Out of all of the things that seem to drive Republicans crazy about the Obama presidency, nothing makes them crazier than the Affordable Care Act, or as they branded it, Obamacare. Since day one, Republicans have told the most outrageous lies about the healthcare law. It contains “death panels.” Health insurance rates will skyrocket. And, maybe the scariest of all, as America tried to climb out of the Bush recession: Obamacare is a “job killer.”
Now, after 60 straight months of private sector job growth, you would think that Republicans would drop the “job killer” line about the ACA. But no, that claim is alive and well, even though the GOP’s favorite news source, Fox News, acknowledges that the country is in an historic era of job growth.
In a brilliant piece in the Huffington Post, Michael McAuliff analyzes the Republicans’ refusal to admit that Obamacare has not harmed the job market. He points out that, thanks to the phenomenon known as “cognitive dissonance,” Republicans simply will not acknowledge that their doomsday predictions about the ACA and job growth have not materialized. In fact, many now spin the job growth numbers to claim that the recovery would be stronger were it not for Obamacare.
North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx said in November 2009 that the ACA could cost as many as 5.5 million jobs. She was only off by 17 million or so, as the economy has added about 12 million jobs since March 2010, when Obamacare was signed into law.
Watch the video to hear what Republicans had to say about Obamacare when it was being debated in congress. That is followed by a segment of clips, mostly from Fox News, talking about the robust performance of the economy. Then, listen to some of those same Republicans, in a series of brief, on the street interviews, continue to insist that Obamacare is hurting job growth. It’s hard to tell who is more delusional; these Republicans in congress, or the voters who keep electing them.
Here’s the video, via Huffington Post:
Image via Fibonacci Blue/Flickr
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