Ready? Count with me. Oom-pa-pa Oom-pa-pa One-Two Three One Two….
He sat down beside her and smoked his cigar
smoked his cigar
smoked his cigar.
He sat down beside her and smoked his cigar
smoked his cigaaaaar!
…
He said that he loved her but oh how he lied,
oh how he lied
oh how he lied.
He said that he loved her but oh how he lied,
oh how he lied!
— Old American Ballad. Here
It’s an amusing little ditty that musically rehearses all those old stereotypes about men saying anything and everything to get what they want, indifferently disregarding inconvenient truths, and how poor innocent trusting women swallow their bullshit by the bucket. How quaint and dated. And yet, how a propos in the world of politics:
WASHINGTON — When Congress required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty, Democrats denied that they were creating a new tax. But in court, the Obama administration and its allies now defend the requirement as an exercise of the government’s “power to lay and collect taxes.”0
While Congress was working on the health care legislation, Mr. Obama refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy insurance, enforced by financial penalties, was equivalent to a tax. “For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”
When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.” – NY Times
Oh, how he lied.
So if I’m a ‘Pub – and I’m not – I exploit this teachable moment to inform my base that this President and his pack of lying goons can’t be trusted to tell the truth at gunpoint. That if the Fabricator-in-Chief overtly lies to a friendly face like George Stuffin’Envelopes on national teevee about a matter of life-and-death significance to every American citizen, his credibility plummets to depths where even BP doesn’t dare venture. That if he’s willing to lie his lips off to get what he wants, and nobody in his own party has the scrotum-sack to protest, then the whole batch of them needs to be dispatched as the earliest election opportunity.
But if I’m a ‘Crat – and I’m not – I gleefully point to this maneuver as an example of how smart, how shrewd, and how effective my Liar-in-Chief can be. That he knew all along there’d be no way to get his health care legislation through the Congress if they convinced the public it was a tax increase, so they cleverly concocted an entirely new storyline that got past the unwashed Limbaughtomized public in thrall to their chattering class talk radio heroes, and written into law. That their rookie President and his hard-knuckle team can play the game with cunning and skill as well as anybody in power today, and win the big ones, despite the odds (not to mention the facts). I’d be proud of him.
Oh how he lied. Oh how he won.
But don’t blame me, I voted for Nader.
Obalesque 
Confusing.
It’s great that you’ve called the president out on those specific lies mentioned above – and don’t stop now, because there are plenty more where these came from – but what’s the connection with the “Limbaughtomized” public?
You cannot believe that Talk Radio (99 and 44 one-hundreths percent pure Conservative) has been *quiet* about this stuff, so WTF?
The only people who were in thrall were those in the center, so enamored of their noble cause, and so mind-numbingly sickened by 8 years of GF Bush, that they voted in a Chicago politician with no visible skills beyond his yap, and by appointment, a team that, in the end, could easily equal Nixon’s for pure evil in pursuit of CHANGE.
And the biggest lie of all?
We’re nation-building in the armpit of the world, and Obama fucking promised to bring those troops home – it no longer matters who sent them there, or who “inherited” the wars – only who signs the paper that brings them back.
Confused: I think I can explain. While Limbaugh was screaming and calling it a tax, you have to recall that he ALWAYS screams, and that most of what he spews is patently false, so anyone who doesn’t already hold his opinions simply assumes that ol’ Rush is still talking out of his ass.
As for the middle east; as GW was warned, “you break it, you buy it.” We wiped out their governments, corrupt and misguided as they were. Our nation is responsible for them, for now. We are a high school teen who knocked up his prom date. We either take responsibility, or become a total sleaze.
Yes, and what’s interesting is that with all the blathering — “99 and 44/100% conservative” — we still hear about the “liberal mainstream media.”
One of two things is true:
(1) Despite its saturation, talk radio doesn’t have much impact on policy or decision-makers, or
(2) Obama scored a huge tactical victory, overcoming long odds created by conservative opponents.
The Republican opposition was too busy hollering about government “over-reaching” to make the case for a new tax. Sure, they mentioned it, but they thought it would be more effective to use the health care bill as another opportunity to label the president a socialist. Idiots. They dropped a soft pass right in the bread basket.
Did he lie? Sure. That’s the essence of salesmanship, isn’t it? If politicians aren’t salesmen, they don’t get elected. The point is, you’ll tolerate lies from your leaders if they do it for a cause you approve of. Welcome to America.
I’m proud of you Squathole. Uhm, have I met you before? It is “Squathole” right? Mommy?
Nice gotcha! Of course, it’s not as compelling as “I did not have sex with that woman,” but then, what could be?
“It’s a tax!” “It’s not a tax!” “It’s a dessert topping!” “It’s a floor cleaner!” Gosh. What happens in the second act?
The whole thing is po-TAY-to / po-TAH-to, anyway. What’s important is the bill itself. Which we’ll be picking up.
Nobody likes it when our elected officials lie to us, but only a fool believes they don’t do it all the time. What I think we should take away from this incident is, any silly talk about how unsophisticated and naive this young president is, and how the wolves in Washington will devour him for breakfast, can be silenced. Obviously he can play hardball, and even more imporant, he can win.
Perseonally I never thought otherwise — he came up in Chicago, after all — but that was an often-heard line during the run-up to the election. Conservatives who touted that story underestimated their opponent.
Is Christie Brinkley’s sickness from the post before covered under the Obama itsnotataxbutifyoudon’tpayityou’regoingtojail or worse, we’ll make you a dog walker in Aventura.
Whats happens if if you don’t pay the tax..I know Dengue Fever!!!