When Barack Obama was re-elected last week, my thoughts quickly turned to how Republicans and Fox News would respond to the loss. I hoped the response would be to break out of the Conservative Thought Bubble. Alas, no, the popular narrative seems to have become that black and brown people just want free stuff. *sigh* This started the very night of the election, even before Obama had won!
It's not just Fox News though, it's Mitt Romney himself.
Today, Romney had a call with his big donors, I guess to try to explain what the hell went wrong:
"The president's campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift," Romney said in a call to donors on Wednesday. "
This is where the Conservative Thought Bubble comes back into play... and if you are a Conservative and you are reading this, please understand that I don't want you to stop being Conservative. I just want you to be Conservative in the real world because our nation needs you outside of the bubble. Let's take a look at an example of why he's still in the bubble.
Among the "gifts" Romney cited were free health care "in perpetuity," which he said was highly motivational to black and Hispanic voters...
*sigh* I wish Barack Obama was offering free health care in perpetuity. I think that would be a great thing for our country. The only problem is that the claim that he is offering that to anyone, regardless of skin color, is utterly unhinged from reality. Do you remember that whole thing where the Supreme Court was deciding if the Insurance Mandate in the PPACA (Obamacare) was Constitutional? Yeah, that.
That's the requirement that people PAY FOR INSURANCE. It's the part that requires people to pay for themselves. They have to take personal responsibility and purchase health insurance. PAY. Not free health care. Got it? NOT FREE HEALTH CARE.
Conservatives, please come out of the bubble.