The problem Republicans are having right now is self-created.

[closeupready]

They stacked the judiciary with pro-corporate conservative Republicans over the last 30 years. Now that Democrats have passed legislation which stands to benefit health insurance corporations, they are between a rock and a hard place. What's worse is they are the minority party.

So they either piss off their constituents or congratulate Democrats on passing landmark legislation.

I love it. :evilgrin:

[Oregone]

1. Its not such a bad thing to howl at the moon and still get your old rejected ideas passed into law

They may look crazy to us, but heroes without blood on their hands to others.


As absurd as it is, where they are positioning themselves, they do have a shot at relevance by creeping into the libertarian quadrant of American politics (if only through talking points). Liberals and conservatives have issues with freedoms and intervention, and even this new rabid caricature could push this angle to come back into power to some respect.


I wouldn't write them off. A year ago everyone was writing their obituary, and they seem to be more viable today than then, even after Bush's disaster. People have short memories.

[closeupready]

3. Unfortunately, that's true. We need to help people remember how

bad things were under GWB.

[SPedigrees]

2. Agree that the repubs brought this waterloo on themselves.

But this health insurance reform will NOT benefit the insurance cos.

[closeupready]

4. You don't think so (re: not much of a boon for insurance cos.)?

Can you explain why you think so? They get millions of new customers, don't they, without strong cost controls?

[SPedigrees]

5. Many of their new customers are in a low risk young healthy demographic.

They will now have to compete with other insur cos with costs made transparent for would be subscribers to see. In other words insur cos have been pitted against each other and will be each other's competition. Competition lowers rates, and there are also new govt cost controls. Yes a public option will be a better competitor, but that will be step #2. Stricter govt mandated rate controls would be good too, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

The insurance cos spent millions to try to prevent this bill's passage. If it was a giveaway to them, they'd not have opposed it so desperately.