Palin: ObamaCare tax a 'purposeful lie'

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This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 29, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: Joining me now with reaction to yesterday's Supreme Court decision and much more is former Alaska governor and FOX News contributor Sarah Palin. Governor, welcome back.

SARAH PALIN, R-FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: Thank you so much, Sean.

HANNITY: You know, I watched that ad, there are seven specific taxes on the middle class. Seven, as we look at this bill. And over 75 percent of the mandate goes to the middle class that the resident said he would not tax. How big an issue is this?

PALIN: It's a huge issue. Because there are more than 21 separate taxes within ObamaCare and as you point out President Obama had promised Americans through ABC News which I'm going to call out because ABC News has some chance for redemption here. They were used as tool by President Obama in September of '09 when they let him get away with saying this wasn't a tax. Now, the Supreme Court is saying it is a tax and Obama praises the Supreme Court's decision and yet, still wants to say it is not really a tax.

But anyway, there are 21 different taxes within ObamaCare. This is huge because it is another broken promise. Obama has a list of promises now that have been absolutely decimated. The only promise he has kept, Sean, is that he would fundamentally transform America.

HANNITY: Well, very well said. You know, you said on, I believe it was a tweet yesterday. Might have been on Facebook, but I think it was a tweet. "The president lies and freedom dies. "

PALIN: Freedom dies. Yep, I tweeted that.

HANNITY: I want to ask you specifically about this lie. Because David Axelrod was -- earlier today was on the "Today Show" still insisting in spite of the Supreme Court decision this is not a tax. Watch this.

PALIN: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "TODAY/NBC)

MATT LAUER, HOST: Back in 2009, the president adamantly denied that health care reform was going be a tax on the American people. Does he now agree that this legislation, this law is a tax?

DAVID AXELROD, OBAMA'S SENIOR CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: Whatever you call it Matt, whether you call it a mandate or a tax, what it is, is a penalty on the very few Americans who don't -- who can afford health care, don't pay for it, end up in our emergency rooms, getting free care and then we all pay for it in the form of a --

LAUER: But you know whatever you call it is important in an election year and coming out of a recession, if it is called a tax it is going to hurt.

AXELROD: Yes. But what I would suggest you is that you direct that question to Governor Romney who was the chief proponent of this very policy when was Governor of Massachusetts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: This is a tough question, but one I think needs to be asked. Did the president, is David Axelrod -- is this deceit or is this a lie? Is this a purposeful lie?

PALIN: It is a lie and it was a purposeful lie back in September of '09 when President Obama got in George Stephanopoulos' face and tried to school him and tell George as a filter for the American public to be receiving information, tried to tell George, you are spinning this up, you are the one lying, George, when you suggest that this is a tax. Well, it as tax and anybody with common or economic sense applied knew that it would be a tax. And that is the only thing that would fly making it legitimate that is constitutional in the Supreme Court as we found out.

HANNITY: You know, as we look at all of these issues though as they're now unfolding here, I would like to see the media ask the president himself. He's told the America -- you sold this as not being a tax and in fact it is a tax. I think it is a big deal. When I look at the dissent, Governor, I'm amazed at the language that is used and that is you can't regulate commerce that doesn't exist. And, of course, I'm talking about Justice Thomas Scalia, Alito and Kennedy here.

You cannot rewrite Obamacare to make the tax argument work. They call the tax argument feeble. I mean, strong words really directed at the Chief Justice, that the tax argument makes no sense. A mountain of evidence against the tax argument here.

So, I guess my question is now that a precedent has been set, what does that mean constitutionally to you. Because I have been making the case that I think the president has been acting in a lawless manner in a variety of ways and I want to get your thoughts on it.

PALIN: A lawless manner and a very naive and short-sighted and selfish manner. A very political manner. That is the way that our president has been operating, yes. What this gets to constitutionally is, it goes to the core of who we are as Americans and what the relationship is between the federal government and the individual. And this dissent, there are harsh words, very -- articulated very fiercely the defense of America's economic commercial personal freedoms versus this overreach of ObamaCare.

I think people need to really start paying attention to what those four justices were telling us is in their dissenting argument. It is very valuable. It is educational. It will certainly help the constitutional conservatives running for office this next go-around to understand what the dissent was all about and start articulating that and helping the Americans understand that there is another side to this.

HANNITY: You know, could you imagine, Governor, that if George W. Bush tried to get the capital gains tax repealed and Congress wouldn't go along with it like in the case of the immigration Bill and George W. Bush said, it wouldn't be constitutional for me to do this and then a year later comes out by executive fiat he does it anyway, which is what the president basically did on immigration. We had laws that were passed by Congress signed into law by previous presidents and he just says by executive, I'm not going to enforce that law. What would be the reaction if George Bush said, I'm not going to enforce the capital gains tax?

PALIN: You know, I was privy to a wonderful conversation over the radio airwaves today between you and Mark Levin on your radio show where you guys talked a little bit about that and gave more and more examples about President Obama basically saying, I don't care what Congress does or says, I'm going to act anyway. And that is where I'm going with the selfishness of our president and the politicizing of every single issue. The disrespect for our Constitution and the separation of powers. It is overwhelmingly bad for America in defense of our republic that he continues to get away with this.

HANNITY: You know, the fact that he said that he could not do something because it was not constitutional and then within a year, he does it anyway. You know, we do have, as you said he is sworn to uphold the Constitution. We do have checks and balances. We do have separation of powers and I think that is what is missing here. Let me ask you one question about this double whammy. Because this is now the largest tax increase or will be the largest tax increase in American history. And then we got a double whammy because come, you know, January 1st, the Bush tax cuts expire.

What does this mean about the campaign? Is this -- if Romney is elected this happens? Is this a choice election? How would you define it if you were running?

PALIN: Oh, this is a choice between growing government or shrinking government to the size that it should be and that is a smaller, smarter less intrusive government so that the private sector can grow and thrive and prosper. It's certainly a very clear choice but it's a very clear choice in other realms, too, not just the economic realm but the social realm, the political realm about where America is headed, Sean. It is such a clear choice to me whether the Constitution, the republic will be defended or we will become a socialized nation and go the way of these European nations that are going under because that is where Obama is headed. And so we certainly have a clear choice.

Let me make a point, though, on ObamaCare and let me get your input on this. If ObamaCare is so doggone great and economic and constitutional now, what is with the exemption, Sean? And sorry to pivot real quickly on this one, but where can the rest of us sign up for these exemptions as the other, you know, thousand plus organizations and individuals have been able to --

HANNITY: Big labor.

PALIN: Yep. Big labor. And we're going to be picking up the tabs then for the exemptions, the results of these exemptions. But where can the rest of us and the small businesses that will be so adversely impacted by Obamacare --

HANNITY: Nowhere.

PALIN: Where can the rest of us participate in the exemptions?

HANNITY: Well, for example in the Cadillac tax that will kick in I believe it was 2018 in the bill, there was an exemption there because unions often have plans that meet that criteria. In other words, some of the better health care plans, and that will be taxed but not until 2018 because, of course, they wouldn't want to impact the Democrats now. It would be interesting to see what happens when that time comes that they have to pay the same tax as everybody.

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