Why should they remember something that isn’t true?
This is entirely, completely, 100% driven by sheer panic that the Oligarch money has dried up under an express threat that it will stay dried up unless they repeal Obamacare. And all the Profile in Courage awards in the Senate are going to people like Murkowski who isn’t dependent on oligarch money, McCain who is out of fucks to give, and Collins who’s running for governor rather than Senate. And, of course, Paul who isn’t up until '22.
This is who they work for.
They dressed it up for the always credulous (or willing to be thought credulous in order to meet Dan Baquet’s balance standards) NYT as fear that both the big donor and small donor money would dry up, but make no mistake, this is all about the oligarchs and their parallel astroturf machines. They no longer even care about the corporations and the trade groups. Just the multibillionaire John Birchers.
Sometimes I get my ends and means confused: are we trying to throw those fuckers out to get the right policies and laws enacted, or the other way around?
Sen. Paul’s refusal interests me more than McCain’s. “The problem I have with block grants is that looks like I’ve affirmatively said I’m okay with Obamacare as long as we reshuffle it and give it to Republican states. That’s a horrible message.” I would never vote for Paul against a Democrat, but I think his voters can justifiably be proud of him.
Rand Paul is still against the repeal bill because it doesn’t kill enough of his constituents. Or at least that’s the clear implication of what he’s saying.
Meanwhile, at what point do the bribes get big enough that they erode the tax cuts that are the point of the bill? (And also the reason that the GOP can’t really pivot to working on taxes, because they would have hundreds of billions of dollars less to give to their donors.)
The larger question at this point is: how will the Dems use the repeal issue in the next election?
There’s a lot of hay to be made, even if there isn’t an actual repeal vote, but can they leverage it.
“Joe Blow, your Republican Representative, VOTED TO TAKE AWAY HEALTHCARE” needs to be the message. This is absolutely the strongest message to unseat incumbents that’s come along in years.
How can the Dems manage not to blow it? They’ll find a way, if they can.
The really wonderful thing is that AFP’s Doug Deason is the son of Darwin Deason, who made his initial fortune in outsourcing computer tech jobs overseas. So very populist.
I absolutely agree, but I think if it fails it’s done in this Congress. Nobody is going to want to touch it next year before the election. And you’re right that all of this hinges on Democrats taking back one House of Congress.
Oh, there would be plenty of pain in the red states too… the bill’s wording just lets them gloss that over and pretend it will help these states, they hope long enough for it to pass. But desperately needed hospitals will close, costs will skyrocket, and people will die, often after going bankrupt.
I think the difference is that they voted for a plan that didn’t pass. If they actually screw over their constituents instead of just potentially, there will be hell to pay. Now it’s lukewarm heck.
Dunno, but their “world of pain” is being a party with a stupid, unqualified scumbag as their party leader, and their stunning inability to pass anything that helps the American worker.
Now if we judge them about how much has been undone by their malfeasance and malignancy, that world of hurt is really a success!
I don’t think this crazy and destructive bill would even be considered by the GOP Senate if it weren’t for the pressures from the ultra-rich. I call them the Kock-Koch-Adelson-Mercer-Mercer cabal.
The cabal has been the tail wagging the GOP dog since Reagan was elected, and from what I can tell if it see a GOP bill that looks utterly nuts, it is something the wealth cabal wants that sets them even further apart from Normal Americans.
They resent being taxed to pay for healthcare for the masses, and they still think that the WW II 90% tax on top incomes could come back. Frankly, I think anyone in that 1/2 of 1% should face much higher taxes, since they could not get that income and store that wealthy without government protection.
When considering the various groups that are allied in the GOP, the KKAMM cabal should always be considered - and rejected.
I have no doubt they’ll eventually feel real pain. I don’t believe they’ll feel anything significant until after 2020. It may take the majority of them until 2024 to finally realize that they’ve been had.
But the whole premise of this article presupposes that the American people have such short memories that we will not remember that they TRIED to pass the ACHA just months ago.
That’s probably correct, but it’s also sad. When you try to kill someone and fail, we still prosecute you for attempt. Similarly we should throw them out in 2018 for what they attempted to do in 2017 (and for their protection of Trump and failure to hold him accountable for his crimes, corruption, and violations).
Even though they failed, they attempted to pass some of the most damaging legislation in the past century all because (1) they promised their rabid base, even though most of them probably benefited from Obamacare and didn’t know it; (2) they are trying to desperately stop the inevitable movement toward single-payer/public option; and (3) general spite toward Pres. Obama.
