SUBTLE RIGHT-WING SPIN ON THE HEALTH CARE RULING

You may already know that Reagan-appointed federal judge Roger Vinson has ruled that the individual-mandate provision of the law violates the Constitution, and asserted that the entire law therefore fails to pass constitutional muster. The law doesn't include a "severability" clause specifically asserting that a court ruling of this kind on one provision won't invalidate the rest of the law, so it was vulnerable to a ruling of this kind.

Now, you and I understand that Vinson's ruling finds fault specifically with this one provision of the law. Fox Nation and Glenn Beck's Blaze hope that, at least on a subconscious level, right-wing readers won't understand that. The headline at Fox Nation:

Federal Judge Rules Entire Health Care Law Unconstitutional

The headline at The Blaze:

FLORIDA FEDERAL JUDGE RULES 'ENTIRE' HEALTH CARE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

And on the Blaze front page:

FEDERAL JUDGE RULES ALL OF OBAMACARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL

Maybe I'm overstating the significance of what these headlines imply. But clearly, both sites are trying to create the impression that Vinson believes the entire law violates the Constitution, which is not what he says at all. Given the right-wing fad of trying to wrap oneself in the Constitution, not to mention the right-wing belief that the document was dictated directly by God himself, these sites really want to plant the notion that the law is thoroughly infested with anti-Constitutionalism. Yes, the linked posts do explain what the judge actually said. But the headlines are meant to be meme-makers, I think.

This is a small part of the 24/7 propaganda war, but it's a part nonetheless, I'd say.