海角大神

Are Republicans right to call Harry Reid a liar? This question arises in the wake of Senate Majority Leader Reid鈥檚 statement on the floor of the Senate Wednesday regarding horror stories about American鈥檚 experience with Obamacare.

鈥淎ll are untrue, but they鈥檙e being told all over America,鈥� said Senator Reid.

鈥淎ll鈥�? Republicans have leaped on this as a clear untruth of its own. Some have wondered aloud if the mainstream media will call upon Democrats to disown Reid鈥檚 comment, as it asked if Republicans would repudiate t after he campaigned for the GOP gubernatorial candidate in Texas.

Reid has a history of whoppers, according to other conservatives. Remember in the presidential campaign, when Reid said in an interview with the Huffington Post that Mitt Romney hadn鈥檛 paid taxes for 10 years? That was rated 鈥淧ants on Fire鈥� incorrect by the .

鈥淥nce a month, Harry Reid says something that would be a career-ender for your average Republican,鈥� said of the right-leaning National Review this week.

Well, Reid鈥檚 assertion that all the stories about Americans who lost coverage, or had to pay more, or had to find new doctors under the Affordable Care Act are false, is wrong on its face. Any big change in social policy such as Obamacare will roil the status quo. While it provides benefits for many who didn鈥檛 have them, it also creates categories of losers whose situation will be worse off. For instance, people who live in rural areas with little medical competition, and make just above the threshold for government subsidies of their premiums, are quite likely to face steep premium hikes.

In fact, that statement is so off that Reid knew it and walked it back that same day. He returned to the floor and said he was focusing on anti-Obamacare ads produced by Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a political group that has spent more than $30 million campaigning against Obamacare in recent months.

AFP gets lots of money from wealthy brothers Charles and David Koch. Reid referenced the Kochs by name.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 say that every one of the Koch brothers鈥� ads are a lie, but I鈥檒l say this ... the vast, vast majority of them are,鈥� said Reid.

This statement is partly true, partly not. Reid appears to have taken his cue here from Democratic bloggers and activists who have challenged many of the facts presented in AFP ads. In particular they have taken issue with an AFP-financed spot running in Michigan in which a leukemia patient says her new Obamacare coverage is 鈥渦naffordable鈥� due to higher out-of-pocket costs.

The women鈥檚 health premiums have actually fallen under Obamacare, according to reporters who checked into her situation. They鈥檝e gone down enough so that she鈥檒l likely pay less, or about the same, for her health care even if her out-of-pocket expenses are higher.

鈥淭he bigger story here is that, in order to sell these Obamacare 鈥榟orror stories,鈥� AFB needs to either shield the full stories form comprehensive scrutiny or actively mislead about them,鈥� writes the on his Plum Line blog at the Washington Post.

That鈥檚 just one ad, though. Reid said the 鈥渧ast majority鈥� of AFP ads are a lie. That鈥檚 still a clear overstatement, according to . For this he gave Reid two Pinocchios on his four Pinocchio rating scale.

Reid 鈥渨ould have been on safer ground if he dropped the harsh rhetoric and had simply said that many of the ads have serious problems and even rely on actors, not real people,鈥� Kessler writes.

Underlying this spat over Reid鈥檚 accuracy are pent-up tensions regarding his role as majority leader and the upcoming midterm election. Republicans say Reid has run the Senate like an autocrat, swatting away their attempts to propose legislative amendments on the floor while curtailing the power of the filibuster.

Sen. Bob Corker (R) of Tennessee, at a 海角大神 Science Monitor breakfast with reporters this week, went so far as to .

Reid, for his part, may be worried his days in power are dwindling. Right now polls indicate that it鈥檚 a better than even chance that Republicans will win control of the Senate this November. If so, Reid would be supplanted by the current minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky.

Reid鈥檚 鈥渦nacceptable rhetoric鈥� and 鈥渁stonishing behavior鈥� are signs that Democrat鈥檚 are desperate, in a Fox News interview Thursday.