In 2007 Mitt Romney was the first politician to use the term "Obamacare" in a pejorative fashion,

[still_one]

and the republicans and the media have been pushing that term in a pejorative connotation ever since.

Is it any wonder why 33% of the populace doesn't realize that the ACA and "obamacare" are the same thing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/upshot/one-third-dont-know-obamacare-and-affordable-care-act-are-the-same.html?_r=0

They did the same thing when Hillary helped craft the Health Security Act of 1993, when they referred to it as "HillaryCare"

Does anyone remember when "liberal" became a "dirty word"?

During the McCarthy era most of the media fell right in line for "fear" they would be labelled as "communist" sympathizers.

However, I think it occurred under the Reagan administration when the FCC killed the fairness Doctrine in 1987. It did away with a policy that had been in place since 1949, which required broadcasters to cover controversial issues of public importance with contrasting viewpoints.

In 1991 when Bernard Goldberg's book "Bias" went to number one on the NYTimes best seller list, and Fox News came into being in 1996

[NurseJackie]

1. I'm amazed at how many US "mainstream" news outlets give "equal time" to climate change deniers...

... as if there's actually a valid reason and legitimate arguments that climate change isn't real. (And they do this VOLUNTARILY... and they're actually proud of having done it, too!)

Heaven help us all.

[still_one]

5. Yup. NYTimes just hired climate change denier Bret Stephens . You called it right Jackie

[OnDoutside]

2. The most amazing thing that was missed by the Democratic Party

was that it only emerged after the election just how many Republican voters thought Obamacare was different to the ACA. If ever there was an attack point missed, this was it.

[still_one]

6. The ignorance of the public really amaze me

[OnDoutside]

3. The other thing is that Republicans recognized their audience

These are simple people, and simple people need simple phrases. Don't fight it, come up with a simplified message for red states.

[ck4829]

4. It's framing. Recognize it, reclaim the frames, and create your own

They've done the same thing with "political correctness", "empathy", "social justice", "social justice warrior", and "speaking truth to power."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Framing_(social_sciences)

[still_one]

7. Wow, that is exactly it

[ck4829]

8. Oh yes, it's incredibly pervasive among the right wing

Why make things better for the people when you can just declare the things you do to be good and successful and the things the other side (Democrats and the left) does to be wasteful, failures, and things the people don't really need?

Even my signature line I picked for today this morning is an example of framing, in this case, a reference to the fact that the right called Obama a "secret Muslim" yet nobody revisits the fact that the drug czar Reagan had thought decapitating drug users like in Saudi Arabia is moral was something a "secret Muslim" would say.