Monday, September 21, 2009

Call It What You Want, Just Don't Call It a Tax

Obama hit the airwaves Sunday morning, spreading his gospel of health care for everyone. George Stephanopoulos grilled Obama about whether or not the mandate to buy insurance is really just a tax increase.

When Stephanopoulos pushed Obama on whether or not it was a tax increase, Obama tried squiring his way out by saying everyone has to pay for it when someone without health insurance uses the emergency room and that it is only "fair" to "ask" everyone to buy health insurance to cover the costs of health care.

When Stephanopoulos pulled out the dictionary to give the meaning of tax ("a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes"), Obama said that just means he is grasping at straws.

No, Mr. Obama, everyone else believes words mean things. Maybe what you mean is to call it an "unfunded mandate" -- when the government demands someone, usually a state, do something but provides no funding for it.

I have another word out of the dictionary:

lie -- something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture: His flashy car was a lie that deceived no one.

The original article from the Wall Street Journal can be found here.

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