You Lie! Episode 19,435

First of all, an admission on my part. I do not, in point of fact, know that this is actually Barry O's 19,435th lie. In all fairness, the number is probably much, much higher than that. But I mean, c'mon, I can't be expected to document every lie he tells at a time when he's averaging 5-8 per day. I'm only one man!

Anyway, h/t to Hot Air for moving this to the forefront. It appears that the Obama Administration is preparing a defense against the various states suing the feds over Obamacare that flies directly in the face of a promise our fearless leader made during his push for nationalized medicine. During the campaign to turn American into Europe, Barry made a big spectacle of himself on national television promising that the individual mandate (the part of Obamacare that forces everyone to buy health insurance) is not a de facto tax. But, as with all of his promises, this one, too, has an expiration date.

First, the evidence. Here's Barry on ABC with George Stephanopolous insisting that the mandate does not equal a tax:

OBAMA: No. That’s not true, George. The — for us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase.
People say to themselves, that is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that I’m not covering all the costs.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policy…

OBAMA: No, but — but, George, you — you can’t just make up that language and decide that that’s called a tax increase. Any…

STEPHANOPOULOS: Here’s the…

OBAMA: What — what — if I — if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, that’s not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I don’t want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then…

STEPHANOPOULOS: I — I don’t think I’m making it up. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: Tax — “a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.”

OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Merriam’s Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you’re stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gone to the dictionary to check on the definition.

So, there's Mr. O arguing with former Clinton staffer George Stephanopolous about rather or not the mandate equals a tax increase. Obviously, Mr. O says, "No, absolutely not a tax increase." So, what has changed since that interview took place? Obamacare is not the law of the land, so now he doesn't have to lie about it anymore. American Spectator has the story in a piece titled Obama Admin. Argues In Court That Individual Mandate Is A Tax:

Late last night, the Obama Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss the Florida-based lawsuit against the health care law, arguing that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the State of Florida and fellow plaintiffs haven't presented a claim for which the court can grant relief. To bolster its case, the DOJ cited the Anti-Injunction Act, which restricts courts from interfering with the government's ability to collect taxes.

The Act, according to a DOJ memo supporting the motion to dismiss, says that "no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person, whether or not such person is the person against whom such tax was assessed." The memo goes on to say that it makes no difference whether the disputed payment it is called a "tax" or "penalty," because either way, it's "assessed and collected in the same manner" by the Internal Revenue Service.

So basically since he can't win a straight up constitutional challenge to Obamacare, he will now call the mandate a "tax" in order to get around it. This is the pennacle of arrogance, ladies and gentleman. He should be impeached or impaled. You decide.