Afterbirth

And so a new RWS™ lie is born, fully adulterated at its nativity, becoming a universal right-wing talking point faster than Mitt Romney fired people when he ran Bain; faster than he changes principles.

(And faster than that, Chief Justice Roberts, a right-wing hero of the first order until mere moments ago, has fallen into disgrace for referring to the Constitution. It tells us much about their concept of judicial review, and what defines judicial activism.)

The lie, of course, is that the Affordable Care Act is the biggest tax increase in US history (or, as Rush Limbaugh put it, in the history of the world.) Surpassingly, virtually every word in the claim is false, making it the Platonic ideal of a RWS™ talking point.

First of all, CJ Roberts is the only one of the nine who characterized the individual mandate as a tax. Eight rejected that idea. Does a one-ninth opinion make it, in fact, a tax? Second, the only thing he called a tax was exactly that: the individual mandate; ie, penalizing those who are able but refuse to buy health insurance. That. And only that, he saw as a tax. Which, compared, say, to any of the eleven tax hikes Reagan approved, approximates null. Because, among other things, most people won't be affected. As the first above-linked reference points out, in Massachusetts, where Obamenycare has been in effect for several years, only about 1% of its citizens paid the penalty.

But never let the facts get in the way of a good talking point. Ever since Sarah Palin lied about death panels, it's been the modus operandi of R opponents to fixing our pathetic health care system. Lies are easy, and god knows they work. And these are the people asking us to trust them to run the government. Liars and obstructionists; hypocrites and deceivers. None of which, by any reasonable standard, is an exaggeration.

There is an amusing aspect here, though: The Rominee has said he fixed health care without raising taxes in Massachusetts. So while the RWS™, the teabaggRs are all shouting "tax tax tax" nonstop, to anyone who'll listen, Mittens is saying "no no no, it wasn't a tax when I did it."

I'll ask it again: c'mon conservatives. When will the weight of reality get you to abandon these people? You're as smart as a thirteen year old, right? Assuming you value honesty and fact-based policy, they've long since abandoned you. Clearly, they believe you're stupid. Is there no point at which the conscience of a conservative would demand better and kick these liars off the stage?