We got a hint of what was coming last October when I reported on the $500,000 grant an organization called the California Endowment, gave Hollywood Health & Society, an association of The Norman Lear Center, to “help TV writers tell better stories about the new health insurance law.”
Enter Val-Jar, playing the part of the “nagging” but o-so-caring mom in an appearance with the two precious hosts of Top That! on PopSugar.com, where they talked about her efforts to get television writers to work Obama’s gift to the nation into their scripts.
“You name it,” said Jarrett. “That’s part of why I’m in L.A. I’m meeting with writers of various TV shows and movies to try to get it into the scripts.” When Jarrett says “it into the scripts,” she’s referring to getting references to Obamacare, the president’s signature legislation, into the scripts of TV shows and movies.
Here is where my imagination went into overdrive. Oh, if only I were 25 years younger, knowing what I know now, and hosting a pop culture show aimed at millennials and I had a chance to interview Valerie Jarrett about her propaganda efforts instead of those two woefully obsequious children.
Here is how it would go.
Jarrett: “That’s part of why I’m in L.A. I’m meeting with writers of various TV shows and movies to try to get it into the scripts.”
Me: Whoa, hang on there champ…
Jarrett: …“We’re talking to celebrities. We’re talking to athletes, because obviously they get injured a lot and many of them are the same age as the market we’re going after. And what they can say is, ‘Look, you never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball. You’re walking down the street, you’re a little clumsy, you trip, you fall — where do you end up? Emergency room. A couple grand just to walk in the door.”
Me: Wait a minute…. Wait a minute. Aren’t you the same folks who said, “if you like your plan, you can keep your plan?” and “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor?” and “Every family will save an average of 2,500 on premiums?” Why on earth would we want people who engaged in that kind of deceptive messaging to…
Jarrett: (interrupting) The basic premise of the president’s promise, which was that everyone including millions of people with pre-existing conditions would for the first time, have access to affordable quality healthcare, was true…
Me: No it wasn’t.
(crosstalk)
Jarrett: We are only trying to help you –what do moms do? We try to take care of our children. Even when they’re grown. And what we want to do here is like nag. We’re really good at nagging. I’m a mom so I know. I’m a really good nag. And I can come at the same issue like 20 different ways until my daughter goes, ‘Ok, I’m cool, I’ll just do it.'”
Me: What? No… I’m talking about all of the deceitful misinformation and outright lies you guys told in order to get your health care law passed, and continue to tell even to this day – like your bogus Obamacare signup numbers.
Jarrett: Prove we’re wrong.
Me: You know I can’t do that just sitting here. But you told another whopper earlier this week on a Los Angeles CBS affiliate: (whips out piece of paper with quote) “what we’ve seen over the last four years as our health care plan was passed, is we’ve seen less increase in premiums than we’ve seen in 50 years.”
That is a straight up lie, Val.
Jarrett: Prove we’re wrong.
Me: Premiums have shot up from 39% to 56% under ObamaCare.
Jarrett: You mean the Affordable Care Act.
Me: The UN-Affordable Care Act.
Jarrett: I think I’m through here.
Me: Yes Ma’am you sure are.
Well, we can dream. Here’s how it really went: