General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPresident Obama Initially Heard Mandate Had Been Overturned
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/president-obama-first-heard-mandate-had-been-overturned.php?ref=fpaPresident Obama rode the same emotional rollercoaster as millions of Americans watching cable news on Thursday, as the first reports to reach him via CNN and FOX erroneously declared that the Affordable Care Acts individual mandate had been struck down.
The president remained calm in the face of what would have been devastating news for his signature legislation, according to senior White House officials. One to two minutes passed before White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler entered the room flashing two thumbs to signal that the law had, in fact, survived almost entirely intact.
Obamas first response was confusion: Two of the four televisions in the outer Oval Office were still breathlessly pronouncing the mandate dead. But the initial shock quickly turned to smiles and hugs, the administration officials said, as the true results sunk in: The Supreme Court had upheld the Affordable Care Act, 5-4.
President Obama Believed Early Reports That Supreme Court Had Declared Individual Mandate Unconstitutional
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/28/obama-supreme-court-health-care_n_1634812.html
Top administration officials, briefing reporters, said that the president initially saw news alerts that the court had ruled the individual mandate unconstitutional while watching coverage in the outer Oval Office. The news was being projected on a single monitor with four split screens, each showing a different station. Both Fox News and CNN inaccurately reported the court's decision at first.
After a period of time, White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and Chief of Staff Jacob Lew came to greet the president with news of the actual ruling.
(snip)
The period between when Obama heard the wrong report and the corrected one lasted no longer than a couple of minutes, the top administration officials said. White House aides had been watching cable news in addition to following SCOTUSblog to track the results.
After learning of the ruling, the president went into the Oval Office and called Solicitor General Don Verrilli, who had argued the case on the administration's behalf, to thank him for the work he'd done. Vice President Joseph Biden came in shortly thereafter to take in the news.
aquart
(69,014 posts)Generic Brad
(14,276 posts)I strongly suspect it was a case to Twitter wish fulfillment.
wolf and crew had it all screwed up.Lookin for some shoes to fall soon.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)...the way opinions are delivered. You're really going to have to go to the Supreme Court website and check out the particular dance that they follow when they're releasing them, but I think it boils down to people seeing Roberts name attached to the majority opinion and assumed that Roberts would have voted against it- and so the majority opinion, if written by Roberts (I'm not sure if he did) would have meant that some or all of the PPACA was struck down.
It was an extremely long ruling and it took the 20+ people working at ScotusBlog a few minutes to decipher what it actually said.
What I bet CNN and Fox did was have tea leaf readers who used Roberts' attachment to a majority opinion to jump to the conclusion that it had been struck down. Again, you really have to go to the SCOTUS website and read their procedures and how rulings are dispensed (and it what order the opinions are given out) to understand what I'm trying to get at.
PB
Tanuki
(14,931 posts)before going on to say that it COULD be supported under taxation law? I'm guessing that, in an effort to get a "scoop", CNN and FOX just went with the first thing they saw.
gateley
(62,683 posts)indicate it would go the other way. I'm guessing CNN and Fox just jumped the gun in their glee over the "apparent" ruling.
rurallib
(62,491 posts)JustAnotherGen
(32,054 posts)I actually got teary eyed when first clicked on CNN. Then went to Facebook and first in my feed was Rachel Maddow -and I knew she would NEVER make a mistake like that.
Gregorian
(23,867 posts)That is a symptom of the disease this country has. For whatever reason, it is not warranted.
Woody Woodpecker
(562 posts)to begin investigation on CNN and Faux and then sign an EO banning propaganda and lies from any media companies.
Fox should go out of business real quick once the EO is signed.
NYC Liberal
(20,139 posts)ballabosh
(330 posts)The FCC has no power to regulate cable companies.
rurallib
(62,491 posts)liskddksil
(2,753 posts)They took their time and had it right when they posted.
RobertEarl
(13,685 posts)Cause we've seen it get screwed up before.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,464 posts)and every other alert that I got after that said it was upheld EXCEPT for CNN.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)part that says it could not stand as a commerse issue and failed to hear the part about it being a tax.
aaaaaa5a
(4,667 posts)NBC's Pete Williams was awesome. Just as he was back in 2000 when Bush/Gore went down.
Why is Obama watching FOX? Opposition research?
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,235 posts)Hearing the news, he said, "That's cool. I don't really swing that way anyways. Heh heh."