Affordable Care Act

David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

1. There will be many ACHA post-mortems written. Some will have juicy tactical details. I look forward to reading them!
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

2. But: There is a crucial larger point about the GOP health-care crack-up.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

3. This defeat wasn't about tactics or timing or personality. It was about substance.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt

4. The GOP can't pass a health-care bill because it has no coherent health-care agenda. Tactics can't overcome that.




David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

5. The party spent years demonizing a bill that expanded coverage in a politically moderate way, incorporating many conservative ideas.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

6. Moving much further to the right than the ACA required taking away, or worsening, a lot of people's health insurance.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

7. GOP leaders wouldn't own up to that. They pretended they were helping people whom they were actually hurting.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

8. The public caught on. People rallied, went to town halls and called Congress. The bill became brutally unpopular.
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David Leonhardt‏Verified account @DLeonhardt 1h1 hour ago

9. And all of it started with the party's dishonest approach to Obamacare. The GOP sowed, and the GOP reaped.
 
So who all is going to get steamrolled over this? Paul Ryan, obviously, but who else will go down with him?
 
Indeed, the GOP’s repeated failure to repeal Obamacare is a great reminder that their anti-government rhetoric is just that — empty talk. When push comes to shove Republicans are simply unwilling and unable to walk the walk. If anything, the opposite has regularly occurred

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/...l-obamacare/wsjvgFYmgFilzU5QVyDxeN/story.html

There’s always been a deep hypocrisy at the heart of anti-government attitudes in this country. Railing against government spending in the abstract is a lot easier than actually doing something concrete about it. For years polls have shown that Americans think government spending should be reduced but healthy majorities always oppose any cuts to specific programs – from Social Security and Medicare to the Pentagon, education and anti-poverty programs.
 
mqt said:
This is pretty amazing. I bet Obama's probably somewhere lighting a cigar.
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Perhaps. I think Trump is right that Obamacare will collapse under its own weight... the question will be who owns that blame... the dems for passing it or the repubs for not stopping it.

Just remember though, it's crazy to vote libertarian
 
mqt tell me when a government run anything performed better than the private sector.

We'll ignore the personal liberty side of it.
 
White House responding to calls for Ryan to step down as speaker. he was the one to bridge the moderates and the tea party types.
 
sturg33 said:
mqt tell me when a government run anything performed better than the private sector.

We'll ignore the personal liberty side of it.
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While you're waiting for that, you can jog my memory about that functioning free-market HC system, devoid of government subsidy, anywhere in the world.

You're constantly scolding people for their lack of knowledge of economics, but this seems like a pretty big blind spot on that score. Why doesnt free-market health care work?
 
Julio3000 said:
While you're waiting for that, you can jog my memory about that functioning free-market HC system, devoid of government subsidy, anywhere in the world.

You're constantly scolding people for their lack of knowledge of economics, but this seems like a pretty big blind spot on that score. Why doesnt free-market health care work?
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I have answered this question for you, twice. You seem to ignore each time.

The United States, pre-1965.

Beyond that, I don't care enough to research further.

You may notice that our health care system gets worse every year, cots go up, etc. Yet the government is more involved than its ever been.
 
Forever Fredi said:
White House responding to calls for Ryan to step down as speaker. he was the one to bridge the moderates and the tea party types.
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I'm not sure why there's not a general consensus that Ryan is essentially a fraud. All he's ever really done is polish his reputation as a Very Serious Budget Guy (without ever really having to show his work) and put a telegenic face on generic plutocracy-friendly policy.

He's a budget wonk who can't pass a budget. He's an anti-government guy who's spent his entire adult life in government. He's a conservative who can't write major legislation that conservatives support. He's a leader who can't fashion a consensus with a biggest-in-a-century majority.
 
sturg33 said:
I have answered this question for you, twice. You seem to ignore each time.

The United States, pre-1965.

Beyond that, I don't care enough to research further.

You may notice that our health care system gets worse every year, cots go up, etc. Yet the government is more involved than its ever been.
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The United States, pre-1965. And that should be our template moving forward?
 
Julio3000 said:
I'm not sure why there's not a general consensus that Ryan is essentially a fraud. All he's ever really done is polish his reputation as a Very Serious Budget Guy (without ever really having to show his work) and put a telegenic face on generic plutocracy-friendly policy.

He's a budget wonk who can't pass a budget. He's an anti-government guy who's spent his entire adult life in government. He's a conservative who can't write major legislation that conservatives support. He's a leader who can't fashion a consensus with a biggest-in-a-century majority.
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This is certainly more on Ryan than anyone else though it's nice that Thumper gets smeared by association. The CEO POS POTUS really showed how clueless his is to how govt works. His reputation to those who believed in him will take a hit.
 
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