Republican groups have lined up millions to saturate the airwaves in key states (which states? The ones that have the most uninsured, of course! or "vulnerable" Democratic senators) to lie about and to make people frightened of Obamacare. You might have missed the
creepiest ad ever, in which Generation Opportunity (aka, the Kochs) try to convince young women that getting an annual exam with Obamacare will be evil. That campaign is going to cost about $750,000, with the Koch lackeys going around the country to college campuses failing to relate to America's young adults. But that effort, and that $750,000, is just a
drop in the bucket.
Also on Thursday, a second conservative group called Americans for Prosperity launched its latest anti-Obamacare ad at a cost of $3 million. The ad—running in Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia—features a conservative activist and two-time cancer survivor named Tricia and suggests Obamacare could limit the treatment options available to cancer patients.
Actually, it's the Republicans' sequester that's
limiting cancer treatments, if you want to be, you know, truthful about it. While the administration doesn't have the kind of money for broadcast outreach that the Kochs do, it does have a $44 million budget for outreach and education, little of which will be on the airwaves.
That's where the states, and some of the most fun, come in. Making a splash in the media for being "trippy" is Oregon, with it's very Oregon-oriented campaign.
For the doubters, Oregon is well ahead of the curve on health care reform, and they're pretty receptive to the quirky. They'll do just fine with this ad. Their neighbors to the north, Washington, takes a pretty light-hearted approach, too.
But for pure hokey fun, Minnesota has to take the prize with their Paul Bunyan campaign.
Republican fear and anger and creepiness will fail with most people, something that Republicans steeped in fear and anger and creepiness just don't grasp. Where all that fails, engagement and humor will prevail. And ultimately, so will Obamacare.
