Posted on 03/31/2012 10:21:55 AM PDT by brityank
The RNC shoots itself in the mouth
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act and the Obama Administration really could not have had a better week. They did a tremendous job framing their constitutional argument against the statute to the public, the lawyers on their side were brilliant, and it appears that they had a receptive Supreme Court majority. It was an eleven on a scale of one to ten.
Now this. The RNC released an advertisement (embedded in the story linked below) with audio from the halting beginning to Don Verrilli’s oral argument on the individual mandate to make the point that (as the ad’s title says) "ObamaCare: It’s a tough sell." So far as I can tell, it is less a real ad that would actually run than a stunt intended to draw attention – no less a stunt than the DNC surely has done in lots of other contexts.
But Bloomberg News had the good sense to actually compare the actual argument audio with what the RNC distributed. It turns out to have been materially doctored. As the Bloomberg piece says, "A review of a transcript and recordings of those moments shows that Verrilli took a sip of water just once, paused for a much briefer period, and completed his thought, rather than stuttering and trailing off as heard in the doctored version."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It probably also sets back the effort to get the Court to become more transparent. As Amy pointed out to me, the Justices now have before them a perfect illustration of the gross distortion that can instantly be made of recordings of their proceedings. What is to stop the same misleading stunt being pulled with the Justices’ own oral argument questions and comments? Nothing at all. The Court made a special exception in releasing the oral argument tape for the health care arguments so promptly, and it probably will hesitate before doing so again. If there were any chance that the Justices would permit cameras in the Court, I do not see happening now.
(Excerpt) Read more at SCOTUSblog....
It’s amazing how stupid they can be. A lot of it must be intentional.
It is - because the staff they hire are mainly the holdovers from the Demoncrat office groupies; definitely not conservative!
the basis os such “stupidity” is that the Stupid Party simply really doesn’t want to be a functional political opposition.. they would really rather be in the Democrats catbird seat...but haven’t the testosterone to come out and grab what the Democrats covet and tell the rest of us to go to heck..
Barf!
Let me guess. It was really romneys PAC—you know—the one over which he has no control or influence.
Hmm the ad must be effective.
Oh - and heaven forbid they should hurt their feeeeeeeelings!!!!!!!!
Barf!
Like Juan McCain referring to Democrats as “My friends”.
I say, make a full TV ad and run it over and over again.
Guys and gals, “scotusblog” is, according to Rush Limbaugh, pretty left wing. I wouldn’t take what it says too seriously.
Did Dimocrats shoot themselves in the mouth bt lying about the $17 trillion Obamacare shortfall?
Welcome to Animal Farm!
True - but that's why "opposition research" needs to be done - to see where they're headed.
In this conclusion they have it right. It's bad enough we have to rely on leftist reporters and journalists to describe the presentations given in the court, and getting the actual recorded presentations was a good thing. But to use it in this manner will not endear the members of the court to do it again, and none of them want video of Ginsberg sleeping on the bench.
The RNC is a joke. Republicans probably win in spite of them.
Stories like this love to make you think so.
It may be true at times, but don't base it on junk like this from the left.
There will be more and more propoganda from the left like this which will fool many conservatives into buying MSM lies.
My guess is that ALL of it is intentional. They both desire the same thing...MORE POWER over the great unwashed, bible clinging masses.
Really ? I thought it was a little more stilted than it ought to be.
Play the original and in context.
I’m sure it will sound painful enough.
You are right, the ad is damned effective.
That is why they are squawking.
According to the logic of this clown the RNC should have found the bit of tape/transcript in which Obama’s solicitor general (and Obama’s SCOTUS appointees) sounded the least stupid of all and put that out there in the interest of fairness.
One, this is a campaign ad, and two, Obama’s people sounded brain damaged nearly throughout the hearings.
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