Repubs Oppose Health Care Not Because They Think It Will Fail-But Because They Fear It Will Succeed

[kpete]

ABC's 'This Week'. Clinton criticized Republican demands, as well as their obsession with Obamacare.

"I've never seen a time-- can you remember a time in your lifetime when a major political party was just sitting around, begging for America to fail?"

Republicans have opposed health care reform not because they thought it would fail the American people, but because they feared it would succeed.





Study after study has long shown that health care is worst in precisely those states where Republicans poll best. But in their zeal to discredit a president they loathe, GOP leaders across the nation passed up an historic opportunity to bring health insurance and with it, greater financial security and higher standards of living to millions of their own constituents. When they didn't outright deny coverage to red state residents, Republicans did their damnedest to prevent their voters from even learning about their options under the ACA. And what "information" about Obamacare the GOP's best and brightest did regurgitate simply wasn't true.


the rest:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/29/1241710/-Better-Dead-and-Red-How-the-GOP-blocked-health-care-for-red-state-Americans

[warrior1]

1. I'm imaging

all of the yellow states turning blue in the next couple of years. It may bleed over into the pinks states.

Stupid republicans.

[warrior1]

2. this

For two decades, Republicans have opposed health care reform not because they thought it would fail the American people, but because they feared it would succeed. Passage of Bill Clinton's health care program, Bill Kristol warned in 1993, wouldn't just "do everything to help Democratic electoral prospects," but would "revive the reputation" of the Democrats "as the generous protector of middle-class interests." Sixteen years later in November 2009, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch confessed his worry that if the Affordable Care Act became law, "you're going to have a very rough time having a two-party system in this country, because almost everybody's going to say, 'All we ever were, all we ever are, all we ever hope to be depends on the Democratic Party.'"

That overriding fear—that a grateful American public would reward the Democratic Party with an enduring majority for adding the third and final pillar of health care to the social safety net alongside Social Security and Medicare—has fueled the fire of conservatives' scorched-earth opposition to Obamacare. But with enrollment in the new health insurance exchanges set to start on Oct. 1, Republicans are running out of time and tactics to defund, delay or destroy the Affordable Care Act. And in what is the supreme irony of the GOP's unprecedented campaign to sabotage the ACA, the real damage has already been done in the reddest of red states.

Study after study has long shown that health care is worst in precisely those states where Republicans poll best. But in their zeal to discredit a president they loathe, GOP leaders across the nation passed up an historic opportunity to bring health insurance and with it, greater financial security and higher standards of living to millions of their own constituents. When they didn't outright deny coverage to red state residents, Republicans did their damnedest to prevent their voters from even learning about their options under the ACA. And what "information" about Obamacare the GOP's best and brightest did regurgitate simply wasn't true.

Here's how they did it:

snip

the link is in the op

[Loge23]

3. Absolutely correct

The Republicans have done absolutely squat for the American people. Actually, they have done plenty - of harm - to the American people.
They know that along with Social Security, Medicare/caid, minimum wages, protection of the environment, and support for public education - among many, many other initiatives important to most people - the ACA will be a good thing for people.
This country simply has to wake up to what Republicans truly are - quite simply, the guardians of a small but powerful group of special interests that are diametrically counter to the interests of the majority of Americans.
It is not exaggeration to visualize what this country would be under Republican rule: the "Christian" equivalent of a radical Muslim state.
The Republican "leadership" has displayed hate, racism, and a callousness towards the American people. Their actions are actually far more dangerous and destructive to America than is the perceived threat of terrorism.
It's time America realized that.

[RB TexLa]

4. Of course. It's a classic liberal/conservative fight

This is government involvement in what has been primarily a private sector endeavor. Government programs that provide benefits usually do not ever go away, they know this. Regulations can be removed down the road but a program that provides benefits, not so easy. Once this is enacted the only thing the right can hope for is to alter it down the road, they know they will never have another chance to kill it.