...Or how a right-wing talking point mutates over three days.
If you look on Twitter, you'll see a lot of references in conservative circles to an interesting, and troubling, "fact". That there are 38 State Attorneys General who will sue to overturn the Healthcare Reform Law. Boy, that seems like a lot. Oh noes!
More below.
Here is a sample tweet, over at #tcot (Top Conservatives on Twitter). There are hundreds of such tweets.
RT @eDave733: Dems, look at the lawsuits piling up! 38 state AGs can't be wrong. You WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE! #tcot
So I did some in-depth research (read: google) on it. And here is what happened.
On Wed, March 17, Redstate posted this article, mentioning 38 AGs will sue to stop the healthcare reform law. The Redstate article reads:
Starting with Idaho and soon to be joined by 37 other states weary (sic) of the over-reach of federal power:
That information was taken from this Associated Press article. Which reads:
Idaho took the lead in a growing, nationwide fight against health care overhaul Wednesday when its governor became the first to sign a measure requiring the state attorney general to sue the federal government if residents are forced to buy health insurance.
Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states.
Did you notice anything about 38 AGs in it? Me neither.
That's because the article is about one state, Idaho, who signed a measure to have their attorney general sue. And then it mentions that "Similar legislation is pending in 37 other states." Read that sentence again. "Legislation is pending". That's a very long way from 38 Attorney Generals all rearing up to sue.
It means, really, that some GOP politician in each of those state legislatures filed a bill to make some points with his base, and now it's "Pending". Along with bills to outlaw leaf burning on weekends.
Most of the bills would seem to have very little chance of even making it to the signing stage, as this is a map (via wikipedia) of states with Democratic controlled legislatures. There are 27. And I'm not even going to bother overlaying states with GOP legislatures that have Democratic governors, because you get the point.
It's fun when you can see the actual DNA of a rightwing talking point.
Thanks for reading!
p.s. The AP articles also says:
Constitutional law experts say the movement is mostly symbolic because federal laws supersede those of the states.
But we've gone over that!
edit: Yeah, I know it's "Attorneys General" and not "Attorney Generals". Shut up!