If you think that Fox News’ 24/7 obsession with comments by Jonathan Gruber about the passing of ObamaCare is just about embarrassing the Obama administration and smearing them as dishonest, think again. It’s really about working the refs on the Supreme Court who have agreed to rule on a case that could gut the Affordable Care Act.
In Commentary Magazine, Jonathan S. Tobin called Gruber admissions “a gift that keeps on giving for Republicans right through the 2016 elections” because “anyone who thinks the Gruber comments won’t be endlessly thrown in the faces of the law’s defenders isn’t paying attention.” But then Tobin writes:
However, the greatest impact of this may be …on the Supreme Court’s decision in King v. Burwell, the lawsuit that alleges that federal subsidies given in states that don’t have their own insurance exchanges as mandated by the law are illegal. Gruber’s comments illustrate that the insistence on each state having one isn’t, as Paul Krugman alleged earlier this week, a mere “typo” but a glaring flaw in the law that could sink the whole scheme.
In 2012, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s liberals and ruled ObamaCare constitutional in an opinion that led many to believe he thought it best to keep the Supremes out of a health-care debate that should be decided by the voters and Congress. What the White House should be most worried about is not the way Gruber’s candor is playing on the cable news channels but in Roberts’ mind. The open talk about the lies that led to the legislation’s passage might be enough to convince the chief justice to go along with conservatives who rule against the government and bring the ACA crashing down long before the GOP is able to finish the job.
Don’t think this has occurred to Fox News yet? Check out Bill O’Reilly’s comments in yet another Gruber-gate discussion last night.
Addressing liberal guest Leslie Marshall, O’Reilly said the following:
Here’s what’s going to happen, Leslie, and this is the first time this has ever been said on national television. The Supreme Court is following this Gruber thing. And now, they have to rule on various parts of ObamaCare. And now, they’re gonna strike it down because in the back of their mind is “Aha! You guys weren’t honest. And now we’re gonna have to correct that wrong.”
My opinion, but you wait and see.
Embarrassing the Obama administration is just icing on the cake for Fox.
Watch it below, from last night's The O'Reilly Factor.
Oh, right- The loopholes that allowed corporate insurance to bilk it are gone, and it has a black guy’s name on it. My bad- And in case anyone’s wondering why Romney and the Heritage Foundation won’t claim this, it’s because the right plans to repeal and pass it with one of their names on it when they get the White House.
Unless they really were planning to make it into a lottery you could only enter if you proved you’re one of the popular kids. I have no doubt in my mind Ryan’s both that stupid, and that callous… But Romney ran for the grand prize in 2008 on this. He’s desperate to keep people thinking Democrats are why it failed under him, and not that he let insurers bleed it dry.
Seriously, there’s a reason that his record on health care is among his missing gubernatorial records.
