(via RCP Video): MEGYN KELLY: You’re somebody who has been defending the concept of this law and health insurance for, reportedly it was going to be for 31 million Americans, now we’re told we’re going to have 31 million Americans without insurance despite the law. In any event, you’re talking about how now it’s just come down to credibility. How? What do you mean?
RON FOURNIER: Well, I know inside the White House, what they’re really worried about right now is they know they really messed up early on, and they’re having a hard time with these numbers, as Ed talked about — we can get that in more detail if you want. They realize they have a big credibility problem, that this is like a branding issue, this is like trying to sell Pepsi or Coke, and if you’re not selling a product that people believe in, and if they don’t believe in the people who are selling it, you’ve got a problem. And even inside the White House they know they’ve got a reputational problem. It’s setting them back at least six months, maybe even further.
KELLY: So let me ask you, is the solution to mislead more? Because we saw the president in his O’Reilly interview, talking about that nonsense Medicaid number, he’s making up numbers, he is giving the law credit for getting all these people on Medicaid, query whether that credit is deserved. But in any event, those numbers have been discredited by fact-checkers across the country. They continue to say them. They say 3.3 million Americans have enrolled now in the state exchange and the federal exchange. That’s not true. We don’t know how many have enrolled.
FOURNIER: It’s my biggest problem with this White House and with politics in Washington in general is they assume people are dumb and that they’re not going to get beyond the spin and find out what’s really happening. The fact of the matter is they said they needed to get to 7 million. Now they’re saying, “No, no, no, we weren’t talking about 7 million.” They were.
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