usmbguest5318
Gold Member
Now that the ACHA and O-care's being repealed and replaced (R&R) is dead for the foreseeable future, the GOP, rather than just owning their sh*t, has already begun to blame the Democrats for their failure to pass the ACHA. The substance of their message in that regard is this:
In spite of having a 21 seat majority in the House, the House was unable to pass the ACHA because, even though the House Republicans some 60 times while Obama was POTUS voted to repeal O-care, this time, not one House Democrat voted for the ACHA.
Are you f*cking kidding me?!? Really? That's what they're going with? I would love to know who came up with that approach to attenuating the failure to pass that bill. That is so preposterous I can't even think of something to say about it......
Ah, how about this. Maybe if the GOP had campaigned to see re-elected the five Democrats who did in 2012 vote to repeal the ACA, they'd have gotten the ACHA passed....I'm just saying maybe that would have helped. You know it's said that Lord helps they who help themselves. That might have been worth taking into consideration. Whadda ya think?
Alternatively, Republicans might have helped fix Obamacare when the Democrats finally got around to admitting it is flawed and wanted to fix it.
The gall it takes to even air such a notion is, quite frankly, enough to make watching Saturday Night Live tonight a priority. Normally, I would be somewhere socializing with friends at that hour on a Saturday night. I'm thinking now, however, that I have to to host an impromptu SNL party. I don't think I've done that since maybe college or right after it, but the GOP's blaming the Dems is priceless enough to warrant it. This week truly has been an embarrassment of riches for SNL: wiretap hearing; Russian collaboration, Time magazine interview; and the ACHA.
So where does that leave us in the net qualitative "accounting" of the political tabulation of the health insurance saga?
Note:
In spite of having a 21 seat majority in the House, the House was unable to pass the ACHA because, even though the House Republicans some 60 times while Obama was POTUS voted to repeal O-care, this time, not one House Democrat voted for the ACHA.
Are you f*cking kidding me?!? Really? That's what they're going with? I would love to know who came up with that approach to attenuating the failure to pass that bill. That is so preposterous I can't even think of something to say about it......Ah, how about this. Maybe if the GOP had campaigned to see re-elected the five Democrats who did in 2012 vote to repeal the ACA, they'd have gotten the ACHA passed....I'm just saying maybe that would have helped. You know it's said that Lord helps they who help themselves. That might have been worth taking into consideration. Whadda ya think?
Alternatively, Republicans might have helped fix Obamacare when the Democrats finally got around to admitting it is flawed and wanted to fix it.The gall it takes to even air such a notion is, quite frankly, enough to make watching Saturday Night Live tonight a priority. Normally, I would be somewhere socializing with friends at that hour on a Saturday night. I'm thinking now, however, that I have to to host an impromptu SNL party. I don't think I've done that since maybe college or right after it, but the GOP's blaming the Dems is priceless enough to warrant it. This week truly has been an embarrassment of riches for SNL: wiretap hearing; Russian collaboration, Time magazine interview; and the ACHA.
So where does that leave us in the net qualitative "accounting" of the political tabulation of the health insurance saga?
- Democrats:
- ACCOMPLISHED -- Promised to implement legislation that would boost the quantity of people who have health insurance. The bill they passed is flawed, but it was at least a starting point.
- ACCOMPLISHED -- Grew up, got some integrity, and owned the fact that what they enacted was imperfect, and that it was their actions that enacted the imperfections.
- ACCOMPLISHED -- By patiently waiting and letting citizens actually use O-care, demonstrated that the legislation isn't such a bad thing for people who've given it a change to work for them.
- ACCOMPLISHED -- Provided health insurance to some 22M people who previously could not obtain it.
- Republicans:
- ACCOMPLISHED -- Demonstrate the capacity to "bitched and moan" daily for seven years about how bad the ACA is, and for ten years in general.
- Pyrrhic victory -- Passed O-care repeal bills some 60 times when the legislation's eponymous shepherd held the White House.
- ACCOMPLISHED -- Obtained majorities in the House and Senate, and won the WH, in part or wholly (depending on the race in question) on the basis of their rhetoric about how flawed the ACA is.
- Failed -- Promised to repeal and replace O-care, yet could not do so with a 21 seat majority in the House of Representatives.
- Failed -- Despite their incessant claims about how horrible O-care is, the GOP failed to convince citizens who obtained health insurance as a result of O-care that the GOP alternative was actually better. This even as Trump himself did at least held two campaign rallies over the two weeks that the ACHA was under consideration.
- Failed -- Unification of the GOP around a long and commonly expressed goal.
- Failed -- Demonstrate the capacity to legislate and govern.
Note:
- As I wrote this post, there was a guy, Nick Adams, on TV in the background who was actually arguing that the ACHA's not passing was a win for Trump based on it's having inspired patriotism, something having to do with a bookshelf (ROTFL -- seriously; I'm not making that up), and Adam's having gotten a "vibe" that Trump has made people feel like the ACHA misfire was instead a policy win; thus he thinks Trump should bear none of the blame for the bill's failing. I laughed so hard at that I had to stop typing!
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