January 5, 2014

David Gregory, in a word choice he immediately regrets, speaks of Obamacare unraveling.

This was on "Meet the Press" this morning, at the end of an interview with a couple doctors (the delightfully named John Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic and Toby Cosgrove of the Cleveland Clinic):
Thank you both for helping us get beyond the debates about Obamacare. I’d love to have you back and as this thing un-- unravels over the course of the year- - not unravels in a bad way -- but continues to roll out over the course of this year…
A song lyric comes to mind:
If you want to destroy my sweater
Hold this thread as I walk away
Watch me unravel, I'll soon be naked
Lying on the floor (lying on the floor)
I've come undone...
It's good to see you lying there in your Superman skivvies
Lying on the floor (lying on the floor)
I've come undone...

70 comments:

Michael K said...

Obamacare will be one of those things that we cannot divert our gaze as it is such a rolling catastrophe. The inability to add a new baby to the policy is only one of thousands of such examples of lawyerly brilliance.

rehajm said...

Sometimes the truth just slips out.

mesquito said...

Unravel in a good way of course.

rehajm said...

Will this require another tearful NBC apology?

Rob said...

I revel in its unraveling, a revel without rival.

Seeing Red said...

Now the squeeze really begins.

Seeing Red said...

Now the squeeze really begins.

jr565 said...

Wow Althouse is quoting Weezer. Mad props for Althouse!

Ann Althouse said...

I was a fan of "The Sweater Song" from back when it was first an MTV video, before Weezer was big. I was an early Weezer adopter.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Re the photo:

One of these things is not like the others, One of these things just doesn't belong, Can you tell which thing is not like the others By the time I finish my song?

lemondog said...

Was OC ever raveled to become unraveled?

Watch me unravel

Anonymous said...

"Thank you both for helping us get beyond the debates about Obamacare."

Doc, will I ever be able to play the violin under Obamacare?

Well, once the web site is fixed, and all the myriads of other policy and implementation failures are overcome, I don't see a reason why not.

Gee that's great doc! I could never play it before.

Freeman Hunt said...

You ear wormed us.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

Obamacare will "unravel" unless Obama and the Democrats start to work with Republicans to fix it. Does Obama believe he can change the ACA legislation enough to fix it? Is Obama allowed to change legislation? Are there any practical limits to Obama's power?

SteveR said...

lemondog is correct, it was never raveled. The second law of Thermodynamics is working it over nonetheless

rhhardin said...

Lips are to keep your mouth from unraveling.

ca. 1961

Chuck said...

"I don't mean falling apart in a bad way".

SociallyExtinct said...

Methinks this little verbal slip-up will result in David Gregory's MSM career unraveling before his eyes. But only in the best of ways, of course.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Obamacare will be unravelling for the next sixty years, just like social security.

Ralph Gizzip said...

A gaffe is a Leftist telling the truth.

Michael said...

ARM. Of course it will, ARM, of course it will.

Levi Starks said...

Reminds me of the prophet Balaam who was paid to prophesy one way, but when he spoke, the wrong words kept coming out.

Levi Starks said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
gk1 said...

This surprised me. MTP was supposed to pivot to "income equality" and have chin stroking experts wonder how much damage the republicans were doing to "their brand" by not extending unemployment insurance 4 years after the end of the great recession. Did someone send out the wrong marching orders this week?

huber57 said...

Paging Dr. Freud.

cubanbob said...

Obamacare will be unravelling for the next sixty years, just like social security."

Indeed it is. If it were subject to GAAP accounting standards it would be declared insolvent. "fortunately " the Supreme Court fixed that more than fifty years ago when it ruled no one has a right to Social Security hence it's liabilities are all fictitious. Expect a haircut in your "entitlement".

somefeller said...

Obamacare will be unravelling for the next sixty years, just like social security.

Yeah, and it's only a matter of time before Republicans start claiming they are suggesting reforms to save Obamacare while they are trying to undermine it. Just like Social Security.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael said...
ARM. Of course it will, ARM, of course it will.


It's almost cute that you guys can still believe that the Repubs have any meaningful plans to repeal Obamacare. It's like still believing in Santa Claus when you are ten.

Mark said...

What I want to know is who does event planning for the White House. Because O gets into a lot of photos that are simply made for mockery.

AntiBathos said...

But at least we are "beyond the debate" about Obamacare. Those silly, troglodyte teabaggers may be chortling about unraveling and tangible failures but David Gregory has transcended the whole thing. What a great mind.

Mark said...

What I want to know is who does event planning for the White House. Because O gets into a lot of photos that are simply made for mockery.

Original Mike said...

"It's like still believing in Santa Claus when you are ten."

Or like still believing in the Social Security trust fund, right?

rehajm said...

Via Drudge...

Alec Baldwin and Kieth Oblbermann are crying foul

ALEC BALDWIN AND KEITH OLBERMANN taking shots at MSNBC about over the top hosts!!!! Did the Onion take over the world while I was watching football?

gk1 said...

The only way obamacare "survives" is if the democrats can hold the presidency in perpetuity. Obama has shown you can change the law by executive whim. Just takes a (R) president to decide the mandate is optional and the insurance companies are not eligible for federal bailouts to pick up the shortfall. There, its "fixed". It will have to stand on its own rickety, rubbery legs.

Fiftyville said...

Obamacare will survive about as well as a fetus at Planned Parenthood.

Fiftyville said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hyphenated American said...

Didn't Obama warn us in 2010 that he was on the precipice of sighing obamacare?

tim in vermont said...

The only way Obamacare can fail in the eyes of ARM and somefeller, is if it fails to destroy the insurance companies.

cubanbob said...

tim in vermont said...
The only way Obamacare can fail in the eyes of ARM and somefeller, is if it fails to destroy the insurance companies.

1/5/14, 5:35 PM

Worse than that. Obama will be forced to bail out the evil insurance companies.

PB said...

Obamacare as thoughtful policy is like toilet paper stuck to Obama's shoe unraveling in one big long embarrassment mess as he walks.

There are many who try to let him know, but he's oblivious and his supporters don't want to embarrass the man or themselves.

traditionalguy said...

Gregory knows that the unraveling is part of the design of the ACA.

The massive National Health bureaucracy is in place awaiting the Health Insurance Industry to be obliterated one planned unravel after another planned unravel.

The Tea Party has been the reaction to the National Death Panel whose cloak of Insurance is unraveling...until what does it matter now that it is all that is left.

traditionalguy said...

This just in...Green Bay Packers unravel.

Birkel said...

Obama-Insuarnce is evil.
I think David Gregory is going to pretend it's all chaos.

Althouse theme?

Original Mike said...

Green Bay played a fine game, especially considering all the injuries. ObamaCare would kill for such a performance.

Seeing Red said...

Senator Fauxahontas brilliant idea will undermine SS.

Rational people think the Detroit pension crisis is a warning, to the progs it's a guideline.

Humperdink said...

My response of a day or two ago on the Althouse thread "10 Signs That Religious Fundamentalism is Going Down".

Note number 10.

Ten signs progressivism is tanking:

1) More people in poverty than ever before. The war on poverty is lost. The US should withdraw from this war.
2) Smallest labor participation rate in decades.
3) The US is the brokest country in the history of the world.
4) Highest rate of SS disability claims in US history (reflective of the true unemployment rate). From worker to unemployed to disabled.
5) SS is getting more exposure as the Ponzi scheme that it is.
6) Labor union membership continues to sink like the Bismarck. The only growth area is in the government.
7) Medicare is broke.
8) Detroit!!!
9) Chrysler Corp, saved by the Bamster, will be fully owned by Fiat in a few months.
10) And lastly, Obamacare, wholly designed and implemented as nirvana by the Progs, is unraveling before our very eyes.

Michael said...

ARM. Obamacare will be self-repealing. Will be unrecognizable in two years.

George M. Spencer said...

Ravel and unravel mean the same thing.

How otic. Or should I say idiotic.

Anonymous said...

A moment of journalistic integrity and honesty. Can't have that.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

It is hard to fathom the suffering Obama and the Democrats are willing to cause millions of people to get their way on moving the US to Politician controlled healthcare.

jaed said...

Has anyone complimented Althouse yet on her choice of photo? That is Drudgeworthy and excellent snark.

Rusty said...

AReasonableMan said...
Obamacare will be unravelling for the next sixty years, just like social security.

Do you mind if I quote you, oh, in about six months or so?

Paul said...

Yes Gregory made the Freudian slip of speaking the truth.

Hate that when it happens.

Tom said...

I'm proud of you, Althouse, for quoting Weezer! Weezers a somewhat libertarian band as well. So nice combo!

Captain Nerd said...

Bunch of ravel-rousers...

Will said...

Implodes, but not in a bad way

Larry J said...

Diogenes of Sinope said...
Obamacare will "unravel" unless Obama and the Democrats start to work with Republicans to fix it.


At this point, why would Republicans want to work with Obama and the Democrats in Congress? They shoved this shit sandwich down everyone's throat without a single Republican vote. Let the people get a good, long taste of what the Democrats forced on all of us and remind everyone of who did it.

JoyD said...

Reading this, it seems clear that Gregory meant to use "unfolds" instead of "unravels" with its negative connotation. He was in wrap-up, in a segue, and probably half-thinking about what would come next (coffee?) You know, it just is chilling that people search for a word, one word, on which to hang their aha! of derision.

gerry said...

9) Chrysler Corp, saved by the Bamster, will be fully owned by Fiat in a few months.

And GM lost market share last year, on top of screwing the taxpayers out of billions.

gerry said...

You know, it just is chilling that people search for a word, one word, on which to hang their aha! of derision.

Ever heard of Freudian Slip? Silly woman, clutching your pearls in shocked dismay and saying "chilling"!

Henry said...

JoyD wrote: Reading this, it seems clear that Gregory meant to use "unfolds" instead of "unravels" with its negative connotation. He was in wrap-up, in a segue, and probably half-thinking about what would come next (coffee?) You know, it just is chilling that people search for a word, one word, on which to hang their aha! of derision.

Perhaps he meant to use the word "blossoms".

I agree that endless snark can be tedious. But at a certain point, rueful black humor is just about all we have left. It's not like anyone in the opposition can say, "hey lets go back to the drawing board on this." The administration is committed to the great unraveling.

furious_a said...

Reading this, it seems clear that Gregory meant to use "unfolds" instead of "unravels" with its negative connotation.

Yes, in the same way Dick Armey meant to say "Barney Frank" instead of "Barney Fag".

Brrrr...

Fen said...

Reading this, it seems clear that Gregory meant to use "unfolds" instead of "unravels"

I think its more reasonable to assume Gregory had been using the term in private conversations, expressing concern that "ObamaCare is unraveling", hence the slip of the tongue publicly.

Fen said...

Such as "what can we do to diminish the public's fear that ObamaCare is unraveling before their eyes?"

Gregory slipped because "unraveling" was already renting space on the tip of his tongue.

Anonymous said...

The best example of unraveling would be starting with an orchestral score of Pictures at an Exhibition and making a piano reduction of it.

Henry said...

@Paul Z. HA!

Unmussorgskying doesn't have the same ring.

SGT Ted said...

Thank you both for helping us get beyond the debates about Obamacare.

What's to debate? People are getting fucked over and Democrat Party ass kissers like Gregory are trying to explain it away. Period.

Chuck said...

This wasn't the best story about David Gregory's performance on Meet the Press on Sunday.

He had on as a guest Janet Napolitano, to talk about her leading the U.S. Olympic team to Russia. (Subtle, that choice, Mr. Obama!)

Anyway, Gergory asked Napolitano about her opposition to gay marriage in her days as a campaigner for the office of governor of Arizona. (She was such an opponent.)

Napolitano of course had no cogent answer; she mumbled something about "evolving" and "like many other people" and then quickly agreed that indeed she did now favor "marriage equality."

It reminded me of how often in today's debate, gay marriage proponents label opponents as "bigots." When someone like Janet Napolitano was never called a "bigot" when she opposed gay marriage. She has always denied that she was gay.

Chuck said...

This wasn't the best story about David Gregory's performance on Meet the Press on Sunday.

He had on as a guest Janet Napolitano, to talk about her leading the U.S. Olympic team to Russia. (Subtle, that choice, Mr. Obama!)

Anyway, Gergory asked Napolitano about her opposition to gay marriage in her days as a campaigner for the office of governor of Arizona. (She was such an opponent.)

Napolitano of course had no cogent answer; she mumbled something about "evolving" and "like many other people" and then quickly agreed that indeed she did now favor "marriage equality."

It reminded me of how often in today's debate, gay marriage proponents label opponents as "bigots." When someone like Janet Napolitano was never called a "bigot" when she opposed gay marriage. She has always denied that she was gay.

JoyD said...

Gerry! You called a complete stranger a silly cow? You may, unhappily, say that about your own wife ... pretty sure you don't have one...that snappy misogynistic reply seems to indicate a lonely man.

But! I have a Freudian slip joke especially for you ( circa 1960, Gerry):
Doctor, last night I made a Freudian slip. I was having dinner with my mother-in-law and I meant to say "Would you please pass the butter?"
Instead, I said, "You've ruined my life, you silly cow."

And yes, I have my pearls. They're real, and they're spectacular.