Amateur Hour At The White House
Obama Administration 
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We’ve always been at war with Eastasia, notes White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (who is rapidly distinguishing himself as an even bigger doofus than Scott McClellan):
Turns out the $787 billion “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” (AARA) was not designed for full economic recovery, but rather to “stabilize” the downturn. That’s the word from White House officials today, who held off-camera briefings with reporters on how the AARA is working so far.
“This legislation was designed to cushion the downturn,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “That’s why we have always talked about this as one function of economic recovery.”
When pressed about the change in terminology, Gibbs said he was not trying to temper expectations after the fact. “I can probably find 15 or 20 occasions when I said this in the lead up,” Gibbs said, explaining that he had always defined the AARA as part of a “multi-legged stool.”
Evidently the Council of Economic Advisors didn’t get the memo regarding the goalpost-moving exercise. Meanwhile, national punchline Joe Biden assures us of the fierce moral urgency of killing the patient in order to save him:
“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”
“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.
“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”
Er, no, not really, says the CBO: “No net federal cost savings,” which is bureaucratese for, “Oceans of red ink as far as the eye can see.” And savor the irony of the Vice President delivering this spiel to the AARP, which continues to support this dreck despite, as Dick Morris points out, seniors being most likely to take it in the shorts.
And of course, this is all to say nothing of the President’s pathological lies on the subject of his healthcare plan.
(Hat tip AllahPundit.)