What is this country’s “most deeply scrutinized, discussed and argued over piece of legislation” since William McKinley was president? Talking Points Memo editor and publisher Josh Marshall says the answer is…Obamacare.
But, complained Marshall in a Tuesday blog post, Republicans nonetheless argue “that the bill was ‘rammed through’…forced on the public in stealth and illegitimacy. And it's…that curdled stew of deception,” he declared, that has enabled the GOP to assert that “silly” comments from Jonathan Gruber constitute a scandal.
From Marshall’s post (emphasis added):
[I]t's worth stating again something that is obvious and really indisputable: Obamacare is almost certainly the most deeply scrutinized, discussed and argued over piece of legislation of the entire 20th century and early 21st century. Jonathan Gruber saying something silly at a conference doesn't change that.
If you look at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, various New Deal programs, the Social Security reform of the early 80s, tax reform in the late 80s, welfare reform in the mid-90s and Medicare expansion a decade ago none of them had more extensive legislative and public debate and none had a media culture where a wider range of criticisms or alternative proposals were canvased...
…As part of their unified phalanx of opposition to the bill, Republicans have long claimed that the bill was "rammed through", not read and generally forced on the public in stealth and illegitimacy. And it's in that curdled stew of deception, bad faith and aggravated derp that the Lord of the Flies remake which is "Gruber-gate" has taken flight.
…[T]he GOP and Fox News has addled a good bit of the country with this nonsense.
FYI, “derp” is Internet slang for “stupidity.”
