In spite of all the opposition that you are hearing about

The other day, in B0botland, I saw a popular headline

I HATE THE REPUBLICANS WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING

I would not piss on them if they were on fire.

And of course the angry tea partier is in all the headlines,

because as WaPo declared yesterday

NOVEMBER IS NOW

But behind this electoral frenzy, this is what happened:

In the 90s the Clintons were working on real healthcare reform. Republicans and the bought Democrats (Moynihan, Daschle et al) made sure that didn’t even come to a vote. The Heritage foundation came up with an alternative.

t has been a long slog, since those days in the early 1990s when right-wing policy analysts proposed an individual mandate to purchase health coverage as a respectable, market-oriented, responsibility-based alternative to either government-provided health care (the nanny state) or mandated employer-provided health care (the boss state).

As right wing ideas usually come with big money and big wheels behind them, this one made it into law in Massachusetts – widely known (and loathed) as Romneycare.

Meanwhile, In the Democratic party, Hllary Clinton was running for president with a platform – among other things – of creating real healthcare reform.

Republicans and the corporation behind them couldn’t have that.

So they fronted their own candidate – whose color would offset Hillary’s gender and made sure to manipulate the primaries so their man eeks it.

Once power was seized by the “postpartisan candidate who admired Reagan” with a lot of help from the right, the road to The Heritage Foundation’s Romneycare was open. Not wide open, as republicans needed to keep themselves viable as a party, so they had make like to oppose it. But given the Democrats majorities. that mattered less than the opposition of the few real Democrats left.

But in a visit at the GOP retreat Obama lets them know that

The component parts of this thing are pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.

What he was probably referring to is this Heritage Foundation draft

Step #1: Rapidly expand private health coverage to include the uninsured.

snip
Thus, the most effective way to reduce inappropriate ED utilization is to institute sound “premium support” programs that would enable Medicaid patients to purchase quality private health insurance coverage with better access to care. The right policy is to integrate the working uninsured population and non-disabled Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries into a reformed private health insurance market.

snip

For lower-income persons, Congress could also enact a generous individual health care tax credit program, particularly for those who do not and cannot get health insurance through the workplace.

Republicans were discretely getting out of the way

Mitch McConnell did exactly that when he entered a unanimous consent agreement with Harry Reid about how to proceed on the health care bill. McConnell knew that agreement was going to make it impossible for Republicans to amend the bill and would put it on a fast track toward passage. McConnell accepted an agreement brilliantly designed by Reid that required 60 votes to pass an amendment.

The Massachusetts voters almost blew the cover on this hoax  in December. They knew Romneycare.

Not used to fighting for anything, Obama was ready to throw in the towel. But bigger intersts were at stake, this was not up to him. So, the voters choice in December is now a joke

So, now that the right wing brainchild is feted as the Democrats victory, partisan operatives rev up the phony opposition.

To quote one of my readers

So they keep the teabaggers (I hate that word, sorry) and the BOTs busy hating on each another, while the real business of “bipartisanship” goes on unnoticed?

What a chilling thought.

And of course, in this charade women had to pay the price. Now little by little the truth is coming out as right wingers can’t help not gloating. Here’s today’s drip

NRSC’s Cornyn: We Won’t Call For Repealing All Of Health Care

n the wake of the passage of health care reform, nearly the entire slate of Republican senatorial candidates seems ready to run on a repeal of the bill. But now, the lawmaker overseeing their election strategy is softening the message. Rather than promising to scrap the bill in its entirety, the GOP will pledge to just get rid of the more controversial parts.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

After all, they finally accomplished an old ream: getting rid – once and for all of Hillarycare.

Update

More gloating from the right confuses B0bots

Believe or not, Neil Cavuto on Faux Business seems to be arguing HCR is good for America..

The market is up. He even implied the lawsuits were not going anywhere.. Oh dear, is Faux going straight??..

Very few get it

5. Even a partisan fool like him can see that HCR cements the customer base

for the insurance industry.

Im not sure if thats something to cheer about.

10. it’s a republican’s dream bill, why wouldn’t he tout it?

But some, just like during the elections when the likes of Noonan and George Will were propping Obama are hoping (or rather operatives at work)

8. Neil just had a Dem strategist on it was a a very fair interview.

Maybe even “fair and balance”.. maybe.. :)
11. It’s NOT a Republican’s Dream Bill–What a Load of Bullshit. It’s great for small business, and…

…it’s good for the consumer, businesses depend on the good of the consumer, in the end.

It’s not a giveaway to insurance cos– that’s a load of bullshit.

If it was a republican’s dream, maybe one or two would have voted for it.

What is IS…..this is a Big Fucking Deal!

More headlines highlighting collusion

Repeal drive loses steam

Republicans were using the word “repeal” a lot in the hours after the House voted to pass the health-care reform bill. But as the hours turn to days, they’re talking about repeal less, qualifying it more, and even finding themselves mentioning things they like about the bill.

Back in Bobotland, clueless B0bots celebrate Romney’s loss

The biggest loser in Health Care Reform…. Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney was the favorite to be the GOP nominee in 2012. But with HCR legislation now passed, his Presidential career is finished. The Obama plan for National health care reform is very close to the health care plan Mitt Romney helped put in place as the Governor of Massachusetts.

Kinda reminds me of the joke about the redneck who gave syphilis to his entire family to get back to a certain cousin.

Only one notices the problem

1. but you admit: ObamaCare==RomneyCare! what’s impressive there?


Great minds think alike

Obama Democrats VS Tea Party Republicans: A Fake Fight Over Fake Health Care Reform

The fifteen month running battle between Obama Democrats and tea party Republicans was never much more real than televised professional wrestling. Like the opposing wrestlers, both sides work for the same bosses, for Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and the biggest medical providers. The real health care fight waged by the Obama administration has not been against Republicans, who never had the votes to stop, let alone dictate or pass anything.

The administration’s effort all along has been to pass the worst bill possible, with the greatest amounts of corporate welfare and loopholes, and the fewest protections for patients, while silencing, neutering and coercing the voices of most Democrats, who have favored some form of single payer, or Medicare For All from the beginning.

and the conclusion

In health care, as in war and peace, as in the environment and education, as in the rights of women and immigrants, the First Black President’s historic role is clear. His job is to smile and speechify and neutralize the left on every front, while taking the country further to the right than his white Republican predecessor would ever have been able.

..

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