The continual Republican assault on the Affordable Care Act has been called many things—over-the-top, wasteful, ignorant—but it has been especially useful for conservatives in one respect: "Obamacare" just can't find any purchase with the American public. Support for the ACA has now fallen to 37 percent, according to Maya Rhodan at TIME, who notes that "Lower approval was noted among independents and non-whites, at 33% and 56%, respectively."
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- This is probably the look President Obama gave when he heard Jonathan Gruber's comments about the ACA. Then, maybe he threw a chair or two.
On Fox News, Republican politicians have been bandying around Gruber's comments as evidence that President Obama thinks Americans are idiots—oh, the irony of Republicans using Fox News to tell Americans that someone else thinks they're stupid—and it's getting pretty ugly out there. Yesterday, former Obama advisor David Axelrod felt obligated to step into the fray on Twitter:
As one who worked hard to make ACA and its benefits clear, let me say: if you looked up "stupid" in dictionary, you'd find Gruber's picture.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 16, 2014
That's an obvious statement. At best, Gruber is unaware of how he comes across politically. At worst, he's an oblivious, arrogant asshole who should never speak in public again. His comments have come at a pretty bad time for the ACA, with Republicans about to seize power in Congress and the Roberts Supreme Court poised to potentially eviscerate another part of the law. You can say what you will about the dogged Republican determination to repeal Obamacare—it may have cost them the 2012 presidential election—but it's proof that in Washington, single-mindedness pays off.