Michele Bachmann compares Obamacare to crack

"All they want to do is buy love from people by giving them massive government subsidies."

Published September 30, 2013 8:05PM (EDT)

Michele Bachmann                                 (Reuters/Larry Downing)
Michele Bachmann (Reuters/Larry Downing)

While speaking on Obamacare, failed presidential candidate Michele Bachmann employed a racially charged metaphor, comparing the health insurance program to crack cocaine.

Asked by the rightwing WorldNetDaily why Democrats are refusing to negotiate over the president's signature health care bill, Bachmann responded:

I think the reason is because President Obama can’t wait to get Americans addicted to the crack cocaine of dependency on more government health care. Because, once they enroll millions of more individual Americans, it will be virtually impossible for us to pull these benefits back from people.

Besides the racial implications, Bachmann's comment is also noteworthy for its implicit acceptance of an argument made most recently by journalist Kurt Eichenwald in Vanity Fair — namely, that Republicans are fighting Obamacare so forcefully not because they know it will fail, but because they fear it will succeed.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

MORE FROM Elias Isquith


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