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2013-10-28 Home Front: Politix

HHS secretary is now a 'laughingstock,' says senator

[THEHILL] 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.
Even if they are citizens...
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."

Posted by Fred 2013-10-28 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top

#1 Usually things don't change very much, you just become aware of it.

Posted by gorb 2013-10-28 02:25|| 2013-10-28 02:25|| Front Page Top

#2 Not for people who need medical care at present.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2013-10-28 05:22|| 2013-10-28 05:22|| Front Page Top

#3 She doesn't work for the people criticizing her; like the rest of the Administration, she works for the Democratic Party constituency.

Posted by Glenmore 2013-10-28 08:13|| 2013-10-28 08:13|| Front Page Top

#4 "She's the laughingstock of America."

I wouldn't go that far. She has a lot of competition within the administration.

Posted by Pappy 2013-10-28 08:15|| 2013-10-28 08:15|| Front Page Top

#5 She's very capable of bringing people together

with pitchforks and torches and rope and lamp posts.

Posted by AlanC 2013-10-28 08:55|| 2013-10-28 08:55|| Front Page Top

#6 She will accept the blame for Obama, who is the real incompetant, as long as there is a sweet deal in return.

Posted by Alistaire Poodle4429 2013-10-28 10:07|| 2013-10-28 10:07|| Front Page Top

#7 How does Obama get all these people to fall on their swords? She claims he knew nothing. It's her job to keep him informed. She has admitted to being incompetent.poll

Posted by Deacon Blues 2013-10-28 10:51|| 2013-10-28 10:51|| Front Page Top

#8 Update:
If the website is up, the database must be down.

Seriously, every government contract I've ever worked on insisted on 3 months of testing before going into production. The very fact they started testing 2 weeks before the deadline should have told everyone that production should have been delayed.

The fact that QA testing failed should have told them production should be delayed indefinitely. Sebelius (or Obama) are the only ones who could have over-ridden this.

Al

Posted by frozen Al 2013-10-28 11:27|| 2013-10-28 11:27|| Front Page Top

#9 The tribal wisdom of the Lakota Sioux, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse..
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course the most common ......

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-10-28 11:42|| 2013-10-28 11:42|| Front Page Top

#10 Poor girl thought she was going to be a cabinet level secretary and now she finds they were just setting her up to take the fall. In all fairness, healthcare.gov is Obama's little tar baby and it belongs on his doorstep. I think if I was Sebelius I'd buy a one way ticket for the next plane back to Kansas.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2013-10-28 11:44|| 2013-10-28 11:44|| Front Page Top

#11 ...more likely an office on K Street.

Posted by Procopius2k 2013-10-28 11:59|| 2013-10-28 11:59|| Front Page Top

#12 Hey, she ain't welcome here. Send her back to her carpetbagging political dynastic family in Ohio.

Sebelius is a total in the bag machine part who knows she is likely at the apex of her political career. She will take the sword in exchange for a cush position at a Chicago Hospital. $10 says she would say it failed because she is a typical Kansas racist not because she would, but because if she is told to, she will. After Obama's casualty flub the progs had to double down and Sebelius waited three days to say anything while the story was formulated, discussed, and executed and the line was people died because Bush had the Kansas Guard in Iraq, when in fact there was a detachment there than morning and the KANG unit which was overseas was a transport unit (turned into mounted infantry). Any doubts were settled when the KANG returned and Sebelius snubbed them for a ticker tape parade in Lawrence.

Everyone who wants to know, knows this is bull. Obama signed his signiture legislation with what 57 pens and handed them out as souviners to this Big Fn Deal and we are supposed to believe that Obama was shocked that the Silver Mullet didn't come through and that people watch the morning news two weeks before launch knew more about it?

Posted by swksvolFF 2013-10-28 12:41|| 2013-10-28 12:41|| Front Page Top

14:09 Grom the Affective
14:04 Super Hose
14:02 Super Hose
13:37 Procopius2k
13:35 Grom the Affective
13:34 Procopius2k
13:27 Grom the Affective
13:21 NN2N1
13:18 Grom the Affective
12:50 Remoteman
12:45 Secret Master
12:24 Matt
12:07 Abu Uluque
12:03 Grom the Affective
11:59 Grom the Affective
11:35 Super Hose
11:33 Super Hose
11:29 Besoeker
11:28 Besoeker
11:28 Super Hose
11:27 Besoeker
11:23 Besoeker
11:22 Grom the Affective
11:20 Super Hose