Alternate title for this post: Because, GOP, fuck off. That's why.
If, by some strange chance, some conservatives come by here, I'll rise above your level and say "Neener neener neener. Told you so. Ppppttttthbbbbbbbbtttttttt." It was constitutional when Mitt Romney signed it into law as governor of Massachusetts, a state that has already seen significant savings and improvements to the quality of life, it's constitutional today, and it will be constitutional tomorrow. That said, I agree with Senator Patrick Leahy of, and do I really have to name a party, Vermont. This isn't the end of the fight to save the lives of our poor. This is a good first step. It's considerably less than what I wanted, and President Obama wasted a great deal of time and effort trying to appeal to the nonexistent better angels of today's extremist GOP. He added multiple provisions at their behest in an attempt to get bipartisan support, and after they agreed they would sign, they put more roadblocks. Hearing Tom Price, former orthopedic surgeon and current lying jackass, have the temerity to claim President Obama never really wanted a bipartisan plan and instead just pushed something through is just utter bullshit. He should know better. He's poorly served Georgia's 6th Congressional District since 2005. He was there. I have a lot of criticisms of President Obama, and most of them stem from one aspect of his character: he mistakenly believes he's dealing with a principled opposition, possibly because he wants to believe better of them than the evidence warrants. Hell, he's running on the GOP platform of 1990. He's doing exactly what the GOP has been saying was good for decades, and now that he's done it, they want to piss and moan like the little bitches they are and cry "socialism". President Obama is not a socialist. Hell, he's not even a liberal by reasonable standards. He's center-right, and the only reason he seems liberal is because his opposition belongs in their local chapter of the John Birch Society, Klansmen's hoods, a mental hospital, or some combination of the three. I apologize if anyone is offended by my inclusion of Eric Cantor in those three categories. I never should have hinted he belongs in a mental hospital.
Finally, if I haven't mentioned that the GOP can all go fuck themselves until they can pay a surgeon to remove their heads from their asses, I apologize. I hope this suffices.
6 comments:
Yes, they need to do to themselves what you suggest! LOL!
This isn't what I was fully hoping for when I was thinking of a national health care plan, but I do believe it is a first step toward something better for America.
Those tools who now mindlessly march for their unseen corporate puppeteers and their politicians are going to find out in a few years, if they have some functioning brain cells left after all their brainwashing, that they like the Affordable Health Care Act. And that is what the GOP can't bear the thought of, is more people learning to like the ACA.
Because once more people like it, it will be much harder for the GOP to remove it. Kind of like Social Security and Medicare.
So get ready for all kinds of really intense propaganda, of the very angry kind... although I believe the anger will be largely misdirected. Romney came up with this basic idea, and Obama and the Dems decided to implement it at the federal level. They can be angry at Obama, but they should be more angry at the Supreme Court for declaring that there what Obama wants to do is not unconstitutional (and that what Romney originally designed is not unconsititutional)!
Thus Obama MUST win in November for any of this to be meaningful. He needs to win and stay in office so that the various parts of the Act that people will like can fully take effect. And people will find out it will cost less to pay for insurance than it will cost to pay the fine for not having it.
A win is a win... and in the face of a corporate media, being outspent significantly in campaigns, and our side being the target of people like the Kochs, those of us who are on the left will take a win any way we can get it these days.
Kudos to John Roberts for having a few good brain cells. The Court is largely bought and sold, and I underestimated him... I thought for sure he would side with the conservatives and help overturn it 5-4. I can't abide by stuff like the Citizens United decision, but today for something as momentous as this at least, he proved he is more of a wild card than someone to be lumped in with the right wing cranks (Scalia, Alito, and Thomas).
Frankly, Scalia, Alito, and Thomas would not have been out of place on a court in Mussolini's Italy. I don't say that to shock or to insult. It's a simple statement of fact. Scalia's recent antics, in particular, have been juvenile enough to bring great dishonor on the court, and considering the state of this Court, that takes some effort. His behavior is certainly worthy of an impeachment he will not face.
As a side note, under the already active provisions of Obamacare, my mother and mothers, sisters, and wives everywhere have received routine annual mammograms under their insurance policies without paying anything out of pocket. While my mother was okay and they found nothing of interest, as expected, how many women will now deal with a discovery of cancer at stage 0 or 1, where the 5 year survival is between 88% and 93% versus stage 3 or later, where 5 year survival rates get very grim. From a financial standpoint, how much cheaper is treating stage 0 or 1 compared to stage 3 or 4?
Young people can also now be covered under their parents' health plan until the age of 26. How many lives has that already improved or saved? The PPACA is not an ideal solution, but it's already saved and improved lives, and as more provisions come into effect, that will only increase.
While I hope President Obama wins in November and encourage those in blue and swing states to vote for him for the reasons you cited, I'm in Alabama. My vote matters for naught, because we're redder than the Soviet Union. As such, I will vote my conscience, Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate.
Now that "Obamacare" has been upheld, Republicans' Plan B is to scare voters with their "Socialized Medicine!" and "next they'll be forcing you to eat tofu" soundbites. Republicans know that the mandate is unpopular and they're playing it for all it's worth. On the other hand, coverage for pre-existing conditions is extremely popular with the public.
Democrats need to get out in front of this and get their own message out loud and clear (something they're not too good at). Democrats need to remind voters, constantly, that if Romney gets elected, insurance companies will once again be able to cancel your coverage after you get sick, deny coverage because you have a pre-existing condition, etc.
I agree that Obama isn't exactly liberal; he just looks that way in comparison to the band of rightwing crazies the GOP has mutated into.
@Tom, I agree, but how can they when the GOP now has unlimited funds thanks to Corporations United?
Indeed they should stop doing it to us and start doing it to themselves.
When they label the President an appeaser they are correct in the domestic war they have declared but not on the foreign front.
Me I'm fed up the mandate has big constitutional problems as a penalty and it only works as a tax WITH single payer. We will still face massive problems with this DemPublican Frankenstein they created.
While I agree, 1138, this is still better than what we've had until now. I want to see single-payer and better, more robust assistance for the poor and working poor. It is morally wrong that we, the nation with more wealth than any other, have done so poorly with health care and education. How many jobs has the lack of single payer cost Americans? Overseas companies would often rather open shop where they know they won't pay extra for their employees' health care. Why don't other nations laugh in our face when we say we're the greatest or we are the leaders of the free world? We're not, and we haven't been for a very long time. We're merely a dying empire, and the only explanation that makes any sense is they need our money, and they are too timid to say this emperor, this empire is bare-assed naked with our dicks and other floppy appendages flapping in the breeze.
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