“We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.”
— President Ronald Reagan
Kudos for George Stephanopoulos for asking a question that our Dear Leader clearly hadn’t vetted. The White House will try and punish him for it, but as a former White House communications director himself, Stephanopoulos figures it’s probably worth the hit.
Let’s go to the video.
Stephanopoulos challenges our Dear Leader on his proposed tax on those who won’t sign up for government mandated health care, and our Harvard Law School educated President replies with ‘who are you going to believe? Me or that lying Webster’s Dictionary?’
Here is the money quote:
Stephanopoulos: “Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money, fining you if you don’t. How is that not a tax?”
Obama: ” No, but — but, George, you — you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase.”
Stephanopoulos: “I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary: ‘Tax, a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.'”
BHO can parse words in a manner that would embarrass Billy Jeff ‘It depends on what the meaning of is is” Clinton, but it won’t change the fact that his argument that the fine isn’t a tax is still fundamentally a lie.
The model for ObamaCare is the Massachusetts system, in which the state Internal Revenue Service determines if you have health care or not and adds any ‘fines’ to your state tax bill.