Obamacare = Romneycare ???

[CTLawGuy]

We need to state some facts here:

1. This is not a conservative or right wing health care bill.

- Go the GOP website, I guarantee you that there is nothing there about providing universal health care. There's stuff about lowering costs for sure, but making sure everyone is covered is not their priority. They believe that if you want health care, like any other commodity, you should work and earn the money to buy it--government has no duty to make sure you can and do get insurance.

- In the six years that Bush and Republicans controlled the political branches of government, they did not make ONE attempt to pass any sort of universal health care bill, even this bill. So the idea that this would be the bill Republicans introduce is patent nonsense. The short answer is that they have no bill, because it is against their ideology for government to ensure universal access to health care.

- When the president says the bill is based on "Republican ideas", he is talking about ideas from Eisenhower, Nixon (who created the EPA, btw) and Dole, people who would have been primaried out of existence for being socialists if they were around today, and not Reagan or Gingrich. (In fact, Gingrich's biggest Republican enemy was Dole and his "moderate" ways.) Ask. yourself, what current Republican favors any of the ideas in this bill?

- Mitt Romney is a crass opportunist and he believes what is convenient at the time. When he was governor of MA, he was pro-choice, for example (which didn't help him in 2008). The MA bill, deemed "Romneycare" passed the overwhelmingly Democratic (2/3 majorities or more, no Ben Nelsons) legislature and he signed it to keep up his "moderate" image. (So sad for him, his support of that bill will ensure that he never survives a Repub primary.)

Bottom line: This is a moderate bill for sure, but it is an ENACTED bill, and as such will help more people than even the most liberal bill that has NOT been enacted.

2. This was the best bill the Democrats were going to get at this time.

- The underlying bill had to pass the senate with 60 votes. The Byrd rule would have prevented using reconciliation except for only certain aspects.

- The Eisenhower/Nixon/Dole position is now sitting in the Democratic party after the Republican shift to the far right over the past 30 years. Obama needed to get the votes of all 60 Democrats/allies in the senate, everyone from Ben Nelson to Bernie Sanders. This bill was pretty much the only way to make that happen.

3. The bill can be improved later, this is a first, but important step.

- I highly doubt that Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Alan Grayson, Anthony Weiner and Russ Feingold, among others, would have supported this bill if they thought it could NEVER be improved later.

- The improvements can be made piecemeal, leaving less to be disagreed upon and opening a likelier possibility of using reconciliation if need be.

- Because this bill affects so many people, it's harder for Congress to ignore anything that needs improvement, especially since the bill has all their fingerprints on it.

- Progressives can push for a public option in the fall by supporting pro-PO candidates in the primary.

4. Dennis Kucinich, Alan Grayson, Bernie Sanders, or any member of Congress, can force a vote on the PO or single payer at any time.

- It's called a "discharge petition". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_petition It's how McCain/Feingold passed over the objection of the Republican leadership in 2001. How it works is that, if any member of Congress, who brings the petition, can get a majority of that chamber to sign the petition, then the subject bill is forced to come to a vote whether the leadership likes it or not, and regardless of whether the bill has been through the committee process. (I guess we should ask ourselves why Dennis Kucinich in particular, who is quite outspoken, hasn't tried this yet, but we won't.)

[uponit7771]

1. Romney is the GOP's best choice for prez right now IMHO, it smart to take him out...

...and tie him close to something the GOP is demonizing. Looking at Cornyns memo it looks like they're gonna try to pick out the good parts and tie themselves to those hopefully Tim Kaine has the right message together and slaps their mouths with their obstinance

[Clio the Leo]

2. Yep, was just about to say...

.... for THAT purpose, this is DEFINITELY Romneycare.

The little twinkle in the President's eye when he said that was the flame that started the fire of the the 2012 Presidential election campaign season.

If you could zoom into his eye and see that twinkle up close, it would spell out....

[Jennicut]

3. Funny how Bob Dole seems moderate in comparison to what we have 15 or so years later.

John McCain is seen as too moderate by many in the Rethug party, and he is far to the right of what Bob Dole was. Not that I was ever a fan of Bob Dole but the Rethugs really went far to the right in just a short period of time.

The ideas of Rethugs today for healthcare is always the $5,000 voucher to purchase health care yourself. That and tort reform.

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Romney is a whore.

He's running away from the plan he so proudly thumped his chest about in Massachusetts.

[Oregone]

5. "This is not a conservative or right wing health care bill"

Yes it is. It preserves the expensive capitalistic private industry as the deliverer of health insurance, mandates its purchase, and disproportionally burdens the lowers classes with the costs. It was right wing 40 years ago when all the liberals opposed it, and in my opinion, still is.

[area51]

6. +1

"The bill can be improved later"

:rofl:

This is RomneyCare/GingrichCare; Gingrich was the first to propose a law to force people to buy insurance, and Romney helped enact it in his state. Just because they're pretending to run away from their original idea of forcing people by law to buy private, for-profit, unregulated insurance from serial killers, doesn't mean this is a Democratic plan; it's republican to the core.