Obama reinterprets Obamacare

[Skulnik]

Obama reinterprets Obamacare so Congress doesn?t have to pay for its health insurance, A list of companies and unions with Obamacare exemptions

By Nick Sorrentino on <TIME class=entry-date datetime="2013-08-02T14:22:21+00:00">August 2, 2013</TIME>
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Well let?s see. The doctors are leaving in droves because of Obamacare. The IRS doesn?t want Obamacare for its employees even though that agency will administer it, Congress just got an exemption from Obamacare from the president, hundreds of politically connected companies and unions have gotten exemptions, the Teamsters have warned that Obamacare threatens the middle class, the law is so complex that an army of ?navigators? must be hired to sign people up, and the Democratic Senator Max Baucus, who is the outgoing head of the Finance Committee referred to the effort to administer the law as a potential ?train wreck.?

Nothing wrong here. Slap one of those ?I love Obamacare? stickers on your car and pretend like this isn?t the biggest legislative disaster of perhaps multiple generations. Everything will be just fine. There is no way this program is going to cost trazzillions more than the trillions it?s projected to. No worries. We?ve got plenty of money, no deficit or debt at all.
The main issue which must be dealt with in this country is access to care in catastrophic circumstances and insuring those with a prior condition. This is a huge, monumental task, but much more narrow than the sweeping tsunami of red tape which is Obamacare. However, there are those who just want nationalized healthcare at nearly any cost and simply making sure that those who have cancer don?t fall into bankruptcy, and those who have epilepsy can get their medication easily isn?t enough. There must be ?comprehensive? care for everyone, damn the cost to the taxpayer, or the employers (which are also taxpayers).
The connected know (especially those with lawyers who have read the law) that they want no part of Obamacare and that is why the administration has issued HUNDREDS of EXEMPTIONS for connected companies and unions over the past 3 years. Now Congress and probably the IRS get exemptions too.
If Obamacare is so good why are even the members of Congress which wrote the legislation and the unions which lobbied for it desperately trying to get out of it?
Why? Because they can, and you cannot.
Suckers!

 

[THE KOD]

I?ve been trying to think of something original to say about the absurdity now transpiring in Washington, DC. I?ve said roughly what I think in short; and I defer to Fallows for an important dose of reality against the predictably moronic coverage of the Washington Post.

But there is something more here. How does one party that has lost two presidential elections and a Supreme Court case ? as well as two Senate elections - think it has the right to shut down the entire government and destroy the full faith and credit of the United States Treasury to get its way on universal healthcare now? I see no quid pro quo even. Just pure blackmail, resting on understandable and predictable public concern whenever a major reform is enacted. But what has to be resisted is any idea that this is government or politics as usual. It is an attack on the governance and the constitutional order of the United States.

When ideologies become as calcified, as cocooned and as extremist as those galvanizing the GOP, the American system of government cannot work. But I fear this nullification of the last two elections is a deliberate attempt to ensure that the American system of government as we have known it cannot work. It cannot, must not work, in the mindset of these radicals, because they simply do not accept the legitimacy of a President and Congress of the opposing party. The GOP does not regard the president as merely wrong ? but as illegitimate. Not misguided ? illegitimate. This is not about ending Obamacare as such (although that is a preliminary scalp); it is about nullifying this presidency, the way the GOP attempted to nullify the last Democratic presidency by impeachment.

Except this time, of course, we cannot deny that race too is an added factor to the fathomless sense of entitlement felt among the GOP far right. You saw it in birtherism; in the Southern GOP?s constant outrageous claims of Obama?s alleged treason and alliance with Islamist enemies; in providing zero votes for a stimulus that was the only thing that prevented a global depression of far worse proportions; in the endless race-baiting from Fox News and the talk radio right. And in this racially-charged atmosphere, providing access to private healthcare insurance to the working poor is obviously the point of no return.

Even though the law is almost identical to that of their last presidential nominee?s in Massachusetts, the GOP is prepared to destroy both the American government and the global economy to stop it. They see it, it seems to me, as both some kind of profound attack on the Constitution (something even Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts viewed as a step too far) and, in some inchoate way, as a racial hand-out, however preposterous that is. And that is at the core of the recklessness behind this attack on the US ? or at least my best attempt to understand something that has long since gone beyond reason. This is the point of no return ? a black president doing something for black citizens (even though the vast majority of beneficiaries of Obamacare will be non-black).

I regard this development as one of the more insidious and anti-constitutional acts of racist vandalism against the American republic in my adult lifetime. Those who keep talking as if there are two sides to this, when there are not, are as much a part of the vandalism as Ted Cruz. Obama has played punctiliously by the constitutional rules ? two elections, one court case ? while the GOP has decided that the rules are for dummies and suckers, and throws over the board game as soon as it looks as if it is going to lose by the rules as they have always applied.

The president must therefore hold absolutely firm. This time, there can be no compromise because the GOP isn?t offering any. They?re offering the kind of constitutional surrender that would effectively end any routine operation of the American government. If we cave to their madness, we may unravel our system of government, something one might have thought conservatives would have opposed. Except these people are not conservatives. They?re vandals.

This time, the elephant must go down. And if possible, it must be so wounded it does not get up for a long time to come.
....................................................................

wow this guy has some clear thinking about things

the American people are not stupid.

tea party is destroying the GOP and they cant even stop it .

any chance they had in 2016 is down the tubes.

who they going to bring out this time, Bachman, Perry, Rand Paul, Limbaugh, maybe Bush Florida

:facepalm:

 

[THE KOD]

Sen. Elizabeth Warren railed against Republican "hostage tactics" during a speech on the government shutdown.

"In a democracy, hostage tactics are the last resort for those who can?t otherwise win their fights through elections, can?t win their fights in Congress, can?t win their fights for the Presidency, and can?t win their fights in Courts," Warren said. "For this right-wing minority, hostage-taking is all they have left ? a last gasp of those who cannot cope with the realities of our democracy."

 

[THE KOD]

Jon Stewart opened Monday's "Daily Show" by addressing the government shutdown, and placed the blame squarely on the House Republicans for going to great lengths in their one-sided fight against the Affordable Care Act, which he mockingly called "The End of America as We Know It for Reasons No One is Able to Clearly Explain."

"You're just throwing words together," he exclaimed in response to a montage of Republicans rattling off their love of the Constitution to show their hatred of Obamacare, and then those lawmakers blasting Obama for failing to compromise. "It's a f**king law!" he said, pointing out that all three branches of government had thus far upheld the law.

He then compared the Republicans to a losing football team. "Did you see the Giants game on Sunday?" he asked. "They lost 31-7. Do you know what the Giants didn't say after that game? 'If you don't give us 25 more points by midnight on Monday, we will shut down the f**king NFL.'"
:0074

 

[Penguinfan]

So you agree with Bobby Knight? "If rape is inevitable you may as well sit back and enjoy it".

 

[THE KOD]

So you agree with Bobby Knight? "If rape is inevitable you may as well sit back and enjoy it".

no I agree that the teaparty is a bunch of fuckheads

 

[Penguinfan]

no I agree that the teaparty is a bunch of fuckheads

I never said they weren't. I however, have no idea how you got that from my comment above.


At the end of the day the House Republicans are doing exactly what I and the MAJORITY of Americans like me who understand that the ACA is atrocious and an economy killer elected them to do. Fight this, fight this, fight this.


The were not elected to give up, they were elected to do the best thing they can for their constituents. They are using means none of us like currently, but it is all they have left.

They must continue to fight this devil before BHO makes sure we ALL qualify for free healthcare. And isn't that what this is really about? Making sure the people need to depend on the government?

 

[hedman]

I never said they weren't. I however, have no idea how you got that from my comment above.


At the end of the day the House Republicans are doing exactly what I and the MAJORITY of Americans like me who understand that the ACA is atrocious and an economy killer elected them to do. Fight this, fight this, fight this.


The were not elected to give up, they were elected to do the best thing they can for their constituents. They are using means none of us like currently, but it is all they have left.

They must continue to fight this devil before BHO makes sure we ALL qualify for free healthcare. And isn't that what this is really about? Making sure the people need to depend on the government?

To each his own, but the fucking LIE I hate the most is that you think you are in the MAJORITY. You lost a PRESIDENTIAL election against the guy this LAW is named after and Romney was running solely on the fact that he would REPEAL it. Didnt happen, you lost, not in the MAJORITY.

They are using means NO ONE should like, because it is setting a bad precedent of holding the ENTIRE government up because you are not getting your way.

Majority, fuck me

 

[hedgehog]

no I agree that the teaparty is a bunch of fuckheads

The teaparty is common folk that are tired of paying ridiculous taxes and want their freedoms back, I am a proud member :0008 The Republicans in this fight against Obamacare were elected to do what they are doing, keep fighting Republicans, let the democrats whine like a little puppy thats been scolded all they want and stay strong

 

[Cie]

The teaparty is common folk that are tired of paying ridiculous taxes and want their freedoms back, I am a proud member :0008 The Republicans in this fight against Obamacare were elected to do what they are doing, keep fighting Republicans, let the democrats whine like a little puppy thats been scolded all they want and stay strong

In case you are wondering, the tea party is killing your beloved GOP

 

[hedgehog]

In case you are wondering, the tea party is killing your beloved GOP

my party needs to get rid of the RINO's republican in name only (Mccain types) if we are ever going to take back our country, we need to go way right instead of playing the middle like McCain and Romney, a true Conservative with personality would be a welcome change, how do you like Jindal? I am not sure if he is Presidential or not

 

[bleedingpurple]

my party needs to get rid of the RINO's republican in name only (Mccain types) if we are ever going to take back our country, we need to go way right instead of playing the middle like McCain and Romney, a true Conservative with personality would be a welcome change, how do you like Jindal? I am not sure if he is Presidential or not

You are a fool to believe that your party should go waaaaay right, that would be party suicide. Get outside the bubble, the country has evolved

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

In case you are wondering, the tea party is killing your beloved GOP

Two more elections cycles and they will be irrelevant.

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

The teaparty is common folk that are tired of paying ridiculous taxes and want their freedoms back, I am a proud member :0008 The Republicans in this fight against Obamacare were elected to do what they are doing, keep fighting Republicans, let the democrats whine like a little puppy thats been scolded all they want and stay strong

Can you please respond to my challenge like a man? Yes or no.

 

[hedgehog]

You are a fool to believe that your party should go waaaaay right, that would be party suicide. Get outside the bubble, the country has evolved

THAT IS THE PROBLEM, we have not, we are a right/center country at least in Texas

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

Can you please respond to my challenge like a man? Yes or no.

THAT IS THE PROBLEM, we have not, we are a right/center country at least in Texas

:mj07: :mj07:

 

[ryson]

You are a fool to believe that your party should go waaaaay right, that would be party suicide. Get outside the bubble, the country has evolved

Evolved into what?

 

[hedgehog]

Evolved into what?

gay loving, pot smoking nation of free loaders I guess is what he is talking about :shrug:

 

[Cie]

gay loving, pot smoking nation of free loaders I guess is what he is talking about :shrug:

Dumb, even for you

 

[Penguinfan]

To each his own, but the fucking LIE I hate the most is that you think you are in the MAJORITY. You lost a PRESIDENTIAL election against the guy this LAW is named after and Romney was running solely on the fact that he would REPEAL it. Didnt happen, you lost, not in the MAJORITY.

They are using means NO ONE should like, because it is setting a bad precedent of holding the ENTIRE government up because you are not getting your way.

Majority, fuck me

I didn't lose a presidential election against anyone. Get that straight right from jump street.

Hasn't there been poll after poll that shows Americans as a whole do not support the ACA?

They are not holding up the entire gov't because they aren't getting their way, this is about much more than getting their way (except to BHO and his cronies). It's about a law that will

1. Raise the cost of healthcare
2. Decrease the quality of healthcare

I'd say that is pretty important and worth fighting over. If "getting their way" means doing the right thing then so be it.