossly mistaken” about Obamacare?
Although Kelly put on a good show of caring about viewers, anyone looking closely at what she was up to on her Kelly File show could see that what she really cared about was maligning The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). Which just happens to dovetail nicely with Republican interests. If Kelly had any interest in the substance of the program, how to get the problems fixed and providing information for viewers about how to take advantage of what it offers, she would have asked Emanuel about its features, highlighted what’s working, what needs to be fixed, tips for those exploring their options, etc.
But no. Kelly’s only goal seemed to be to make Obamacare look like as big a failure as possible and to hang it around the necks of President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. This became especially evident near the end of the discussion where she swatted aside Emanuel’s efforts to discuss how to fix Obamacare in order to keep attacking Sebelius.
During this segment and an earlier one, Kelly repeatedly harped on the Obama administration’s supposed failure to hold someone accountable for the problems in the Obamacare rollout. Which also just happens to neatly fit with Republican efforts, in this case to have Sebelius fired. As I recently posted in another segment in which Kelly “asked” about “accountability” (this time for Democrat Alan Grayson), she really ought to pay more attention to accountability right there at Fox News:
I’d like to know where the accountability is for her now-discredited accusations that (Attorney General Eric) Holder deliberately declined to prosecute a voter intimidation case because the supposed transgressor was black? I’d also like to know why she is now looking for “accountability” for Grayson but didn’t need it when she was gushing over discredited ACORN “ho” Hannah Giles?
Same thing with those phony Obamacare victims Hannity foisted recently on unsuspecting viewers. Or Donald Trump – still being treated as a respectable pundit on Fox despite his dismal record of dishonesty, deceit and discredit.
But here’s the part that really grabbed me:
At about 7:10 into the video, Emanuel took the position that now, just a few weeks into the Affordable Care Act's rollout, there’s no value to counting the number of people enrolled in ACA because so many more will sign up later, as it gets closer to the deadline. If tax filings are any guide, Emanuel probably has a point. According to CBS Baltimore, 20-30 percent of Americans wait until the last minute to file tax returns, e.g.
But Kelly was more interested in simultaneously arguing “we’re not on track” to get enough people enrolled and attacking Sebelius for not revealing the numbers of enrollees. She paid little to no attention to what Emanuel was trying to say. In fact, she interrupted him to demand an answer to the following “question:”
You have said that the rollout was riddled with problems, it’s been a fiasco, it’s been disappointing, that the administration has lost the public’s trust. Should someone be held accountable for that? And if so, who?
Emanuel replied, “Look, what we need to do is to get the exchanges up and running.”
Kelly interrupted. “Should someone be held accountable?” She asked in a cross-examination tone.
“The president’s done a very good job by putting in charge Jeff Zients who has a lot of managerial experience, knowledge of the health care industry…” Emanuel began.
Kelly interrupted again. “That’s the fix. But should somebody be held accountable?” she barked. She also proved right there that she doesn’t care about the fix, only the politics of attack.
“I think that’s the most important thing,” Emanuel explained, meaning getting it fixed.
But not to Kelly. “You must be very frustrated to see (Obamacare) falling apart in the rollout. Should somebody be held accountable for the hundreds of millions of dollars on this website that does not work?” You can applaud Kelly for her Oscar-worthy depiction of concern for taxpayer dollars. But for making sure the taxpayer gets health insurance? Not so much.
Emanuel said, plausibly, “The website is going to work. It’s just a matter of time. This is not reinventing the wheel. This is fixing problems. It’s blocking and tackling.”
“So no,” Kelly interrupted again. “The loss of the public’s trust in the president’s signature health care, his signature achievement – that that – no one needs to be held accountable for that.” She shook her head in disbelief.
Emanuel said he is frustrated and disappointed in the rollout but, he added, “I think we should get it right. And that’s the most important thing to do now.”
Not to Megyn “accountability is for other people” Kelly it isn’t. To her, attacking Sebelius is the only important thing. She shook her head again and said, “It sounds like no is your answer.”
And the heck with anyone trying to get health insurance. I think Kelly proved beyond a doubt what she cares about. And it’s not the taxpayer.
She gave that answer at the end when she stopped the discussion because she had to move on to more important things…which involved the next segment where her and another right-winger made fun of Rep. Alan Grayson(D) for his recent comments!
Priorities?
Really?