The “pro-family” folks over at Fox News‘ popular morning show, “Fox & Friends,” this morning were “shocked” over a comment President Barack Obama made yesterday. While visiting with hosts on a Univision radio show, the President explained that under the law, “the immigration people” won’t deport parents who are undocumented just because they signed their American children up for health insurance under Obamacare.
What President Obama said “has some people kind of shocked today,” Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a 36-year old mother of three said.
(Would Hasselbeck want her children to go without health insurance? Would she want her children removed from her loving home, her family split apart, by the government? Co-host Steve Doocy is also a parent with three children. Would he want his children removed from his loving home, his family split apart, by the government?)
Brian Kilmeade explained what the President said, then slammed the Commander-In-Chief.
“He takes any format at any moment — whether it’s on Funny or Die on the Internet, whether it’s on a sports program for Spanish-speaking people — to push Obamacare. And with a wink and a nod to say, it’s okay if you’re illegal, I’m not coming after you!â€
Of course, every president since at least Kennedy has used the media to reach audiences they ordinarily could not were they to rely on the mainstream media. Obama especially has worked hard to reach people where they live.
And to be clear, having children on Obamacare does not prohibit the government from deporting undocumented immigrants. It just isn’t information that the government will use to find undocumented immigrants.
Media Matters rightly took issue with the Fox hosts, reporting that “Fox falsely accused President Obama of disregarding the law after he pledged not to use health care enrollment information as a deportation tool.”
And the media watchdog organization added that “the policy that Obama discussed is, in fact, consistent with the law’s implementing regulations. As the National Immigration Law Center has pointed out, ACA regulations do not require applicants who are not seeking health coverage for themselves ‘to provide information about their citizenship or immigration status and are not required to provide a Social Security number.'”
But the right wing media and conservative groups have been pushing the false meme that President Obama is “lawless,” and repeatedly twist and tweak words and facts to fit their anti-liberal agenda.
Watch:
http://videos.rawstory.com/video/Fox-hosts-want-undocumented-wor/player?layout=&read_more=1
Hat tip: The Raw Story