Always the Last to Know

Now is the time when we juxtapose, Small Dead Animals-style:

The ObamaCare debacle is the exception that proves the rule. Wall-to-wall complaints are forcing the media to report that the law’s Web site is a lemon and that its rules are causing millions of people to lose insurance plans they liked.

The mainstream media is acting only because the story is too big to ignore. Had it been mildly skeptical sooner, it could have exposed the law’s destructive rules and prevented the disaster.

Yet the Times, especially its editorial page, remains his most devoted cheerleader. The latest example is embarrassing enough to make a Gray Lady blush.

After the president’s repeated promise that “If you like your health-care plan, you can keep it” was proven false, the editorial page tried to clean up his mess. On Nov. 2, it charged that Republicans were stoking “consumer fears and confusion” by highlighting reports of people losing insurance.

Then came the coverup: “Mr. Obama clearly misspoke” when he made those promises, the editorial said, before dismissing the problems as an “overblown controversy.”

The “misspoke” defense set off a firestorm, and even the paper’s gentle public editor suggested it was too kind. Naturally, the editors defended their decision not to accuse the president of an outright lie.

Yet even Obama concluded he had to apologize. His recognition of the uproar will result in changes, if only because Senate Democrats are running for their lives.

The episode graphically illustrates how the Times has harmed the nation by reflexively protecting Obama, facts be damned.

— “New York Times’ Obama cheerleading harms the nation,” Michael Goodwin, the New York Post, today.

It is highly unlikely that Barack Obama will ever be impeached. It is certain that he will never again be trusted. Republicans and sensible Democrats take heed: The nation may not have the stomach to remove a charlatan, but the nation knows he is a charlatan. The American people will not think twice about taking out their frustration and mounting anger on those who collaborate in his schemes.

— “Obama’s Massive Fraud: If he were a CEO in the private sector, he’d be prosecuted for such deception,” Andrew McCarthy, NRO, yesterday.