[nsxwolf]

Since they could have passed any bill they wanted to, you'll have to ask them why they passed what they did. Parent's point is still valid - Republicans had zero input.

If it's really true that Republican backers are dimwitted, what's anyone supposed to do about that? Why can't the Democrats win them over with better messaging? Shouldn't be too hard. They're dimwits, after all.

[mikeyouse]

There are a litany of reasons to oppose the PPACA. Opposing it doesn't make anyone dimwitted. If you were one of the 47% of republicans who thought that the bill included death panels, you unfortunately are dimwitted. It's an insane premise that becomes even more absurd when thought about for a microsecond.

    Why can't the Democrats win them over with better messaging?

That's a great question, and a huge problem in politics. How do you prevent obvious lies and bullshit distractions from impacting elections? Remember Howard Dean's scream [1]? Or John Kerry's swiftboat exaggerations [2]? Or how 47% of people don't pay income taxes[3]? Or how much larger the government is under Obama[4]?

[1] - http://washingtonexaminer.com/howard-deans-scream-tv-screwed... [2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry_military_service_con... [3] - http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/campaign-trail/n... [4a] - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=nQE [4b] - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fredgraph.png?g=nQF

[nsxwolf]

Interesting read on the scream. When I first heard it on TV, it just struck me as a goofy sounding "Yeah!"... I had a chuckle and that was that. I never understood how it got the legs it did.