There were a number of serious contenders for this much-coveted prize, but the following video takes the biscuit because its self-satisfied ignorance is leavened with incredibly inept humor. Watch it and then I’ll debunk the most obvious canards:
OK, let’s start with abortion: This bonehead claims that the Democrat “reform” bills contain no provision allowing federal funds to pay for abortions, but says it’s too “complicated” to explain. In reality, it’s quite simple. Even after the “Cornhusker Compromise,” the Senate bill still funds abortion:
The new Reid language that Senator Nelson now finds acceptable would allow federal subsidies to flow to plans that cover elective abortions in the insurance exchanges.
On the individual mandate requiring all Americans to buy government-approved health insurance, even if they can’t afford the premiums, he deploys the hoary auto insurance analogy. But, as I and many others have frequently pointed out, the two things simply aren’t analogous:
First, there is a fundamental constitutional difference between the inherent police powers of the states and the enumerated powers of the national government.
Second, automobile insurance requirements impose a condition on the voluntary activity of driving; a health insurance mandate imposes a condition on life itself.
Third, state auto insurance requirements are limited to those who drive on public roads. The public roads are mostly constructed, owned, and maintained by the government.
Finally, states require drivers to maintain auto insurance only to cover injuries to others. The mandate does not require drivers to insure themselves.
Not that critical thinking matters much to this guy. He goes on to say that “nothing will change” if you get insurance through your employer except “arguably your premiums.” Well, guess what? An increase in insurance premiums is not “nothing” to those of us who pay them.
And, what about the Democrat plan to tax health insurance benefits? We get the usual tired BS about “high value” plans. But, as Bob Herbert recently pointed out in the NYT, this brazenly confiscatory health benefits tax “will hammer millions of middle-class policyholders.”
It’s hard to believe that the character who produced this video can be this smug AND this stupid, but there it is. It’s altogether fitting that Sullivan suggests him as a YouTube counterpart to Ezra Klein, probably the most clueless health care wonk writing today.
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