The White House tried to get Bill Nye (of Science Guy fame) to promote Obamacare to “geeks,” according to White House emails obtained by Buzzfeed.
Bill Nye’s gotten increasingly involved in liberal politics since his 90’s heyday hosting a children’s science show on PBS. The White House emailed Nye on the (original) last day of Obamacare’s open enrollment period, asking Nye and apparently several others to encourage “geeks” to sign up for Obamacare coverage on Twitter.
“Thanks for all your help in the past month for #GeeksGetCovered,” the email from White House senior advisor Phil Larson began. “Let’s make sure on this last day of enrollment our future scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and other geeks know where to get covered. Below are some ideas for tweets and retweets. Would love you to put out a few today with healthcare.gov and #geeksgetcovered in them.”
One so-called recommended geek tweet read, “It’s finals day — final day to #GetCovered that is. #GeeksGetCovered at healthcare.gov before midnight tonight!”
Another stereotypical suggestion was “Hey procrastigeeks–finish that paper or 3rd trial of your double-blind experiment and go to healthcare.gov b4 clock strikes midnight.”
Sadly enough, it looks like Nye didn’t end up tweeting in support of Obamacare on deadline day, potentially leaving thousands of “procrastigeeks” without a final push. Nye did tweet several days before the final email a picture of himself with President Obama and Neil deGrasse Tyson, a fellow liberal and PBS children’s science phenomenon.
These 3 Geeks are covered. Let’s pull the US into the 21st Century. Sign up for the ACA today. #GeeksGetCovered pic.twitter.com/FZf0FI8FWl
— Bill Nye (@TheScienceGuy) March 29, 2014
Nye e-mailed Larson that the selfie was “a once in a lifetimer.”
Other gems from Buzzfeed’s trove of Bill Nye communications: he refers to President Obama as “The Man,” thinks the White House sends him way too many e-mails, and even wrote Larson a holiday poem:
“For you a bit of holiday cheer
With but no effect on our atmosphere
For this particular season
A dodecahedron
As the Earth spins us, to a New Year!”
Check out the rest of the White House’s e-mails with Bill Nye here.