Even though the year isn’t over, TPM catalogs the Top 5 ways that the GOP stepped into the national conversation with lies, distortions, bad faith and plain made up data. This one may be my favorite:
Number Three: Republicans Try Math
It seems like so long ago that the House passed far-reaching cap and trade legislation. Before they did, though, the GOP did its best to raise the specter of another energy crisis, thanks to a new, and tyrannical “light switch tax.” To underscore their point, they claimed that, based on an MIT study, cap and trade legislation could cost the average household $3,128 a year. Too bad the author of that study claimed it was all hogwash. That didn’t deter leading Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, from repeating the number over and over again until the day the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed on the House floor.
One of the ones not here was the persistent claim that Obama would take your guns — and almost a year later there is no sign of this favorite wingnut apocalypse.
Seen in retrospect there is plenty to laugh at here, until you remember that the Liberal Media spends a great deal of time giving these lies and distortions alot of credence — stepping up to do some debunking only when pushed into it. By that time, they’ve already been played into getting the stupid into circulation and giving the stupid the kind of credibility that apparently comes now from being on TV. It’s really a shame.
So what is your favorite wingnut lie of 2009?