A torrent of good news about Obamacare came out today including that the problem with using the website has been substantially corrected…and Republicans have a problem with that problem not being a problem anymore.
They’ve based their entire 2014 election campaign on the problems with Obamacare and now that the ills of this health care law’s site have been mostly cured, the Republicans find themselves as mourners at a funeral where there is no body to bury.
Along with today’s news that over 100,000 people have now signed up for healthcare insurance through https://www.healthcare.gov/ and one million visits were handled by it just yesterday with only a 1% error rate, an article in the New York Times reported that the cost of Obamacare is actually decreasing and will continue to beat projections in the future.
So what is a party that is depending on the failure of Obamacare for winning elections to do? What else but cherry pick the other problems they think will most irritate Americans about Obamacare…and make up as many other ones as they think they need to.
House Weeper John Boehner squeezed out the crocodile tears complaining today that Obamacare continues to wreak havoc on Americans (er…only 5% of Americans have individual plans and only 1% of Americans have had their health insurance plans cancelled…so a plan that isn’t negatively affecting and only helping 99% of Americans is “wreaking havoc”?) and Majority Weeper Eric Cantor moaned that the ACA is full of flaws. Kleenex sales have gone way up in Republican districts lately and royalty payments to crocodiles over the use of their trademarked tears have gone through the roof.
Meanwhile, Rick Santorum howled over the weekend about the travesty of Obamacare, that older folks and the poor are now representing a majority of those now getting coverage (those Takers!) under Obamacare. Even though it’s just plain false, add another confused Republican to the list of those so hateful and intent on blocking everything that Obama supports, they actually attack their core constituents for not being bankrupted by medical expenses and not dying prematurely. Even they can’t explain themselves anymore.
Many people ask, “How can Republicans still get so many votes when they just want to tear down the country while offering no solutions or ideas to our problems?” You may have heard of revenge sex, this is revenge politics. It seems that Republican voters are primarily interested in getting revenge on the black President for having being so uppity as to be elected twice. If it means giving up their healthcare, Social Security, post offices, roads and bridges, unemployment payments, etc., they’re willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of revenge. Because when you’re forced to live in an abandoned house with no health coverage, food or electricity, you’ll always have your vengeance to keep you warm.
So off we go back through the looking glass again, the Republicans will look upon nearly 100% of Americans with health insurance as taking away Americans’ freedom to be buried in debt and die unnecessarily. We’ll hear all the anecdotal stories about people who have had their rates go up one million percent due to Obamacare and how some people can’t go to the doctors they couldn’t afford to go to before Obamacare gave them health insurance. The Republicans will do their best to keep climbing out of their clown car, one after another, with stories of horror and destruction in hand that all prove how awful Obamacare is.
And meanwhile, another million Americans will go to the Obamacare website tomorrow and the day after that.
It’s kind of hard to convince people that something tastes bad when they’re already eating and enjoying it. You look a bit like a dishonest, mean-spirited douche who is willing to say whatever you can just to serve your own petty agenda. It’s a good thing that Republicans have absolutely no self-awareness or they would be so much more dangerous. Left to their own devices, they are a self-wrecking crew that happily swings its wrecking ball without considering how gravity might make it swing back at them (gravity like evolution and climate change is still just a left wing “theory” to them).
By the time that November 2014 comes around, Americans will know Obamacare from personal experience. Millions of adults and children in America will be insured for the first time in their lives and many who were terribly burdened by having private insurance will be paying a small fraction for exponentially better insurance than the junk plan they may have had. Less than 1% of Americans will see increases in their premiums in the short term but those could be mitigated in the first year of coverage thanks to the benefits Obamacare requires they receive.
And meanwhile the blubbering of the Right Wing will insist that Obamacare is destroying America. They might as well be campaigning on how evil penicillin is and how reducing disease and infection is taking away our freedom to be diseased. In fact…as a companion issue to trying to end birth control…they just might add this one in too.
The main problem with the recalcitrance of the GOP/TP is the fact that, however incompetent they are, the districts have been gerrymandered to such an effect that nothing short of a nuclear reactor meltdown will shift them. So it is immaterial how badly they serve their constituents, they’ll still get voted back in.
This is such bad news for the poor and downtrodden voters in their areas, some of which are the ones which receive much Government assistance. The Dems need something positive to change the one-eyed sheep vote. Perhaps when the ACA shows success in these areas, then the change in power might conceivably happen.
One of the problem with the ACA has been the marketing of the plan. People simply don’t know that some of the benefits that they are beginning to enjoy can be attributed to ACA. So even though people are taking advantage of the features, they are still cursing the law. We have to admit that there is something more that is motivating those people in the gerrymandered GOP districts. How can the voters who are depending on or will be depending on SS and medicare vote for politicians whose main goal is to destroy these programs? My TPer neighbor is receiving SS, medicare and has admitted her daughter and grand-daughter utilized/or utilizes WIC…yet the whole family votes GOP consistently.
I admit I am a rare democrat who really dislikes the ACA. Once again, I feel that this ACA thing is going to lead to electoral defeat in 2014 if we are not careful. Here is why:
The democrats continue to be mealy mouth about the economy. We, like in 2009/2010, spent all our energies fighting each other over the public option and this republican plan while forgetting that it is the economy that is really the bread and butter issue. Once again we are spending our energies talking about healthcare and trying to stave off GOP attacks on the ACA while people are upset about going through another yet another year without a raise or the prospects of getting a new or better job.
Am I wrong? Will ACA finally quiet gopers and lead to democrats at least maintaining the senate? I hope their willingness to deny coverage to millions will backfire but I am not sure.
Hey CD, I don’t think you are entirely wrong. Those in the GOPTP will cling to their smear campaign against the ACA. Granted, it had a rough roll out, but things are being fixed and thousands of people are signing up every day.
I think the tea party has shot themselves in their collective feet by their constant obstruction of anything the dems and Obama want passed. They even give Obama shit over his nominess to various posts. Every time. Their obstructionism has reached ridiculous proportions and even traditional GOPers are starting to say…enough is enough. Today, even John Boehner admonished those in his own party for their constant whining.
I think the tea party is in for a real wake up come 2014. And as far as 2016 goes, by that time, people will see many of Obama’s policies working well and people will love the ACA. Of course there will always be the professional whiners and obfuscators, like FOX and limbaugh and the rest of the maunufacturers of phoney crisis.
I think the RW really underestimates the general intelligence of the American people. Eventually, even hard liners will say enough! Do your jobs or get the hell out. I’m optimistic about the rise of the democratic party and our principles.
I believe that a lot of people will sign up for the ACA. I am not sure we will get 7M people. However enough will sign up so that ACA may not be a big issue from an electoral perspective. The GOP will continue to sabotage and bad mouth the ACA, because the roll out has been extremely damaging. But I assure you, come november 2014, the economy will be the issue not healthcare.
I agree. For we the people, and I mean the middle class and working poor, the economy will be the big issue. I do think the economy has improved in the last 5 years and will continue to do so, despite all the obstructionism in congress. Obama said 4 years ago that there will be recovery, but it will be slow and gradual.
The GOPTP has no solutions. Lower taxes for the uber rich is not the answer, and dems need to accept that we do need to cut back on spending, but not at the expensive of the elderly, the poor and disabled. The GOPTP is infused with religion, good ole Christian values, but despite their rhetoric, their action betray their lofty language. They are not the actions of genuine Christians. This too will be a big factor come 2014 and 2016. I have no crystal ball, for sure, but I am optimistic about the continued downfall of the tea party and their fanatical candidates.
Business and slime as usual for the Repuglicans.
“Insurance Commissioner Compares Pre-Existing Conditions To Car Wrecks: ‘It’s Your Fault’”
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/12/04/3020831/georgia-insurance-commissioner-pre-existing-fault/
“Republican fallacies on Obamacare: the greatest hits”
http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/matt-miller-republican-fallacies-on-obamacare/2013/12/04/49b2a71a-5ce7-11e3-be07-006c776266ed_story.html
The sky did not fall. It never has; it never will.
The GOP does not like this bill; it never will. They are the opposition and they must oppose.
The MSM is a copy cat; or like birds on a wire. It cannot help being what it is.
The ACA is a good bill which will help millions. It will even help those who say that they hate it.
agrippa, what is annoying though is that it has even become necessary to argue on behalf of reality. It’s reaching a point where we’ll have to forcefully assert that the Earth revolves around the Sun and airplanes use aerodynamics to fly, not prayer.
In the end, of course reality will remain reality, reforming a failing health care system will reform a failing health care system and helping tens of millions of Americans receive health coverage will make our health care system and their lives better.
This is common sense, there is absolutely no common sense in arguing for taking away health insurance for tens of millions of Americans and trying to re-install a system that was failing and skyrocketing in costs each year.
But then, if it wasn’t for a lack of reason, there wouldn’t be a Republican Party.
Ad, unfortunately we do have to argue on behalf of reality, shine a light on the darkness that the republicans spread around with their lies and nonsense. That is the only way to keep logic and reality on top. The republican style of reasoning is more on the level of voodoo and cult fear.
jj, can you imagine what would happen if we didn’t stand up against the idiocy and dishonesty of the Republicans?
As long as we do, I am confident they won’t be getting into the WH until they reintroduce themselves to reality but imagine if we didn’t push back and they won the Presidency.
Bush was horrible and a reflection of that dishonest and deluded mindset but it has grown exponentially. I could honestly imagine a popular uprising against a Bagger-run government that killed SS and Medicare, slashed spending on all other social programs, trashed the ACA and kicked 30 million Americans off of health insurance, let the wealthy steal our tax money and poison our food, land and water, etc.
Not to mention plunging us into a second Great Recession after choking our economy and defaulting on paying our debts.
As long as we stand up against their delusions, they’ll never become reality.
Agrippa, I’m glad you called it the ACA instead of Obamacare even though he does care. I have to agree with you completely.
One thing though, the ACA is law not a bill, now.
Yes, it is a law.
my error.
Agrippa, I mean no disrespect. Hope you didn’t take it wrong.
What’s that rumbling, crunching sound? Ahhh… It’s the gnashing of teeth I can hear all the way from Washington DC!
Let’s see — just over the past couple of weeks:
1. Harry Reid has gone nuclear and busted the filly.
2. We seem to have a deal on lowering the threat of nuclear arms in Iran.
3. Obamacare is turning out to be costing less than even the President’s team had expected.
4. The Healthcare.gov website is up and running. Running well.
It’s just all too much for them. Too much goodness. It makes them cry. It makes them itch. It gives them hives.
People getting health care? World peace? Gridlock relieved? The nation’s finances and priorities getting back in order?
The news couldn’t be worse. For the haters.
Bring on 2014!
Thanks for another wonderful article, AdLib!
Cheers Kes!
Obama is racking up one point after another as President, despite the fickle approval ratings. The MSM has cooperated like good little Republican toadies by echoing all the hatred of the ACA since the poor launch of the website but now that their punching bag has been emptied of stuffing, they are at a loss to attack him.
Lots of lame attempts today on all networks including MSNBC (“Is attention on Hillary running in 2016 going to make Obama a lame duck soon?”) but they all fell short and felt forced.
No story to attack Obama with? Don’t worry, we can make one up!
Ad, it’s too bad the so called “news people” don’t get it. They keep dwelling on the first month with the web site problems. They fail to look at all the good that is happening because the ACA is law.
The MSM is necessarily short sighted. You can’t whip up people to tune in frequently when you say, “This is not unusual, nothing to be greatly concerned about since most massive programs have had similar rollout problems. Once, the April deadline approaches, we’ll see if there are any real issues here.”
So instead, you set your hair on fire and gleefully ride a magnified conflict between Obama and Repubs into ratings heaven.
Simply put, the MSM sucks.
Got it in one
Yesterday a Tweet suddenly alerted me to a phony web site misdirecting people on ACA. It turns out it was posted at TAXPAYER EXPENSE by the CA Assembly GOP Caucus.
Well I was the WRONG person to learn that because the Regional Director of HHS is a strong friend and ally. I immediately forward the Tweet – and this is going to get fun. The Caucus is about to become TOAST.
That is how low they are – they would MISDIRECT their constituents to sites that could NOT help them at all – and provide lies and distortions along the way.
I have HAD it. They will PAY for this. Big time!
c’lady, I read about this, too! I could hardly believe it.
I’m SOOO glad that you know someone who can do something about this. These sorts of tactics go well beyond “pranks” and “dirty tricks.” They’re subversive. This is on the level of the cyber-attacks on the Healthcare.gov website.
They really should be prosecuted.
I spent many years doing the right thing. In theater parlance – I’ve shown up and hit my marks. It got noticed FINALLY so that I can write to the Regional Director and have him actually PAY ATTENTION. He is notifying HHS in DC, and we will go on from there.
Yes – this is OVER THE TOP! They have to be exposed and NOW.
You get’em, CL!!!!
We are so totally with you on this one, c’lady! Thanks so much for all that you do.
Right with you on that, Kes. I absolutely want to see prosecutions. It’s well past time that the law was respected by these Republican saboteurs and if the lawbreakers aren’t prosecuted, more will follow and be even worse.
Wow, well done CL! It’s an open secret that the Repubs are aggressively trying to sabotage the ACA but going this far has to be illegal. Isn’t it a violation of their oath of office let alone defrauding the taxpayers to have done this? All those involved should be prosecuted if they have indeed broken the law, a message needs to be sent to the rest of the GOP that criminal actions to stop the ACA will have consequences.
CL, so good to hear that someone has enough power to right a wrong!
You go CL! You rock!
I can hear the GOP sobs as they gather around their campfires singing “We’ll always have Benghazi” to the tune of “When you wish upon a star”. It’s getting harder not to laugh at them and their flailing slapstick. When their God gave out brains, they must have been the very last in the queue. I feel nothing but contempt for the last five years they have done nothing but obstruct progress and a better life for millions of Americans including essential and basic healthcare. They are pure evil and serve no purpose other than to kill innocents both at home and abroad. May they rot in Hell.
Kalima, you just gave me a great idea for an article, famous movie quotes if Republicans had starred in movies. From “Casablanca” if Darrell Issa had played Rick, “We’ll always have Benghazi.”
It is about time for the foot of God to stomp down on them, “That’s about enough of that!”
[img]http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/146226/2861869-monty_foot.jpg[/img]
Here’s one from The Weeper of the House.
“You don’t understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I could’ve been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am”.
Nice foot!!
Very funny!
Okay, before I use up all the ones coming to me, I’m starting to draft a post on this so we can really go to town on this!
Kalima, the GOP is the opposition. It must oppose no matter what.
It is its’ nature.
Yes but they are working for the people and only a small percentage think as they do. There is opposition and ideas how to make an issue better, and then there are tyrants and traitors, and the Republicans are tyrants and traitors at the expense of America and her citizens.
Makes me wonder what the Republican position will be in another few years when they no longer have Obama to kick around anymore. When the next administration takes ownership of the ACA, will the Republicans still be intent on destroying it?
Oh, and by the way, congrats to the Obama administration for making sure we stayed out of the Syrian civil war. And keeping us out of Libya. And Nigeria. And for getting us out of Iraq, and soon Afghanistan. And eliminating Ben Laddin. And for the deep reductions to our deficit.
JJ, the GOP has been hollowed out and all that they are capable of being now is destructive and opposed to the public welfare. IOW, they can only hate. So, no matter which Dem is President, they will find an irrational reason to hate them and claim they are undeserving of the office and respect.
It sure seems to have worn really thin with the public. If not for gerrymandering, the Repubs would be a minority party with no power. The long game is for Dems to take back statehouses for the 2020 census Anne redistricting.
And you’re so right. Obama has accomplished so much! Future Americans will be bewildered by how blind the people today were to how remarkable Obama has been as President and how clearly terrible the GOP was.
I agree.
But, the GOP, across the country, has about 45% of the votes no matter what. And, it has the “Solid South”; a region that is, currently, GOP.
The Democratic Party has to make sure that the GOP does not get the 5 or 6 % more it needs.
agrippa, nationally, the GOP has only about 40% of votes, it is conservative independents that swing to them that bring them up higher but they can abandon them just the same.
Even though off year elections typically favor the party out of power, I think we’ll see a far more competitive 2014 because people have become sick and tired of the Tea Party and Republican House. It’s almost surreal to think that Dems have a slim chance of taking back The House but they do.
Yes, unfortunately the GOP has majorities in the South thanks to their racist sensibilities but that crap will never fly in the rest of the US…which represents the majority of the population, the South is a minority.
And speaking of minorities, it is an eventuality that Latinos will overwhelm the white racists and radical conservatives in the South, especially Texas and when TX turns purple then blue, the GOP will become a minority party for decades.
In the meantime, Dems need to control redistricting in 2020 by winning back control in states. That would assure the end of the Tea Party and likely hand Dems a decade to prove what they can do to make this country better.
Ad, I read in the Wash Post that the House GOP yesterday were discussing the possibility of impeaching President Obama. His “impeachable offences” as they put it were something about gun policy and Obama’s “threat to bomb Syria without congressional approval,” and something about the Benghazi incident.
I grew up thinking that impeaching a president was supposed to be something serious, the GOP are reducing it to the level of a parking ticket.
Even Nixon didn’t get impeached over Watergate. But Nixon, of course, was a republican.
JJ, Nixon has a place in history that is NOT a good one. He had a VP resign in disgrace then he had to resign in disgrace, too.
If he had not resigned he would have been impeached in my opinion.
It’s not just your opinion , it’s true. And that is my point. Nixon was a very bad guy, and he wasn’t impeached for his very real crimes. And the GOP wants to impeach Obama over disagreements that they have blown completely out of proportion, trivializing the concept of impeachment in the process.
Is that what we are going to do from now on? Disagree with a president over procedure so we impeach him?
jj, these Baggers don’t even know what impeachment is, they think it is the same thing as a censure or a recall.
They can’t list one specific high crime or misdemeanor, just general BS about how he is violating the constitution, acting like a dictator, etc.
This is why you don’t let little kids play with knives, they don’t understand or appreciate the dangerous nature of them and would play with them as if they were toys.
To Repubs, Congressional power is simply a toy to be used and abused however they want, they don’t see it for what it is.
In their minds, calling a politician “a socialist” is just a nasty insult, they don’t understand what socialism is either.
I hope they do try to impeach Obama, it will only doom their party and whip up support for Obama and Dems.
Repubs are such anti-democracy extremists, they really don’t deserve to have any power. When they lose an election, they feel justified in declaring the results and the winning Dem illegitimate. For them, elections are only valid if they win.
So they try to claim Obama stole the election, he’s a Kenyan who can’t legally be President, he’s a Muslim, socialist tyrant who shouldn’t be allowed to be President, etc.
The irony of course is that Republicans are all about stealing elections and subverting democracy and following the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove playbook, they accuse their opponents of the thing they are guilty of themselves.
We’ll see what happens but if the Baggers get their way and try to impeach Obama, it will be the last straw that breaks the Baggers’ back.
You you you OBAMABOT!
I totally agree.
I think they are going to become more and more irrelevant and never see the inside of the white house for decades if they do not steer back to the center.
The demographics are changing and they are not in their favor. By 2050, 62 % of the population will be of what are today minority ethnicities. Given the disastrous policies that the GOP promotes regarding minorities and immigration this does not bode well for them.
Good news indeed!
Ad, the Affordable Care Act was always going to be a success. The idea is to get people to get insured and have all Americans healthy. People who go for check-ups a couple times a year are healthier than those who don’t. Being insured will cut costs for most folks. This link is full of good news for America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/business/affordable-care-act-so-far-seems-likely-to-cost-less-than-expected.html?ref=politics&_r=1&
Nirek, it does seem pretty clear that the ACA had to make things better. And the GOP, instead of sharing credit for it, is trying to destroy it solely because Dems will now get credit for it. They offer nothing in it’s place but continued devastation.
They are on the wrong side of history and reason. We can’t and won’t throw 10s of millions of Americans off of health insurance and the failing health care system we had can’t be brought back.
Success is the only path and in a matter of months, the ACA’s success will be common knowledge…to all but the Republicans who are truly the sickest ones that need care.
…and the NYT turned around and ran an article about the outrageous costs of health care such as stitches in the ER.
This is true. It will no LONGER be true thanks to ACA. But they cannot give up the “godaintitawfulabouthealthcare” meme, so they use the existing problems to IMPLY that nothing has changed.
Apparently they don’t read their own paper.