The GOP drive to defund Obamacare is leaking oil.
From the leaders of the GOP establishment to usual tea-party allies, a growing number of Republicans are splitting with movement conservatives who are pushing to shut down the federal government if funding is not cut off for President Obama's health care law at the end of September.
The growing concern is that the tea-party activists and a handful of senators, led by the troika of Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are marching into battle without a plan for victory short of Obama reversing himself on his signature domestic achievement—an almost unimaginable outcome.
"Next to impossible," said one tea-party favorite, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., last week.
Even Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has signed onto the defunding push, questioned whether it would actually work. "I may not be able to guarantee victory," Paul told Sean Hannity last week on Fox News.
The infighting has left Republicans battling each other instead of the Democrats over internal political tactics heading into the next fiscal fight.
"I think it's the dumbest idea I've ever heard of," Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina said late last month. "Listen, as long as Barack Obama is president, the Affordable Care Act is going to be law."
The article goes on to point out how the movement is putting old stalwarts like Mitch McConnell at risk of losing their bid for reelection, as well as potentially doing irreparable damage to the party.
"This is destructive not only for the country and for health care but it's also, I think, something that would boomerang on them politically," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The President was dead on when he said that the "One unifying principle in the Republican party at the moment is making sure that 30 million people don't have health care."
Not exactly a platform to run on for reelection in 2014, now is it? Especially if you are doomed to fail.
You know I have seen the comparison before, but now more than ever the Republican party remind me of these two.
The Pinky and the Brain comparison is priceless!
ReplyDeleteThe time has come to remove the healthcare provision for these elected officials. They voted to keep their Cadillac healthcare (taxpayer funded) system in place for the future. Take it away, some people paying for that can not afford their own healthcare. Let them find out firsthand what it is like to shop around. My supplemental insurance just went up $17 a month, and I am on a fixed income. It increases every year. So, between that and Medicare it costs me over $300 a month for healthcare. These clowns get their FREE. Off topic, Bill Kristol is pushing for Palin to run for office in Alaska! Nobody told him she lives in Arizona now??
ReplyDeleteNo, their healthcare is not free. They do 'shop around,' from a group of plans, for what is best for their families. They pay premiums and co-pays. They don't get it for life. The reason they
Deletekeep it is because it works..it's basically Medicaid..and origiaally, the plan was Medicaid for ll, but the GOP can't bear the thought of all Americans being in a program that works and is cheaper (whatever will the insurance people do without the ability to gouge us anyway?)
They have the likes of Medicaid! That is cheaper than Medicare!
DeleteCongressmen should be tenured and not receive medical insurance for themselves and their families once they are out of office.
They should also not be allowed to play the stock market while in office because they have too much inside information and direction!
They are not a trust-worthy bunch back there!
"I may not be able to guarantee victory," Paul told Sean Hannity
ReplyDeleteMAY not be able to??
That's like me saying I MAY not be able to sprout another arm and learn how to play the harp in the next 17 minutes!
McCain, some of the other oldsters, and even some relatively younger Senators have warned that shutting down the government (no Social Security checks, no paying solders, no air traffic controllers, no FBI, no FDA inspections....) will throw the country into chaos and is not a bartering position.
ReplyDeleteEither they shut down the government FOREVER, or they'll have to give in after a short period of time when their constituents demand the money and services they're entitled to.
The only way they'd win this game of chicken is by holding their breath and turning blue, thinking they'll get the President to rescind the ACA, which would involve an act of Congress, and the Senate wouldn't agree.
The whole thing is a silly bit of posturing by these young Turks -- and, yes, will only lead to divisions within the GOP.
Go to it, Cruz, Rubio and Gang! See how much popular support you'll have when your parents' Medicare payments don't go through. See how much respect you get from your colleagues when all your bloviating fails, and the ACA is just one more month toward being enacted.
All right, Mr. Fancy Pants Librul Alaska blogger, I got some bad news for you!! Obamacare is DEAD IN THE WATER!!! It will become law over MY DEAD BODY!!
ReplyDeleteAnd you wanna why?
Well, I'll tell you anyway!
I DON"T NEED IT! That's right, buddy boy! I don't need it, I dont want it and I AIN"T GONNA PAY FOR IT!! Havent you ever noticed that severe conservative NEVER need this magical fairy dust you call 'health care'? THAT'S BECAUSE CONSERVATIVES PRAY TO JEEBUS AND HE PROTECTS THEM!!!
For your information, my doctor says I have the liver of a twenty year old man! I mean, literally, the liver of a twenty year old man. You can get 'em installed in the back of a Tijuana bodega for $800 US cash, no questions asked. I just figured the young man didn't need his anymore, so why not? Amirite? (h/t 2 GinaM)
Other than that liver-swap, my wobbly knee and this wierd greenish knobby thing on my neck that keeps getting larger every week, I am as healthy as a horse and I refuse to donate my hard earned lottery winnings to support malingerers, scaliwags and rapscallions like YOU and the handful of librul dead-enders loitering around this defunct blog!
Your precious so-called President Obama is going to carry Obamacare as his legacy for the rest of his natural life and beyond and you heard it here first! That's right, buddy boy, deal with it!! Every time a person of modest means, or with a pre-existing condition or between jobs receives health care, he'll have President Obama to thank AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!!
Oy! Beldar you crack me up. The sad thing is, I know people who actually talk about lazy moochers getting their hard earned money through these programs. At the same time their girlfriends are collecting WIC, food stamps and Medicaid...
DeleteThe far right whacko birds on the radio like Limbaugh , Hannity and Levin always run down the majority
ReplyDeleteof Americans as being " Lo Fo " people.
Low Information , because they get their news
from the media rather than the
whacko birds.
But, it's actually the whacko birds that disseminate false and incomplete information on a daily basis.
I guarantee that most of their listeners
have no idea how a bill gets passed or have any idea that the Senate is controlled by the Democrats.
Limbaugh , Hannity and Levin tell their audience
that all Republicans have to do to end Obamacare
is have the courage to defund it.
Like waving a magic wand.
They also tell their listeners that any Republican
who doesn't go along with defunding
is a coward and a RINO.
Karl Rove was on Hannity debating Tea Party Senator Mike Lee from Utah ,
one of the main pushers of the defunding stunt.
Along with Canuck Cruz.
Rove kept making the point that Democrats control the legislative process and there is no way that this defunding
nonsense had any hope of working.
Lee , being Tea Party, could not answer Rove logically or like an adult.
He launched into the usual childish taunts
and name calling at Rove instead of responding to the question.
Finally, Lee revealed their grand tactic for
succeeding in defunding Obamacare.
Wait for it...Lee said that President Obama and the Democrats would see
the light and join the movement
to defund Obamacare.
Rove was incredulous and then asked him to name
a single Democrat Senator
( they would need 6 to join all 45 Republicans, assuming
all 45 were in agreement ..) who would go along with this.
Lee couldn't ,of course , but,
said " Oh, they'll be there , they'll be there ".
Rove gave up in exasperation.
You cannot argue facts and reason with the real Lo Fo people , those on the
far right.
They reside in an alternate reality.
Even the dumbest bastards out there, cannot help but notice that idiots like John Boehner, who did the Chicken Little thing of screaming that the very day after the Obamacare bill was passed, the world will completely end--were dead wrong.
ReplyDeleteIts four years later. The sky is still up there.
I don't credit Cruz, Paul, Rubio and the others with lots of smarts, but you'd THINK that sociopaths like that, would have a well tuned sense of self interest, at least.
How do they plan on coming off the slightest bit credible, when this simpleminded scheme of theirs, fails?
Republicans in Congress are the biggest idiots in the world! They are quickly trying to change the face of their party because of the upcoming elections - some of which will be under consideration!
ReplyDeleteAnyone that votes for a Republican on the national, state and local levels are absolutely nuts. Remember too, that they are very much against women's rights, but are keeping quiet about it now.
Research each candidate for which you vote! Check their voting records and learn about them if you aren't familiar w/their antics at this point!
BE A KNOWLEDGEABLE VOTER!
I live in Pennsylvania (Republicon Governor) and there's been an OFA ad informing people about how the ACA has had a positive impact on their lives on the air, I've seen it four or five times. I absolutely loved seeing them, I learned from working to get POTUS elected twice, there ARE a lot of confused, discombobulated and gullible people who are too lazy or indifferent to inform themselves or even question what politicians say.
ReplyDeleteI hope the tide is turning re: Obamacare, because we have bigger fish to fry.