It is the issue of the moment on conservative political blog sites . . . basically whether Republicans in Congress should help Democrats save Obamacare, (and those Democrats’ political lives), with temporary and piecemeal fixes. In support of the affirmative, proposing repairs that Democrats will easily agree to or supporting Democrat proposals, a number of Republicans are wringing their hands and using loaded rhetoric to the effect: “Republicans must do the right thing for the good of the country,” and the variant, “people are hurting and it is the responsible thing to do to work with Democrats lest R’s be blamed for being obstructionists.” They also throw in the calumny that opponents of their strategy, who instead call for pushing repeal and replace, somehow will be perceived as sitting on the sidelines. It could only be true by the profound incompetence of Republican congressional leadership. We concede of late that such a scenarios is possible but avoidable.
“Strangely” the help fix it types are pretty much the same cast of characters who famously derided Mike Lee’s and Ted Cruz’s efforts to defund Obamacare with the reasoning it would be better to let it fail of its own weight and not be blamed for obstructionism. Well now it is failing and they want to prop it up. For some of them, holding that position lends credence to the charge that they, as Republicans, are quite comfortable with the government takeover of health care. What other conclusion is possible . . . finesse? More like speaking out of both sides of their mouths.
Of several conservative blog sites I have visited recently, where the columnist took a position in support of helping to fix Obamacare for now, instead of pushing for repeal and replace, the overwhelming, 90% plus, reaction in the comment sections has been consternation or derision as regards anything other than repeal and replace.
One example is Rick Moran’s post at PJ Media. Moran takes the following view:
The political risk to Republicans of staying on the sidelines while the country burns is just as great as the risk to Democrats of doing nothing. People are angry, frightened, and confused. It’s time to show the voters that the Republican Party is worthy of governing by acting responsibly in the face of a serious crisis not of their own making. Voters aren’t stupid. They will know whom to blame for this fiasco.
And they’ll also know whom to punish if the GOP obstructionists get their way and prevent the Congress from trying to fix this mess.
His readers cogently take him to task for his practical and political analysis in favor of “fix” instead of concentrating on repeal and replace. Among the responses:
Scottch writes: If you have a dangerous parasite infesting your body and you can remove it – you remove it. If you don’t, it will propagate and eventually, if it’s deadly enough, it will suck the life right out of you literally. . . Obamacare is just such an infection on society . . . . Let the Democrats spend the first 10 months of 2014 voting against repeal – I dare them to.
Blowback time writes: . . . What is at stake here is not just health care insurance, or medical care. What is at stake is the future freedom of America, which will be greatly curtailed, if not completely hemmed in once all the tentacles of Obamacare have been allowed to interweave themselves throughout our society . . . There is a chance (for a hard hitting Conservative-controlled Republican Party) to hang this dead turkey around the necks of the Democrat Party . . .
jaydee007 wrote: So let me get this straight. Republicans were WRONG to shut down the Government trying to STOP Obmamcare because they were supposed to allow the train wreck to happen to show how bad it was, but now that the train wreck is happening they can’t let it happen to show how bad it is?
Tcobb wrote: Now is the time for the Republicans to hold firm. Repeal or nothing. Hammer home the theme that Obamacare is simply too broken to be fixed and the current people at the helm are too incompetent to be entrusted with applying band aids let alone doing major surgery.
Funeral Guy wrote: The idea that the voters will reward us for “fixing” Obamacare can only come from the same geniuses who keep telling us that the same voters will reward the GOP for dumping millions of illiterate illegal aliens into their laps.
Blowback time wrote: If we act to fix it now in order that “x amount” of people will be saved from hurt we should understand that by helping Obamacare to succeed (and thus to help the Democrat move towards a socialist America) we will hurt 1,000 times “x amount” in the long run. Obamacare is bad for people’s health care, bad for the country’s economy, and bad for the country’s freedoms
BalancedInteger wrote: . . . If the GOP were to link arms with the statist Democrats to “repair” the ACA, they become complicit in the aforementioned hijacking of one-sixth of the American economy. . . . Kiss the base of the party goodbye,
jpdemille wrote: The Democrats haughtily and arrogantly passed the ACA without any Republican support or input in 2010. Now, the R’s should ride to the rescue? I don’t think so.
Madrigal Man wrote: Why should Republicans “help Fix” something that is abhorrent to them? Republicans tried from the beginning to “help” reform healthcare, through expanding interstate competition, TORT reform, reducing fraud and many other proposals. . . . The answer is Repeal and start over. And pass reforms that are consistent with Free Markets and the Constitution.
SongDog wrote: There is another consideration. Maybe the thing just can’t be fixed. Participation by the Repubs in a rescue effort doomed to fail just implicates them in the disaster and dilutes the accountability that properly belongs to our friends the Progs.
R Mall
