Valerie Jarrett decided that she couldn’t take that.  “It was definitely a cheap shot and completely unwarranted,” she told Politics Daily.  She then went on to define what is warranted:   NYT columnist Paul Krugman, “somebody who is held out as a world expert who actually has taken the time to understand what’s in the bills and who was critical early on (but) is now supportive. That says something to me about people who take the time to be well reasoned. And when you listen to people say on the extremes what’s in the bill and it’s apparent that they have not actually read the bill . . .”

Well, Ms. Jarrett, that leads to a few questions.  First of all, which bill are you talking about?  The House bill, or the Senate bill?  From what I understand they are both over a thousand pages in length.  And every day there seems to be a new draft.  And the draft that might become law, the one that Congressional leadership will come up with trying to reconcile the House and Senate bills, doesn’t even exist yet.  So which one should Americans spend the time that it takes to read a thousand pages reading?

Incidentally, not even our representatives in Congress, whose job it is to legislate, do not even have time to read the legislation (which leaves you wondering what else they are doing with their time). As Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) laughingly told us back in July, “… staff and review boards, they read [the bills] in their entirety. They go over it with members.”

Second, have you ever tried to read a thousand page Congressional bill? Those of us who have can tell you that it only makes sense to someone with encyclopedic knowledge of the U.S. code.   So really, in the end we have to trust what “experts”, Paul Krugman, for example, tell us the bill says, and they, of course, have no ideological bias.

Finally, Ms. Jarret, as Senior Advisor to the President and Director of not one, but two, White House offices, not to mention dinner hostess and vacation buddy to the First Family, you are obviously extremely busy.  Have you read the healthcare bill?

From Jeffrey Young:

Reid, Baucus & Dodd are huddling right now with White House aides Jarrett, Messina & DeParle.

During the web-chat Ms. Jarrett claimed that “we are the richest country in the world,” and the fact that there are millions in our country without health insurance is a “travesty.”  We think she meant “tragedy,” but we won’t dwell on that.

Well, the United States may be the richest country in the world on some barometer, but if we are, then we are also the richest country in the world with a ballooning national debt (currently at nearly $12 trillion), an ever weakening national currency, and steadily increasing unemployment, which currently stands at 10.2%.  Given that the workforce in the U.S. is roughly estimated at 154 million persons, that comes to about 15.7 million persons unemployed.

Now, Ms. Jarrett and the White House claim that there are millions uninsured ― they don’t seem to be sure whether it is 30 or 45 million.  Now that is not 30 or 45 million who are not getting necessary medical care, but 30 or 45 million who do not have insurance.  But there are at least 15.7 million that do not have a job, i.e., the income necessary to take care of themselves and their families.  And as Ms. Jarrett says, “One of the major reasons why people don’t have health insurance is because they can’t afford it.”  The roughly 15.7 million unemployed are persons who cannot afford health insurance as well as mortgage payments, education, food, clothing, heat…

But here’s the real “tragedy.” Unemployment has been steadily on the rise since the President took office in January.  So while more and more Americans are losing their jobs, Ms. Jarrett and the White House are spending all their time trying to make sure that people who may or may not need health insurance get health insurance, while allowing the number of Americans who need jobs to steadily increase.

Now that’s a “travesty” of good government.