I’ve just watched Lindsay Graham on Fox saying over and over and over that Obama and every supporter of ACA has to be forced to admit they lied by saying the bill wasn’t a massive tax increase. He obviously thinks this is a killer argument that cannot be refuted.
No one on Fox, of course, is asking the obvious question of those hammering in the Tax! Tax! Tax! message: in invoking the “tax” power, wasn’t the Court referring strictly to the mandate? So if there’s a “tax increase,” doesn’t it only apply to people who refuse to buy health insurance? Isn’t it an optional tax? And aren’t most of the people risking it also offered tax cuts (credits) if they do buy insurance?
Eventually these questions will be asked, and I do wonder if Republicans are counting on ignorance and stupidity to an extraordinary degree in placing so much weight on this really dumb argument.
