Some days it feels like there's never going to be an end to fact-checking Republican anti-Obamacare ads. So once again my friends,
into the breach with
The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler, and an Obamacare attack ad against Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC).
This advertisement from the pro-GOP group Crossroads GPS is almost like an oldies record of top tunes lambasting the Affordable Care Act—and it has the same dated feel as well. Just about everything in this ad has been called into question before, with the exception of its opening scenes—which highlight that our colleagues at PolitiFact had deemed President Obama’s promise that you could keep your health-care plan the "Lie of the Year."
No argument about that–Obama’s statement was also one of the Biggest Pinocchios of 2013—but even the Lie of the Year reference seems dated. (We have seen it in what feels like a gadzillion ads.)
Yeah, that was kind of a bone-headed talking point. But that one stupid assertion by Democrats is totally drowned out in the tsunami of lies that Republicans and their supporters have created. And there's a bunch of them in this ad:
- "Hagan's Vote Passed Obamacare"—yes, Hagan voted for it. Along with 55 other senators. There was no one deciding vote that passed it.
- "473,724 North Carolinians Received Insurance Cancellations"—the state says 183,821 policies were cancelled before the administration announced rules to allow insurers to keep offering old policies for at least another year. And according to our friend Charles Gaba (brainwrap), 357,584 policies were sold on the North Carolina exchange. Which more than doubles the actual number of cancellations. Seems like a moot talking point by now.
- "Obamacare cut Medicare $700 billion+"—Really? We really have to do this one again? Cuts to Medicare Advantage hit providers, not beneficiaries. And it's over 10 years. And Republicans voted for the same cuts in all of Paul Ryan's budgets. And oh yeah, "the Obama health-care law also raised Medicare payroll taxes by $318 billion over the new 10-year time frame, further strengthening the program’s financial condition."
Kessler's frustration with this bullshit is starting to show: "Unlike wine, tired talking points don't age well." No, they don't. Particularly after the remarkable early success of the law, and the fact that for the vast majority of Americans, it hasn't made the sky fall. Republicans are really going to have to do better.