Can Internet Trolls Take Down Obamacare? (Tea Party Launches Attack On Healthcare.gov Live Chat) [View all]

[big_dog]

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Source: The Daily Beast/Newsweek Magazine

A filibuster can’t stop health-care exchanges from starting up Tuesday. But maybe a clever Tea Partier with Internet access can. David Freedlander on one man’s nefarious plan. Ted Cruz had his chance to derail Obamacare. Now it’s up to Internet trolls.

At least that’s the plan of Dustin Stockton, a top Tea Party strategist who sent out word Friday morning that he is organizing what he has termed “The Great American Troll-Off”—a chance for Tea Partiers to win cash prices for tweaking the federal government The plan was launched in response to a program from the federal government that allows the curious—or the mischievous—to have questions about the new health-care law answered via live chat from trained experts through the healthcare.gov website.

“Apparently President Obama thought that it was a good idea to hire people to answer questions about Obamacare on live chat, seriously,” Stockton writes on his website. He then instructs readers to go over to the live chat at healthcare.gov and “document your live chat with a government agent.” Those who post the transcript on his site will be eligible for cash prizes, with $100 each going to the “funniest” transcript, the “most shocking response from the government,” and the “best use of trolling.”

“I don’t like Obamacare,” said Stockton, plainly. “So for me, it’s a win-win. If they are able to withstand the pressure and a lot of people get their questions answered, great. And if they can’t handle the pressure, it hurts Obamacare. “ The Tea Partiers’ hope is that the live agents get flummoxed and say something embarrassing, or at least that they give conflicting answers to the same question. “If they are not in a position to answer the question in a consistent manner, then it does hurt Obamacare,” Stockman continued. “If they are giving misleading answers, we will expose it. And maybe we will get some headlines out of some of the answers. Something like—‘Even Obamacare Experts Don’t Know What Is Happening With Obamacare.’”

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/28/can-internet-trolls-take-down-obamacare.html