It seems like (probably because it's on the list of official talking points), a number of GOP types keep calling Obamacare a train wreck. Sean Hannity does it automatically, in his "It's beyond questioning" tone of voice. (Speaking of which, how come you never talk about your "Stop Obama Express" Sean? It was all through your radio show back on 2012.) Well, the whole point of repeatedly calling Obamacare a train wreck is simple. If they repeat it loudly enough and often enough (the Big Lie technique), they expect everyone else will start thinking train wreck any time the Affordable Care Act comes up.
The press will almost certainly repeat it - Cokie's Law in action - as inevitable problems occur. But will the press also think to add "It's a train wreck the GOP has been trying to create ever since the ACA was signed into law and got past the Roberts Supreme Court?" Will they tell how at every level the GOP has tried to sabotage the ACA? Will they remind their audience that the ACA they oppose so adamantly originally came from them by way of the Heritage Foundation? Will they add that Mitt Romney was for it before he was against it? That he got it enacted into law in Massachusetts when he was governor? And that it has succeeded there?
The last thing the GOP ought to do is bring up the train wreck metaphor. Seriously, the House of Representatives under John Boehner has been one continuous train wreck since the the Tea Party arrived en masse in 2010 and started going off the rails almost immediately.
Train wrecks? Let's talk about the GOP's little adventure in Iraq, how well they did in Afghanistan - oh and let's throw in some plane crashes too, as in 911 and warnings ignored. Let's talk about the response to Katrina, where it took the man who should have been president to get medevac started out of New Orleans. Let's not forget Heckuva job, Brownie. Let's talk about the Great Recession of 2008 and how the GOP's fetish for deregulation set up Wall Street to jam the throttle full open and ignore all the warning signals and track speed limit signs.
Heck, if you want to talk about a train wreck that's still ongoing, let's go all the way back to Ronald Reagan declaring government the enemy, saying we'd all get rich if the government cut taxes and we got unions off the back of business. How does thirty plus years of increasing inequality look now? Why does no one worry about jobs as long as Wall Street is happy? Main Street is full of potholes, abandoned cars, and burned-out homes - think the GOP has a clue? You want to talk about train wrecks, Reagan's Voo Doo Economics Express has to be one of the epic disasters of all time.
Another way to look at it, there's 50 ongoing case studies right now. Take a look at every state where the GOP agenda is being enacted or has been in force, then measure it by things like public health, infant mortality, education outcomes, poverty, inequality, environmental quality, and so on. By almost any standard of life quality you can name, overall states where conservative policies are in effect are states that are in a race to the bottom. It might get more attention if the GOP didn't put so much time and effort into calling everything Democrats try to do to make the world a better place for everyone - not just the rich - a terrible calamity about to happen.
We might be a little further forward as a country if the media would stop giving the GOP a free pass on their promises versus their record, the Democrats would stop apologizing for trying to do right for ALL Americans, and if they'd also stop trying to find common ground with the GOP as they go off the cliff.
When it comes to train wrecks, the GOP has almost as much experience as you'll see in this video compilation. (WARNING - MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN!)
Update below the video
http://youtu.be/...
UPDATE: One more thing. If it seems like the GOP is criminally incompetent, maybe it's because what they do is a crime. (h/t to Digby) But hey - what's the big deal about shutting down the government as long as somebody makes money from it?