Author Topic: Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator  (Read 745 times)

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Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator
« on: October 27, 2013, 04:01:08 pm »
http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/330803-sebelius-the-laughingstock-of-america-says-gop-sen-


Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator
By Elise Viebeck - 10/27/13 11:02 AM ET

A Republican senator called Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the "laughingstock of America" after she was lampooned on "Saturday Night Live."

The sketch, which aired Saturday, poked fun at Sebelius's attempts to downplay serious problems with ObamaCare's enrollment website.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) referred to the skit Sunday during an appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"She's lost considerable credibility," Barrasso said of Sebelius. "She's the laughingstock of America."

Sebelius has experienced a wave of scrutiny since HealthCare.gov debuted with major problems on Oct. 1.

She has also drawn fire for certain public comments, like saying she did not know how many people had enrolled under ObamaCare during an interview with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart.

Sebelius also said last week that she "does not work" for people calling for her resignation.

The health secretary was the target of several Republican attacks during the Sunday shows, just a few days before she appears before a House committee to talk about the rollout.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a leader on the panel that will host Sebelius, said the former governor will testify on Wednesday before she's "out the door."

But the secretary received a defense from Sen. Joe Manchin (W-Va.), a Democrat who is leading the charge to delay ObamaCare's individual mandate.

Manchin flatly denied that Sebelius should leave office and praised her record as Kansas insurance commissioner and governor.

"She's very capable of bringing people together," Manchin told ABC. "I think she … will get the job done."


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Offline mountaineer

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Re: Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2013, 04:38:02 pm »
We actually caught a minute of this sketch and it was pretty funny.
Hollywood Reporter (video at link):
Quote
Kate McKinnon plays HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who advises people to buy airplane tickets to Canada, where they can get cheaper healthcare.


Saturday Night Live took on Obamacare in its cold open, where Kate McKinnon impersonated Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius addressed the uproar about HealthCare.gov's bumpy launch. She noted millions of Americans had flocked to the site hoping to sign up for Obamacare, but "unfortunately the site was only designed to handle six users at a time."

But she offered a few workarounds, noting the website had links to other useful places, such as Kayak.com, where "you can purchase air tickets to Canada to buy cheaper drugs," and BitTorrent, where one can find healthcare-related movies such as Patch Adams.

If people still had complaints, Sebelius suggested they send a postcard to the government, promising they would receive a response in six-to-eight weeks. She then pulled out some of the items the government would send – a grab bag of 1990's software including a trial version of the 1995 Encarta Encyclopedia and a CD-Rom for 1,000 hours of AOL.

Sebelius also warned HealthCare.gov users not to do a certain thing under any circumstances or they would die, but the screen froze as she attempted to share the crucial information.
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Offline EC

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Re: Sebelius the 'laughingstock of America,' says senator
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2013, 04:44:31 pm »
Great - now I am going to have to find a video of this. SNL is pretty hit and miss for me - but this sounds like it is worth the bother.

Quote
Sebelius also said last week that she "does not work" for people calling for her resignation.

Is she really that dumb, that arrogant, and that confident?
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