Dem Congressman: Obamacare Opponents are Like Galileo's Doubters

A Missouri Democrat said the same people accusing President Obama of cooking the books on Obamacare enrollment numbers “are the same people who were upset with Galileo for saying that the world was round.”

“And I think we’ve got to come to expect that it’s unfortunate that we have people out here who have simply jumped to their own confusion. And we have a responsibility to just continue to make progress,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) told MSNBC. “The president was right. And in spite of the glitches, we made tremendous progress, 3.1 million young people, 26 years and younger who are out of high school are still able to get insurance with their parents.”

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters yesterday that there was no timeline on when final enrollment numbers would be released. Obama added a Rose Garden statement to his schedule Tuesday to tout signups.

Cleaver declared it “is a good day.”

“Some — we just have to understand who will not come along, they’re going to be left behind. And that there’s not much we can do about them,” he added.

Cleaver mentioned an informal poll that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted on his Facebook page: “Quick poll: Obamacare was signed into law four years ago yesterday. Are you better off now than you were then? Comment with YES or NO!” There was a deluge of “yes” comments among the more than 52,000 left on the post.

“This is not been a good Monday for the senator from Texas,” Cleaver said. “Because I think he, like some others, have over the past couple of years gone out and given their opinions along with several unrelated facts. They have done everything they could to kill this legislation that’s going to help millions of Americans… I hope I never get to the point where I get up in the morning with my goal being that I want to take something away from people that can make their lives better. And these guys get up in the morning trying to keep people from getting insurance and that is sick.”

“…I think that anybody who has even a moderately good memory will recall that there was not a single debate and very few speeches that were made either by President Obama or by Mr. Romney that did not raise the issue of the Affordable Care Act. It was front and center. And so the people of this country considered what was going on, and the proposals that have been brought forth on the ACA, and they voted to reelect the president anyway. And I think that eventually that the others are going to get on board when all other alternatives have been exhausted.”