Maverick: Republi-CONs on Obamacare

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Republi-CONs on Obamacare

UPDATE VI: "[F]ew [Republicans] are willing to stand up to the zealots, and even fewer are willing to cast votes that depart from the pack. All of them dutifully recite the mantra that Obamacare is an abomination that ought to be eliminated, and none notes that it is basically the same plan as 1994’s Grassleycare/Hatchcare/Durenbergercare/Chafeecare, which was built around an individual mandate, private insurers on exchanges, and premium support for less fortunate Americans. More strikingly, no one notes that Ryan’s long-term plan for Medicare, built around regulated exchanges and premium support, is basically Obamacare for seniors. Every opportunity to reform and refine the Affordable Care Act through traditional institutional means, working with both parties, has been rejected by them."

Read The Atlantic, The Republican Hardliners Aren't Conservatives, They're Radicals.

UPDATE V: "Americans hate Obamacare but love the Affordable Care Act. That is the big story from one of America’s more reliable sources of information, Jimmy Kimmel. . .

One woman who vehemently condemned Obamacare while singing the praises of the Affordable Care Act was asked by Kimmel's merry pranksters if she thought an informed electorate is vital to a healthy democracy. The woman answered with a firm 'yes' -- making herself look like an idiot, not only to the television audience, but to the much bigger audience who have watched the clip online. "

Read the Los Angeles Times, Obamacare-hating voters have been suckered by right-wing spin.

Also, watch Jimmy Kimmel Live, Six of One - Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act:

UPDATE IV: "Republicans have pulled out all the stops to kill Obamacare, the president's landmark health care law that requires every American to purchase health insurance by 2014. There have been lawsuits; there have been bills (40 in the House so far); there has been a Supreme Court case—all aimed at rolling back a law that that the GOP says is an assault on individual liberty. Now, with only a few more months to go until the individual mandate—the requirement that we all have coverage—kicks in, Republicans are frantic; some are even threatening to force the United States to default on its debts if Democrats don't agree to delay the law.

This is odd because the individual mandate, the cornerstone of Obamacare, was originally a conservative idea. It was first proposed by the Heritage Foundation in 1989. And scores of Republicans—not just Mitt Romney—have backed the idea in the past couple of decades. Here are some of the GOPers who supported Obamacare before Obama."

Read Mother Jones, 25 Republicans Who Supported Obamacare Before Obama.

UPDATE III: "Obamacare isn’t perfect, the former political spear-carrier said. 'But to even improve it, to make something work, you’ve got to participate in the process. [Republicans] are not even participating in the process.'"

So says a former Republican after bout with testicular cancer and four rounds of chemo, who is now "dismayed by his party’s cavalier attitude toward the health care debate."

Read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, A Republican conversion to Obamacare.

UPDATE II: For another "beautiful example of a writer so intent on criticizing Obamacare that she’s missed the fact that the law is doing precisely the thing she wants done. . . hoping for a replacement that looks like, well, Obamacare", read the Washington Post, Peggy Noonan attacks Obamacare for doing what Peggy Noonan wants Obamacare to do.

UPDATE: Republi-cons want to repeal Obamacare, they have tried 40 times already, but "have no idea what is it is they’ll do — save for undoing what the Democrats did. But for all Gingrich’s bluster on the subject, the simplest way to understand that policy vacuum is to understand Gingrich’s pre-Obamacare health-care plan: It was Obamacare.

'We should insist that everyone above a certain level buy coverage (or, if they are opposed to insurance, post a bond),' he wrote in his 2008 book, 'Real Change.' 'Meanwhile, we should provide tax credits or subsidize private insurance for the poor.'

So that’s an individual mandate plus tax subsidies to purchase insurance. That’s the core of Obamacare. And it’s no surprise Gingrich supported it. Lots of Republicans did. Gov. Mitt Romney even signed a plan like that into law in Massachusetts. . .

'We are caught up right now in a culture — and you see it every single day — where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don’t have to learn anything,' Gingrich said at the RNC.'"

Read the Washington Post, Newt Gingrich explains how the GOP’s Obamacare tactics backfired.