Quotes

The Cry Wolf Quote Bank chronicles the false predictions and hyperbole by opponents of these laws and protections.  While the issues and specific policies change over time, the rhetoric and themes remained the same.  You can search the Quote Bank for what opponents said to prevent these laws from passing. Using the drop down menus on the right their statements by issue, by specific law, by who said it and by the core themes they evoke.   Elsewhere on the site, you can find articles, studies, and other material that debunks their claims. 

E.g., 2024-03-29
E.g., 2024-03-29

We also endure a Mine Safety and Health Administration that seeks power over coal miners versus improving their safety and their health. As someone who has overseen the mining of more coal than anyone else in the history of central Appalachia, I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job. I don’t need Washington politicians to tell me that, and neither do you. But I also know — I also know Washington and state politicians have no idea how to improve miner safety. The very idea that they care more about coal miner safety than we do is as silly as global warming.

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Massey CEO Don Blankenship’s speech at his anti-union Labor Day rally.
09/07/2009 | Full Details

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care.

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Sarah Palin
08/08/2009 | Full Details

[The Republican plan will] make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.

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Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
07/28/2009 | Full Details

I would hate to think that among five women, one of ‘em is gonna die because we go to socialized care.

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Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
07/15/2009 | Full Details
Law(s): Affordable Care Act | Themes: Socialism!

[T]here will be no check upon the power of the Populistic States to exempt themselves and make a few Eastern States pay all, or nearly all, the tax.

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The New York Times
07/08/2009 | Full Details

A public plan would be unfairly matched against private plans and according to a 2009 Lewin Group Study, if the public plan’s reimbursement rates are similar to Medicare, an estimated 119 million people will shift from private insurance to the public plan. Within years, private insurers could be driven out of business and a “Single Payer System” will evolve. Moreover, an improperly constructed employer mandate could have a devastating impact on main street businesses that would be saddled with a significant economic burden.

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Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America statement, Washington, D.C.
06/10/2009 | Full Details

Forcing free market plans to compete with these government-run programs would create an unlevel playing field and inevitably doom true competition…

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Letter from Senators Mitch McConnell, (R-KY)., Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Charles Grassley, (R-IA); Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.; and Judd Gregg, (R-NH)
06/08/2009 | Full Details

Eventually, Americans would be stuck with government-run health care whether they like it or not. That's when the worst scenario would take shape, with Americans subjected to bureaucratic hassles, hours spent on hold waiting for a government service rep to take a call, restrictions on care, and, yes, lifesaving treatment and lifesaving surgeries denied or delayed.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
06/04/2009 | Full Details

I think that every single company that offers a credit card is reassessing its cost….reassessing what they do and how they do it.

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Marcia Sullivan, director of government relations for Consumer Bankers Association, USA Today.
05/22/2009 | Full Details

This bill fundamentally changes the entire business model of credit cards by restricting the ability to price credit for risk. It is a fundamental rule of lending that an increase in risk means that less credit will be available and that the credit that is available will often have a higher interest rate.

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Edward L. Yingling, the chief executive of the American Bankers Association, Washington Post.
05/20/2009 | Full Details

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