Health Reform Passed Thanks To Republicans

Sunday, March 28, 2010

A week ago, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to enact a sweeping reform of the nation's health-care system. A lot has been written about who should take the credit (or blame) for passage of the bill after almost a year of often acrimonious debate. But today, I want to thank the people who really made it possible, the unsung heroes, if you will, that really helped make health-care reform the law of the land.

I'm talking, of course, about the Republican Party.

Last July, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina revealed the true Republican goal. "If we stop Obama on this," he said, "it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."

After that, it was, as the kids say, on.

They pulled out all the stops. Sarah Palin raved on her Facebook page about nonexistent "death panels." Far-right bloggers and talk show hosts whipped "tea partiers" into a frenzy over "government-run health care" (although, judging from the apparent age of most of them, they were already on government-run health care, i.e., Medicare).

Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "you lie!" at the president during a congressional address. The Republicans carped that Obama had promised the debate would be televised, and then, when he called a televised "health care summit" with them, derided it as a "PR stunt."

The ones that showed up provided a "plan" that was to "scrap all your proposals and start over." (Remember, to a Republican, "bipartisanship" is a code word for "do everything we demand or we'll say nasty things about you, except we'll say nasty things about you anyway.") GOP lawmakers predicted "the death of the Senate" over parliamentary procedures that they themselves had frequently used in the past.

Eventually, it became clear to everyone that there was no compromise with these people, that they were going to vote against whatever plan came up in the House or the Senate. That left President Obama and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi free to concentrate on lobbying their own fractious party.

That's never an easy task, with single-payer advocates like Dennis Kucinich on the left, social conservatives like Bart Stupak on the right, and conservative Blue Dog Democrats scattered about. But the behavior of the Republicans made their task that much easier.

Sun Tzu, in "The Art of War," offered this advice: "In death ground, fight." It became apparent that this was, indeed, meant by the GOP to be the Democrats' "death ground." If this failed, the president and the speaker warned, every Democrat would spend every news cycle from now until the midterm elections with the GOP -talking heads and their lapdogs in the media hanging the "loser" sign around their necks and deriding the -president's and Congress' "inability to get anything done."

They developed a plan to vote "yes" on the Senate bill, then send a filibuster-proof package of changes to the Senate, where the reconciliation process provides only for what Republicans used to routinely demand: "an up-or-down vote." At which point, Republicans howled that an up-or-down, majority vote was, literally, tyranny of Hitlerian proportions.

Gradually, as their opponents got crazier and crazier, the recalcitrant Dems fell into line. Kucinich signed on, reluctantly, to the bill. Stupak, who'd fretted about -federal money going to fund abortions, agreed to a face-saving executive order that said that the bill would -follow current law that already forbade such funding.

But, as he found out, that doesn't help you with Republicans, one of whom shouted "baby-killer!" at him on the House floor. In the end, the bill and the reconciliation package passed in the House with votes to spare.

So thanks, Republicans. By announcing early on that you meant to "break" their party's president, then using every lie, slur, whack-job conspiracy theory, drama-queen display, and outright thuggish tactic in your -arsenal to try to make that happen, you helped bring the Democratic Party together. Not completely, but enough. The president and the speaker couldn't have done it without you.

Now, they announce, they intend to run this fall on a platform of repealing the bill. They'll be trying to make it possible once again for insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions and drop you when you get sick. They'll be trying to reopen the Medicare "doughnut hole" and cost seniors more for their medicine. They'll be trying to repeal tax credits for small business to help them buy insurance.

Go ahead, guys. Knock yourselves out.

Dusty Rhoades lives, writes and practices law in Carthage. Contact him at dustyr@nc.rr.com.

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sgmartin 2 years, 1 month ago

Touche!

ApostasyUSA 2 years, 1 month ago

It's the classic response of the fossilized right-wing status quo: Create a grotesquely distorted caricature, broadcast the delusion at the top of your lungs, and hope that you manage to reinforce just enough cynicism and hopelessness to ensure the election of someone who truly cares only for funneling all of the country's wealth and power into the hands of a tiny, corrupt elite.

People are angry because the Republican Party exploited them.

"Leaders of the Republican Party," Obama said, "they called the passage of this bill 'Armageddon.' Armageddon. 'End of freedom as we know it.' So after I signed the bill, I looked around to see if there were any asteroids falling or some cracks opening up in the earth. It turned out it was a nice day."

Conservatives lost and the American people won.

Thank you all who made it happen!

HealthCare: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act: Children's Health Insurance Reauthor-ization Act: Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act:

Keep on truckin Dems.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Thanks for your input.

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

It's too early to tell, but I have a hunch all of these "acts" will be felt in our wallets. Spread the Wealth??? No thank you. We cannot take anymore. We are already paying too many taxes & providing too many freebies.

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

Definitly needed to do something for our ailing health care system, just still not sure that this bill was the right way....no one read it and it was assembled via closed door meetings (without invitation to republicans) with the notion that it could be corrected at a later date. Had it been done with research and panels established to ensure that the common good was being met, then there would not be nearly as much hype or opposition. The intent is right, the process is questionable.

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Is it possible that some (albeit few) may have voted the will of their constituents? I do not condone either party's mob mentality or antics. I do know that many Americans feel this country is headed in the wrong direction. They will judge their leadership by results.

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Well said Amazed.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Amazed: Can you actually back up any of these talking points?

For example, how do you know "no one read it."? This seems to be accepted as an article of faith among opponents of health care reform, but the fact is, the various proposals: House, Senate, reconciliation, were all made public and were, in fact, posted online (like all legislation pending--http://thomas.loc.gov/ is your friend.)

Someone's posted a supposed quote from Nancy Pelosi that "we have to pass the bill so we know what's in it" but no one can give me a citation to that quote or any context, so I'm treating it as an Urban Legend till I get something more concrete.

Likewise "closed door meetings"". This bill was debated, in public for over a year. And, as noted in the column, there was an actual meeting held in front of cameras, on C-Span, which I doubt anyone watched. I don't think that was done for the Bush tax cuts or Medicare Part D, and it sure as heck wasn't done before we went to war in Iraq. Which, specific closed door meetings are you referring to?

Research and panels? Every iteration of this bill was run through the CBO many times and it always came out reducing the deficit over the long term (at which point, Republicans engaged in frantic handwaving to try and make the figures go away).

So, I'm listening. Tell me what you have to back any of these accusations up.

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

The bill was debated in public...just not heard by anyone other than republicans...the democrats weren't listening...however, maybe they will listen in November. I had heard the same rumor about the comment made by Pelosi but have no clue if she really said it...I don't have time to sit here all day doing research for you Dusty, but I will give you this link to an article that sums up some of my issues with the problems in the newly signed Health care reform bill...sorry it's not from a liberal media outlet...I know that's more your speed.

Here's the link: http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/3207-on-safari-in-the-health-care-jungle

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

and another link to an article about the closed door meetings ...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101701810.html

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

a better link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101701810.html

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Amazed: the New American article doesn't actually address any of the "problems" you cited in your original post, about "no one having read it" and "closed door meetings" . In fact, the author says he DID read the bill, and didn't like it. At least he addresses the substance of it, rather than griping about the 'process'.

The article does so, however, in a dishonest way. One example: it attempts to, again, handwave away the CBO budget savings numbers by assuming that "medical care lobbyists [will] get a hold of legislators and lean on them to enact additional legislation" In other words, it criticizes the bill for things that aren't even in it by making up things that might be at some unspecified time in the future. That's just one example.

The Post article does describe a closed door meeting, I'll give you that...which then produced a bill which was publicly debated and able to be amended, just like any other legislation. So yes, I'll grant you, the proposal was assembled, in part, by a non-public meeting...but considering the extensive public debate afterward, and the open, public, and televised debate and votes on the proposal....so what?

Behan 2 years, 1 month ago

Dusty is correct in one thing (I know, I was as surprised as anyone).

The GOP could run a bag of onions in the next campaign with a letter stapled to the front promising to undo everything this administration is doing, and those darn onions will win in a landslide.

I know the stinky little buggers will have my vote. They certainly could do no worse.

So, for all but guaranteeing GOP victories in the next 3 or so elections, the right wing says, "You're welcome, Dusty. And thank you."

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

so are you saying that the process in which it was done is ok with you? the buying of votes? the louisiana purchase? the cadillac tax (which is not gone, by the way) that is my problem with this whole thing..Obama promised us that this would be the administration of change...so far it's just been the same old game...nothing's changed...just different people doing it the same ol' way.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

The New American article s also dishonest in talking about the CBO estimate of the effect of HCR on employer based health insurance. It's true that, per CBO numbers, "The number of people obtaining coverage through their employer would be about 4 million lower in 2019 under the legislation..."

BUT, it leaves this out:

By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people who are uninsured would be reduced by about 31 million, leaving about 23 million nonelderly residents uninsured (about one-third of whom would be unauthorized immigrants). Under the legislation, the share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage would rise from about 83 percent currently to about 94 percent. Approximately 26 million people would purchase their own coverage through the new insurance exchanges, and there would be roughly 15 million more enrollees in Medicaid and CHIP than is projected under current law. Relative to currently projected levels, the number of people purchasing individual coverage outside the exchanges would decline by about 5 million. "

http://cboblog.cbo.gov/?p=446

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Amazed, you keep moving the goalposts. But that's okay..

Am I happy about the horse trading that goes on in the creation of any legislation? No. But that's the way legislation gets done, Obama or no Obama. Would you prefer that he assumed dicatorial powers and mandated what the Congress was to pass and how? I think not.

HCR opponents who whine about the "process" remind me of nothing so much as the police captain in Casablanca who's "shocked, shocked, I tell you to find gambling going on here" -as the croupier hands him his winnings. Suddenly the legislative maneuvering that was just peachy when the GOP was in power is just horrible when it's the Democrats doing it.

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

oh my dear, how so wrong you are about me or your perception of me...I was screaming about and against GWB and his cronies the whole 8 years...as well as during Clinton's reign of corruption. You don't know me...don't act as if you do.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Amazed: Sorry, hon (hey you can call me dear, I can call you hon), but I'm not convinced by commenters who love to talk about how they're all independent and nonpartisan--but who only speak up when Dems are in power, and then post as if they're reading off a fax from the RNC. "Nobody's read the bill" was the tell, as they say. Right out of the GOP phrasebook.

Just like the Tea Partiers who claim they're not Republican, while waving signs paid for by the RNC...who then tried to hide their involvement:

http://tinyurl.com/y8h2ew9

http://tinyurl.com/y8wpm8b

And Anglo: thanks again for another completely generic response. "Marxist"? "Socialist"? Really? Those tired old tropes are the best you can come up with? If you had read as much as you claim you'd realize that they're different ideologies.

But hey, thanks for playing. Glad to see you're back from your temporary banning.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Looks like the Party of Family Values is at it again:

http://tinyurl.com/yl66osh

The Republican who spent $1,946.25 on “meals” at a bondage-themed Hollywood nightclub — and expensed the charges to chairman Michael Steele’s Republican National Committee — is the owner of a marketing firm who most recently worked for a Republican gubernatorial candidate in California, The Daily Caller has learned.

Erik Brown, who owns Dynamic Marketing Inc. and most recently charged the Steve Poizner for Governor campaign more than $10,000 for campaign literature and mailings, was reimbursed by the RNC for the almost $2,000 in charges at Voyeur West Hollywood, according to FEC filings and online reports reviewed by The Daily Caller.

Hee!

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Is this personal or politics? Personal politics?

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

never been a republican...never will be...actually I'm registered Democrat, but I vote based on research and my ideals and morals...not on party affiliation. I voted for Obama...I'm just not happy with the methods used to get this bill in place at all costs. Had they truly used bipartisan committees and held the good of Americans in their minds while creating and writing this bill, then I would support it if it were indeed created to help the American people...however, I feel this bill was pushed through just so that "they" could say they did it.

bigD 2 years, 1 month ago

Hold on, we have 10 years of taxes to fund 6 years of benefits. What happens after 2019? Do we stop having benefits for four years so the system get back in balance? Why won’t anybody project costs past 2019? Is it because they numbers are not attractive? Medicare was under projected by a factor of 20 back in 1965. Social Security just reported last week that the system is now paying out more than it brings in. How long will it take for the house of cards healthcare law to do the same?

When the system looks more like the French system then we should not be surprised to see higher long term rates of unemployment. In good times France has 10% Unemployment. During the Clinton years we had 4% but my friends those days are gone. My good friend Dr Randy Parker (ECU Economics proff.) predicts long term unemployment in the US to be 7+% as a result of the health reform law

Dusty if you plan to have an economics debate with Anglo you had better pack a lunch.

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

Dusty, I finally found where people got that supposed quote from Pelosi about finding out what's in the bill. The quote is “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. "

and here's a link to the transcript of the speech: http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1576

(it doesn't start until about the 30th paragraph down...)

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Well, I tend to agree with Amazed. It does seem that they had to get the bill in place at all costs. It will be one side saying they supported it while the other side will say they opposed it. They can use their stance in their campaign to lure voters.

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

I would not like for you two blokes to meet in a dark alley...

Amazed 2 years, 1 month ago

tneal...here's where we ARE different...I'd LOVE to see them meet in that alley! let me know when and where and I'll be there! :-)

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Joe-I'm from this side of the pond. I'm always learning something new from these posts-it's very interesting. As for the alley comment...I was just kidding. I must say you are a very skilled debater.

tneal14 2 years, 1 month ago

Maybe you've just rubbed someone the wrong way. You are clever and make people think...not such a bad thing. You're actually good for their business. You draw people in to give their opinion.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 1 month ago

Amazed: thanks for finding the quote. As usual, people are lying about what Pelosi actually said. I've always heard it quoted as "We need to pass the bill so WE can find out what's in it," thus feeding the lie that no one's read it. Thanks for spiking another Zombie Lie. I'm sure it'll be back, though.

"Dusty if you plan to have an economics debate with Anglo you had better pack a lunch."

Yeah, sorry, I apparently don't have as much time on my hands as he does. He's apparently been here all afternoon, waiting for me to come back. He's such a familiar type that he's even been listed on the Flame Warriors site:

http://redwing.hutman.net/~mreed/warriorshtm/filibuster.htm

And I'm not seeing any "questions" that need to be addressed, just conclusory statements, unattributed quotes/appeals to unidentified authority, and oh, yes, the very insults he claims to abhor. The last is what I suspect he got banned for before. (Apparently bringing that up really got under his skin).

teufelhunden 2 years, 1 month ago

Now, now, don't get your knickers in a twist... a little healthy banter never hurt anyone.

nunya 2 years, 1 month ago

I'm switching to the Democratic Party. I can no longer afford to be a Republican. Voting a straight Democratic ticket from now own. Anyone claiming to be a christian that is against health care really makes me question their Christianity. It seems to me that to many people today are so greedy and heartless and have a love for money and could care less about anyone but themselves. Hopefully when this gets up and running people will not have to choose between do I eat or go to the Dr. or do I lose my home because of failure to pay medical bills. Many people die everyday because of lack of insurance or the inability to get or afford it because of pre-existing conditions. I will happily pay extra taxes if need be so that every American can someday have health insurance. Denmark has a great health care system and people pay 40% in taxes and they are considered to be the happiest people in the world. I am very glad that the Democratic Party has stood up and did what is right for the American people whether they realize it or not.

I throw the ball, you chase the ball....

After that, you're the last person to lecture anyone about "acting like an adult."

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Health Reform Passed Thanks To Republicans

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