Obamacare says every American must purchase a government-approved insurance policy or else pay a fine. Had Chief Justice John Roberts been unwilling to treat this provision as a tax in last week’s Supreme Court ruling — despite much evidence to the contrary — all of Obamacare would have been wiped off the books. How amusing it is, therefore, to watch Obama’s surrogates examine the teeth of the gift horse the Roberts court has given them.
On the Sunday interview shows, they spun furiously against the idea that Obamacare’s individual insurance mandate is a tax. The spinners included White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. “It’s a penalty that comes under the tax code,” Pelosi said on “Meet the Press.” She then nearly slipped and called it a tax as she argued that it was not a tax. “It’s a ta–it’s a penalty for free riders,” she said.
