Robert B. Reich, liberal commentator and Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, insists in today's Huffington Post that "the Democrat's version of Health Insurance would have been cheaper, simpler and more popular" and asks "so why did we enact the Republican version and why are they so upset?"

Yes, he did. And no, there is nothing to indicate that his astonishing editorial is satire. Moreover, there is nothing to indicate in the comments sections that the Huffington Post readership manages to spot any irony in all of this either. This is the low information propaganda machine at full throttle. 

Reich's thesis is that "while Republicans plot new ways to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, it's easy to forget that for years they've been arguing that any comprehensive health insurance system be designed exactly like the one that officially began October 1st, glitches and all." And in case you're not sure just which Republicans Reich is referring to, he clarifies that in the next paragraph, stating,

"...in February 1974, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed, in essence, today's Affordable Care Act. Under Nixon's plan all but the smallest employers would provide insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, an expanded Medicaid-type program would insure the poor, and subsidies would be provided to low-income individuals and small employers." 

While the absurdities are too numerous to mention here, apparently, Reich is actually trying to hang the disaster of Obama Care around the necks of Republicans because a liberal GOP President thought about something similar four decades ago -- conveniently ignoring the fact that not a single Republican currently in office voted for it -- and that the party is having a civil war today over the best way to stop it.

Furthermore, since it suits the purpose du jour, Reich and the Huffington post are intentionally conflating the notions of conservative and Republican -- a problem not currently inflicting the Tea Party conservative base. 

Predictably, Reich takes the obligatory slap at Mitt Romney and The Heritage Foundation, droning that "Mitt Romney made Nixon's plan the law in Massachusetts" and that "in 1989, Stuart M. Butler of...Heritage...came up with a plan." Again, Reich is ignoring many inconvenient truths, including Romney's day one pledge to exempt everyone from Obama Care, and that Heritage's idea was simply based on everyone pulling their own weight -- and by the way -- is a quarter century old.

None of this matters to Reich, The Huffington Post, or to the low information crowd they speak to. They are in panic mode, trying desperately to ignore what Obama Care reality is doing to their beloved President -- and more to the point -- their entire world view. To do so, Reich has one-upped the mantra that it's Bush's fault: now it's Nixons' fault.