Why Do Republicans Tell Such Obvious Lies?

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These tweets from Paul Ryan’s press secretary kind of crack me up:

While we’re setting the record straight: AHCA was posted online a month ago, went through 4 committees, & has been scored by CBO — twice.

— AshLee Strong (@AshLeeStrong) May 6, 2017

CBO has scored #AHCA twice. #facts

March 13: https://t.co/fqlMGmPVdz

March 23: https://t.co/OAJ4M7lhEP

— AshLee Strong (@AshLeeStrong) May 6, 2017

This is a pretty crude evasion, and a seemingly pointless one. Anybody who’s savvy enough to know what a CBO score is in the first place also knows that this is badly misleading. Earlier bills were scored. Earlier bills went through committee. Earlier bills were posted online a month ago. But none of that applies to the actual bill that was passed on Thursday.

So why bother? The answer is simple: Donald Trump has taught Republicans that Twitter is a useful tool for communicating with your base, and that’s all this is. Most people who read these tweets will have no idea what they’re about, just that they’re more examples of how the lying left is always telling lies about Republicans. It will become a useful attack meme on the right for a while, and that’s all it’s for.