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Streetcar Line
Obamacare’s Hideous History, Recounted
This law remains utterly illegitimate.
Amid John Roberts’ craven surrender to “the political branches” on Obamacare — a bizarre capitulation, at that, since Roberts honored a statute that he hallucinated, but neither Congress nor the president authored nor authorized — Americans should remember just how many rules, standards, and traditions had to be twisted or bulldozed in order for the [un]Affordable Care Act to become law.
For Obamacare to be enacted in the first place required each of more than a dozen, highly unlikely or even suspect, occurrences or actions. It then took some serious constitutional hocus pocus for it to survive in court. Consider the awful litany:
First, rogue prosecutors, drunk with bloodlust, had to break all sorts of rules in order to secure the conviction of Alaska’s U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. (Stevens, in his hubris, also had to insist on a speedy trial he thought would clear his name before the election of 2008, when in fact it resulted in the conviction that sealed his electoral fate.) Also, Judge Emmet Sullivan, a no-nonsense jurist, had to decide not to declare a mistrial before the verdict despite growing evidence of prosecutorial misconduct. (Sullivan didn’t necessarily err; he just didn’t have enough proof of misconduct yet. When it came, post-trial, he cracked down fairly hard on the scofflaws.) Had Stevens been re-elected, he presumably would never have voted for Obamacare, which therefore would have failed by one vote… even if none of the other, subsequent abominations (as we will discuss) were forestalled.
Second, the Democrats had to succeed in flat-out stealing the election for a Minnesota-based U.S. Senate seat from Republican Norm Coleman. In addition to securing the counting of highly questionable “votes” throughout the recount process, the Democrats also likely benefited from the illegal votes of hundreds of felons. Had Coleman been re-elected, there is no way he would have voted for Obamacare, which therefore — cue the refrain — would have failed by one vote… even if none of the other, subsequent abominations (as we will discuss) were forestalled.
Third (although chronologically first), the Washington Post had to succeed in its unprecedentedly and viciously unfair coverage of the U.S. Senate race in Virginia, both capitalizing on Sen. George Allen’s missteps (he ran a terrible campaign) and skewing the “news” relentlessly against him even when he didn’t make mistakes. Had he not lost by a tiny 8,805-vote margin, there is no way he would have voted for Obamacare, which therefore — cue the refrain — would have failed by one vote… even if none of the other, subsequent abominations (as we will discuss) were forestalled.
(Parenthetically, without as direct a link either to skullduggery or to a the clearly relevant time frame, would-be Obamacare opponents also likely would have been in office in several other states under ordinary circumstances. In New Jersey, liberal Democrat Frank Lautenberg had returned to the Senate in 2002 due to a logically and legally unsupportable state supreme court ruling allowing him to replace Robert Torricelli on the ballot after the legal deadline. In Montana, Republicans shot themselves in the foot in 2006 by not pressuring incumbent Conrad Burns into retirement following his association with the Jack Abramoff scandal; he lost an otherwise safe seat by less than one percent of the vote. And it didn’t help that in Oregon, incumbent Republican Gordon Smith lost another close race largely due to votes siphoned away from him — perfectly legitimately, but still frustratingly — by a candidate of the Constitution Party.)
Fourth, there clearly were good reasons to believe Sens. Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu would refuse to keep the Obamacare legislation alive had it not been for (respectively) the infamous Cornhusker Kickback and Louisiana Purchase agreements. Granted, horse-trading is always part of politics (e.g.: Louisiana’s John Breaux handing a key vote to Ronald Reagan after declaring “my vote isn’t for sale, but it is for rent”), but these special Obamacare deals smelled particularly rancid. (For that matter, Democrats had to promise more compromise than they ever intended to deliver in order to secure support in committee from Republican Olympia Snowe, who voted to keep it alive only to have her hopes forsaken by the final shape of the bill. Yes, the bill would have passed committee anyway, but it’s also incontrovertible that some Democrats in both chambers excused later procedural votes for the package by describing it as “bipartisan,” based solely on Snowe’s committee vote.)
Fifth, Harry Reid had to play parliamentary hardball (and Mitch McConnell had to let him get away with it) in order to force the key vote on initial Senate passage before the Senate left for Christmas break of 2009 — whereas if senators had gone home for Christmas and heard first-hand the intensity of public opposition, not even the various Kickbacks and Purchases (and other special deals) would have sufficed to keep some of the senators on board for the one-vote victory.
Sixth, the Senate had to pull other procedural rabbits from its hat in order to make up for not letting the House originate a revenue-raising bill and to make up for the loss of Massachusetts’ Senate seat to Scott Brown. Chief among these was taking an orphan House bill and stripping everything from the bill but the number, replacing the entire text with the text of Obamacare. Again, this is legal, but hardly an admirable way to force through a bill of this size and importance on a party-line vote.
Seventh, Arlen Specter abandoned the entire five previous years of his public pledges and posturing — pledges without which he never would have been re-elected in 2004 — by switching parties in a nakedly unprincipled bid to somehow, some way hold onto power. Had he been running for re-election in a Republican primary rather than a Democratic one, there is no way on Earth he would have voted for the health-care monstrosity.
Eighth, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid had to orchestrate the most dishonest set of bait-and-switch procedural maneuvers seen in Congress in decades in order to secure shifting bare-majorities for elements of ObamaCare, so as to give their own members various degrees of deniability for passage of the whole — which, clearly, could not and would not have passed in a straight-up vote held without any subterfuge.
Ninth, the administration and congressional Democrats had to use major legerdemain to avoid budgetary procedural shoals by mis-labeling some spending, and double-counting some savings, in order to claim to be not busting budget rules that rather clearly were actually being busted. Had the Congressional Budget Office been able to officially (and accurately) project the bills as budget busters, Democrats would never have been able to muster the super-majorities needed for passage.
Tenth, Barack Obama had to twist more arms than a championship wrestler in order to get enough House members in line to bring passage of the bill even within striking range.
Then, eleventh, he had to fool enough pro-life Democrats (who had to be stupid enough or cynical enough to let themselves be “fooled”) into believing that an executive order from him could carry enough of the force of law to ensure that no public funds would be used for abortions, and that his administration would actually observe both the letter and the spirit of that order. (The final, official House tally was 219-212, but the de facto passage was by only one vote — several of the “aye” votes would not have switched in that direction at the last minute unless they had enough “cover” to say they weren’t the single vote that pushed it over the top.)
Twelfth, as has been well documented, the administration and Democrats had to argue first that the individual mandate’s penalty was not a tax (in order to round up congressional votes), then had to argue in some courts that it was a tax (for some purposes) and in other courts that it wasn’t a tax (for other purposes), and then have to use the “it’s a tax” argument as a Hail-Mary afterthought in its Supreme Court argument even while knowing full well that if they somehow won the case on that basis, they would immediately disavow in public the very argument they used to win the case.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (127) | Leave a comment
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Aristocat| 7.3.12 @ 6:17AM
Great article, Quin. The Supreme Court makeup now appears to be 5 liberals, 3 conservatives, and one swing vote (Kennedy).
The House should vote to declare this law unconstitutional, and refuse to implement it.
Gueppebarre| 7.4.12 @ 12:22AM
Nothing requires Congress to fund this legislation with one cent of public funds. Let's see how civic-minded and selfless these bureaucrats are when they are required to work for nothing! They'll be out looking for a real job.
A. C. Santore| 7.4.12 @ 11:02AM
Easier said than done when the GOP fails to understand that THEY CANNOT BRING A PEASHOOTER TO A GUN BATTLE AND EXPECT TO WIN - and a down and dirty fight by the Dems at that, as Hillyer points out so clearly!
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 6:40AM
All these things, the Democrats did, to get what they wanted.
And, yet, Republicans can't get a Mosquito infested chunk of Nowhere, the size of Dulles Airport, and 150 Miles from the nearest Tree, open for Oil Drilling, after 20 YEARS of trying.
We have No Men.
Only Posers, and Primadonnas.
This is why we fail.
chuck| 7.3.12 @ 7:09AM
It's like they check their balls at the door.
Peter McGrath| 7.3.12 @ 11:33AM
Nerf balls.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 9:55AM
Maybe you should run for Congress then?
Or is it easier to whittle away the day gracing the internet with your highly informed opinions???
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 3:59PM
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Please note Doctor Nose up my ass, once again, sniffing my ass, at every turn.
For some odd reason, he feels compelled to spew his idiocies, after every one of my comments.
I'm thinking that this is just his way of expressing his Homosexual feelings towards me, that, I gotta tell ya, are seriously Creeping Me Out.
Does anyone know how to get rid of a Stalking Queer?
Brooksifier.
Is there any way you can take this Homo off my hands?
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:06PM
Thanks!
You are the gift that keeps on giving!
A. C. Santore| 7.4.12 @ 11:04AM
I hate to repeat, but here it is: peashooter to a gun battle when the other side plays dirty = fore-ordained failure.
Occam's Tool| 7.10.12 @ 2:21PM
You know, hallucinations can occur in untreated seizure disorders, Quin...
sharms| 7.3.12 @ 6:43AM
Amen TLP.
Gary B| 7.4.12 @ 7:00AM
Amen TLP. RINOs should know the pitchfork and torch people will be coming after them, not the Democrats. Democrats are 100% reliable in their dedication to the socialist agenda. Republicans are the so-called good people who do nothing. A pox on their houses.
vtwin| 7.3.12 @ 7:34AM
Quin,
First, the house passed the Affordable Care Act; the vote was 219-212.
Second, the Senate passed the Affordable Care Act; the vote was 60-40.
Third, President signed the Affordable Care Act into law.
Fourth, the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act law was Constitutional.
Jack of Spades| 7.3.12 @ 8:48AM
...and the whole thing stinks to high Heaven. Let's be blunt: Obamacare will be a monstrosity of bureaucratic incompetence, shortages of medical resources and mediocre service at best. That's not counting the fiscal unsustainability. Gloat as much as you like, but this is a disaster that's going to hit you just as hard as it will the rest of us.
Fast and Curious| 7.3.12 @ 9:18AM
Brilliant vtwin, just brilliant. Thanks for contributing!
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 6:31PM
Yeah.
He's a Fcking Genius.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:07PM
Thanks, again!
Jack London| 7.3.12 @ 9:36AM
You left out:
Fifth, the right just keeps lying about it.
Albertus Magnus| 7.3.12 @ 9:46AM
And the Left just keeps lying about it.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 11:46AM
We're not the ones insisting it's not a tax but is constitutional, when the SCOTUS just ruled that only one of those can be true, not both.
Albertus Magnus| 7.3.12 @ 9:45AM
Passed the senate 60-40. That is the minimum number of Senate votes to stop a filibuster. So, effectively, it passed by ONE VOTE! Absent any one of the Senate frauds noted above, OBozocare would have been stopped by a filibuster.
And last, the Supreme Court is wrong. And you know it. But being a leftist, you don't care about anything as mundane as the LAW, as long as you get what you want. You and Obozo have a lot in common.
vtwin| 7.3.12 @ 5:46PM
If the earth spin on its axis in the opposite direction, would not the sun rise in the west and set in the east?
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 6:32PM
Like I just said.
He's a Fcking Genius.
Albertus Magnus| 7.3.12 @ 11:25PM
I'm sure you think this is genius. It isn't. I'm sure it makes sense to you and in that regard you are unique. I'm sure you think you said something profound. It is profoundly ridiculous. Have a nice day.
Nancy in NC| 7.3.12 @ 9:52AM
Just because the SOTUS says so doesn't make it true. I can read the Constitution, and any fool with an open mind knows otherwise. Just a cursory glance at the writings of the Founders and Federalists papers would say it's not as well. I hope you won't be around long enough to see how it destroys what's left of this country. Final note: we can't afford Obama care.
Von Mises Jr| 7.4.12 @ 7:45AM
Amendment IX and X make very clear that the states and ultimately the people are who make it so or not so.
Four Governors have already refused to implement the Medicaid expansion that is the mechanism to insure the people under about $30K without insurance. But that Medicaid expansion will necessarily cause property taxes to skyrocket. Some Governors will face issues with Balanced Budget Amendments that precludes them from committing the vast sums to fund this peccadillo.
Then there is the Church. They have closed facilities in the past, and they will most likely do it again. If you are a large Catholic Hospital that is tending to indigent care in the urban areas, and ObamaCare will eventually force you to perform abortions, is it not better to just pull out (sorry) before it comes to a climax (sorry again).
So it would be perfect if they suspended operations as an October Surprise. Then the poor can decide if they want Obama more than their life saving care. Or maybe Obama can lay hands on them and heal them?
RCV| 7.3.12 @ 11:14AM
Well recounted, vtwin. Anytime the right can't prevail democratically, it's all a plot and fraud.
Stephanie| 7.3.12 @ 12:30PM
And it is a plot and a fraud. As is obama, the biggest fraud of all.
Happy Independence Day America~
Quartermaster| 7.3.12 @ 2:16PM
You mean Dependence Day.
Cobalt| 7.4.12 @ 3:47PM
July 4, 2005-- Obama and Bill Ayers
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-G.....ly-4-2005/
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:07PM
Again, you're not Stupid.
They never pushed this as a Tax. It was a PENALTY.
To this day, they're out there DENYING this is a Tax.
Maybe you can explain to the Group, WHY they're still doing this?
They fought this under the Commerce Clause, and Roberts just Crossed that out with his pen, and REWROTE the entire Law, himself.
It's not a Conspiracy.
It's a Supreme Court Justice Gone Mad.
It's a Stab in the back.
And it's the most egregious example of Judicial Activism, in this Coutry's History.
May he Rot In Hell.
Crassus| 7.4.12 @ 4:37PM
Thank you, Captain Obvious. Now sit down and STFU.
Louis Jenkins| 7.3.12 @ 8:42AM
"trickery, dishonesty, or breathtaking sophistry..."
Isn't this called business as usual in the District of Crimminals? The nation was founded on a principle. There was too many taxes being levied on the colonies, taxes by the way that were to help pay for French and Indian war. The Stamp Tax and the Tea Tax were too loathsome for the colonies to bear, and they revolted. Yet here we sit some 230 years later, on our duffs, and allow the District of Crimminals to tax the citizenry into oblivion. Oh, another tax, oh, another regulation, oh, another law. And it keeps adding up until the last straw. Are we men, are we sheep, or do we plainly don't care? I believe the US citizens are the last two, for if we were the first, we'd do something about this piece of tripe.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:10PM
Obviously, if we ever expect to get their attention?
There needs to be some Blood Spilled.
I'm just sayin.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:09PM
Riiiiight...
And it goes without saying that you'll be out there, manning the barricades, demonstrating your natural leadership skills, right?
...Or will you still be pontificating on the internet?
Cobalt| 7.3.12 @ 8:58AM
The latest B.S. from racist Toure: Government Must Demand People Accept Change They're Not Ready For
http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....y_for.html
Bill84728| 7.3.12 @ 9:00AM
If the media are subverting the campaign and electoral process, and if conservative candidates are "shooting themselves in the foot" and thereby losing elections, thereby fostering the passage of undesred legislation and skewed judicial involvement, then before we get into the issue of how paranoid that world view might be, we'd better run a class of clever, smart, committed conservatives who won't be derailed by an errant press or make foolish mistakes, and keep legislation out of the hands of the judges.
Either that, or we'd better take a careful look at where things appear to be headed and try to deal with that.
cicero| 7.3.12 @ 9:34AM
Great! Another regulatory department to go with all of the others. Have we noticed yet that we are now run by a government of fiat, that requires only an army of beaurocrats passing rugulation after regulation, without any input from our empty suits in Washington? This has been going on since the late 60s, and has finally reached critical mass. If the Republicans actually are installed in power this November, their task has to be the dismantling and disbanding of the beaurocracy.
We are currently all agog at the enormity of Obamacare. What about the Depts of Energy (that has no legitimate purpose), the Dept of Educ. (that has destroyed our educational system), the Depts of HUD, HEW, HHS, (that have institutionalized poverty), and all of the others that have allowed our Congress and Chief exec to absolve themselves of responsibility for governing this country? Time is running out, folks.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:15PM
It's a GODDAMN SHAME, that flight 93 Passengers died in Vain.
They gave their lives for what?
So these MFers could hurt this Country more than Al Qaida could only dream about?
It's a GODDAMN SHAME.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:09PM
Nice!
Alej| 7.4.12 @ 6:00PM
Sadly, you have a point.
Albertus Magnus| 7.3.12 @ 9:40AM
When Julius Caesar was Consul, he wanted to pass what he called "reform" legislation. When the Tribune of the Plebians used his lawful veto, Caesar's goons dragged the Tribune down from the rostrum and dragged him through the streets of Rome. Caesar then enacted his legislation in open violation of the veto. Sound familiar?
Democrats, populares, reformers, progressives, socialists, whatever you wish to call them, all believe that their cause is true and just and that ANY opposition is automatically illegitimate and thus justifies ANY means to enact. And that includes vote fraud, procedural violations, and outright criminality. This Obozocare crap is the result of all of these. It is wholly illegitimate and unconstitutional, Justice Roberts be damned.
Bill84728| 7.3.12 @ 10:00AM
Well, if the leader can do that, we can do it too. In fact, over the course of history, the people have done it a lot more than the leaders have. But that's an eventuality that we should really try to avoid as long as voting works. If voting doesn't work, then of course all bets are off.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:16PM
One Bullet, could have prevented WWII.
I'm just sayin.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:11PM
Gee...that's NOT a cliche, is it?
I'm just sayin.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:12PM
BTW...are you threatening the life of a public official?
...bad idea, l'il Timmy..
gene| 7.3.12 @ 9:42AM
If all this "Skulldugery" went on in full view, you have to wonder what went on under the surface. When some of my generation were just starting out in Grade School, JFK and LBJ got into the WH. Before this, Johnson got to be a Senator in 1948 by a marging of 87 votes. Two hundred people in a Texas town, some of them dead, voted at the last minute in alphabetical order, with the same pen, and the same handwriting, and the votes were stuffed in after the pollls closed (The Infamous Ballot Box 13). In 1960, Texas was again stolen for both JFK and LBJ, in addition to Illinois and 2 other states. Republicans, investigating on thier own, dug up all the evidence, but Nixon buried it and said he would not rip the country apart and cause a Constitutional Crisis. And JFK became President by a margin of less than 115,000 votes. As unappealing as Nixon was to so many, ya gotta give the guy credit. This was his finest hour before his actual Presidency.
So how many people were Extorted? Blackmailed? Bribed? Pushed? Shoved around? Threatened?.................
If all this was on the surface, these thugs must have twisted a lot of arms underneath.
Albertus Magnus| 7.3.12 @ 9:49AM
Personally, the words "extortion, blackmail, and threat" all come to mind when discussing Justice Roberts' opinion. Any reason to think otherwise? I can't find one.
RCV| 7.3.12 @ 12:34PM
Any FACTS to support such a ludicrous calumny? Of course not, but that never stops the likes of you.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 12:43PM
We have more facts than you have to support the following claims:
1. Anyone who opposes Obama is a racist
2. Arizona SB1070 will have police pull people over for "looking brown"
3. Bush caused the Recession
4. 9/11 was an inside job
5. Bush's tax hike rollback caused the deficit
6. Obama's stimulus worked
7. ObamaCare won't fund illegals
8. There is no vote fraud in America
I could go on and on.
RCV| 7.3.12 @ 1:58PM
Nice try changing the subject.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 2:06PM
I wasn't changing the subject. You were. You suggested that all the reasonable suspicions in the world should be dismissed because we don't have concrete proof. I illustrated your duplicity in using such a tactic.
The fact is that Roberts changed his opinion late in the game, and no good reason for this has been presented. Conjectures based on context and recent history are as valid as any theories can be at this point.
DRed| 7.3.12 @ 4:13PM
I think aliens did it. Do you have any concrete proof that they didn't?
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:19PM
Godfather II.
State Senator.
Dead Hooker in his room.
Flipped.
What's your theory?
Drunken Sailor| 7.3.12 @ 4:34PM
I knew it. Pod People
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 6:35PM
Yes.
You're a Douche Bag.
That's my proof.
Doctor Right| 7.3.12 @ 10:13PM
Thanks!
Crassus| 7.4.12 @ 4:41PM
Nice to see that the Zombie Zoo is out in force.
PolishKnight| 7.3.12 @ 10:02AM
I'm reminded of a scene in the cheesy film "The Mummy Returns" where followers of the resurrected demigod traitor seeking to destroy the world, Imhotep, stumble through the streets mumbling: "Imhotep... Imhotep..." One of the guys survives by imitating them and other joins their ranks. If you can't beat 'em...
Dirty, corrupt, destructive politics is an amazingly powerful force, like the hurricane force winds, or a volcano, that most people can't just resist worshiping. It doesn't really matter whether you'll gain anything by going along with the crowd. Everyone loves a winner.
And the Democrats, to their credit, are about winning at all costs. They can see 12 ducks that need to get lined up in a row and work on each and every single one to get their task accomplished. They're motivated not by ideology (even if it appears that way) but rather by greed and a desire to be on a winning team. It's an irresistible force.
Ironically, the right's motivation based upon ideology can backfire and that's the case of Roberts. He fell in love with the Constitution and then got tripped by it. "The right to tax? OK! Done!" The GOAL should be a limited government that protects individual rights and limits government corruption. This was the goal of the writers of the Constitution and those that defended it. But when the Constitution and it's words became something itself to worship, Roberts became similar to an unthinking zombie.
Oldefarte| 7.3.12 @ 10:20AM
With all due respect to MOST [not all of course] here, you simply do not get the point, which is STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES! Yes all these things occured that are eloquently described, but it ain't the point, okay? The American taxpayer-voter acted """"""STUPIDLY"""""" on 11/4/08 and many, many times prior to that date within their respective voting booths. If 11/4/08 and similar had not occurred, then what you described would not have resultently happened. It ain't Rocket Science 101, but then again maybe it is sadly. Taxpayer-voters have the ultimate chips in the poker game when they enter the voting booth, ie personaly finances, businesses' survival, the overall national economy, protection of their family friends and community from foreigner-invasion, maintaining a low cost of government through less taxiation, etc. It is imperitive to weed through the MSM BS on TV/newspapers constantly to discern the truth of situation and not Lewinskify what read. Cearly, the taxpayer-voters failed to do this and voted for this nice little Chicago lawyer bearing messages of H&C etc, and in effect acted """""STUPIDLY""""". That is not Roberts etc fault, and never will be. Again......IT'S THE DEMOCRATS STUPIDS!!!!!!!!!
PolishKnight| 7.3.12 @ 11:00AM
The stupid label is often overused by smug leftists and I cringe when I see conservatives use it for anything other than relevant purposes. And Oldefarte, this isn't one of them.
Most of the Americans who voted for Obama (or stayed home and didn't vote at all) had legitimate reasons for voting their way: Many Republicans stayed home because McCain had proudly supported amnesty for illegals and bashed his own base. Most Democrat voters have ugly, albeit rational, reasons for voting for their party: racist entitlements, government public sector unions, dislike of the war in Iraq, and welfare recipients. The most "stupid" of all leftists tend to be the most educated who like to regard themselves as superior, more caring than non-believers in their personal religion and therefore can engage in dishonesty and even "stupid" thinking of their own because it's for a noble, "smart" cause. Ironically, they are dying out as the Democrat party increasingly becomes controlled by the more rational base of supporters I mentioned above.
Oldefarte| 7.3.12 @ 2:04PM
This isn't one of those stupid occassions? What did those stomping their feet like a ten year old child over McCain gain by voting for Obama? Was it worth it? Did that H&C work for them? The very reason why there is such angst now by conservatives and tea partiers is because of Obama and these radical domestic terrorists aka Democrats. Not stupid....then what is it? Intelligent? Not in my vocabulary!!!!!!!
Jack of Spades| 7.3.12 @ 11:26AM
Blaming the voters is worse than pointless. 2008 showed the huge flaw in GOP moderates' strategy of being inoffensive while trying to paint the Democrat as a left-wing moonbat. Obama was and is a left-wing moonbat but had the good sense not to look and sound like one. And McCain had no visible agenda beyond becoming President McCain.
PolishKnight| 7.3.12 @ 11:38AM
It doesn't matter if Obama didn't sound like a moonbat because the media wouldn't cover it. This is why leftists seethe and spit bile when they mention the word "foxnews" because Foxnews does a horrific thing in their opinion: report stuff they don't want the public to know.
Obama had a fanatical fan base and even won a Nobel prize for being the first half-black president. His fans practically swooned and passed out during his inauguration where he provided the ultimate promise that a half black president could solve all the world's problems simply by showing up. It was like Beatlemania.
Jack of Spades| 7.3.12 @ 12:03PM
Which is all the more reason the GOP candidate make his case himself and take his case to the American people, bypassing the mainstream media when possible. A moderate with no message can't do that and wouldn't if he could.
Oldefarte| 7.3.12 @ 7:15PM
"pointless", "the good sense to not look and sound like one"? OMG, where have you been? On Mars? The voters were STUPID for STUPIDLY buying into his H&C etc BS. Cannot TV viewers not see the manipulated brainwashing put forth from NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, NYT,WaPa etc? Do they believe as fact what they read in the newspaper or what the Dan Rathers tell them nightly? Don't they have the "good sense" to READ BETWEEN THE LINES of newsprint? Do they not have the ability to see Obama's history from birth? Do they not understand that he was a programmed substitute for a dying Ted Kennedy or other Kennedy [since none of them were electable] and that the Kennedys poured $millions into Obama's campaign coffers? Do they not understand that Obama sat for 20 years in fron of Jeremiah Wright and associated with the likes of Bill Ayers? 'Good sense"? Obviously, the American voters have none of which you speak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 7.3.12 @ 7:27PM
PK, your words ["Obama had a fanatical fan base and even won a Nobel prize for being the first half-black president. His fans practically swooned and passed out during his inauguration where he provided the ultimate promise that a half black president could solve all the world's problems simply by showing up. It was like Beatlemania"] prove my point. If enough American taxpayer-voters were "fanatical" "swooned" "passed out" enough numbers-wise to elect him POTUS, then those same American taxpayers-voters are .....STUPID!!!!!!!!!!
Who Knows?| 7.3.12 @ 10:34AM
Poor Quin.
To maintain his status as a pundit, who has his own widely read (?) blog, he has to study, do research and write all the historical dirty details on Obamacare. And, 99% of the people who vote couldn’t come close to knowing half of the story.
Current news faces the same fate as what’s atop men’s head-
Hair today, gone tomorrow.
And, what about the wannabe pundits, who regularly comment, in Quin’s wake? No need for me to answer.
It’s not that I want to kill the messenger. By all means, the truth about the essence of Obamacare, that it is an annihilator of wealth, must get out.
But, man oh man, has BHO provided us with almost too many such black holes, or what?
Remember when all those liberal actors said they’d leave America if GWB was elected? Or was it Reagan? And, when Clinton won in 1992, how the same ilk claimed to love America, as Limbaugh pointed out?
There’s a whole lot of anarchy going on, and its head is in DC. It is still said, and believed by some, that words mean something.
Indeed they do. And they do have consequences.
However, when their meaning changes, so that a tax is not a tax, say---anything goes: especially, law and order.
The criminals, or inmates, ARE in charge.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:24PM
I don't believe it.
You got one right.
Very right, in fact.
Good Job.
Who Knows?| 7.4.12 @ 10:17AM
Who the fluck do you think you are?
Imagine, YOU, grading me!
TLP| 7.4.12 @ 4:41PM
You're right.
You SUCK.
What was I thinking?
Who do I think I am?
I'm someone who Shits biggern you.
But, you already knew that, didn't you, Dumbass?
JimP| 7.3.12 @ 10:37AM
Terrific recounting of the historical record, Quin. Thank you for writing this column.
This complete recounting also makes clear that one man/woman doing the right thing CAN shape/change history for the better. Which makes Roberts' decision that much more glaringly awful. He alone had the last chance to make a stand for individual liberty after numerous opportunities for others to do the same had been squandered. Adding to Justice Roberts infamy, IMHO, was his language in effect blaming the public for this abomination of a law because we elected the wrong politicians and so he declined to 'bail us out'. I haven't yet come to a conclusion of Justice Roberts' character, but suffice it to say that so far I would not be inclined to go into combat- or any other high stakes situation- with him.
KyMouse| 7.3.12 @ 11:42AM
OT -- Andy Griffith has died, at 86.
I wish that he and Ron Howard hadn't made those pro-Obama commercials in 2008, but Andy was always watchable, even in lesser roles.
If you've never seen "A Face in the Crowd," take a gander at it. Pretty memorable performances by Andy and his supporting cast (including Patricia Neal). He was no good 'ol boy in that one.
RCV| 7.3.12 @ 12:33PM
Andy Griffith also actively campaigned for passage of the Health Care law.
Truth to Power| 7.3.12 @ 1:40PM
A Face in the Crowd is the better role to juxtapose with Andy Griffith's endorsement of one more pyaramid scheme. Mammoth Lake and Stocton are the future of people that think the RCV way.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:25PM
Nobody's perfect.
JmsA| 7.3.12 @ 11:56PM
That figures. May he RIP.
Crassus| 7.4.12 @ 4:47PM
Andy Griffith in real life was much closer to Lonesome Rhodes than he was Andy Taylor. Which just goes to show how good he was on the screen at hiding his real self under a make believe character.
The Big E| 7.3.12 @ 12:38PM
Quin,
You sound like a kid on a playground crying "he cheated!" after losing a game to another kid who was willing to do anything to win.
There are no referees in politics, no umpires. There will be no flags thrown, no whistes blown, no fouls called. The rules are made up as the game goes along.
We can cry and complain all we want about the Democrats' dirty tricks, their voter fraud, their parliamentary rule manipulation, whatever. In the end, they were willing to do those things, to break the law, to rob, steal, cheat, whatever they had to do to win. The Republicans were not, still are not. It's that simple.
JimP| 7.3.12 @ 1:37PM
Its' interesting how people can read the same thing and come away with opposite impressions.
My take on this column is that it is a call to battle.
"...letting its lessons burn with a cold fury in our brains and souls -- a well-considered and purposeful fury that impels us all to do everything necessary to counteract the baleful effects of this abomination, and to make sure such a creature never raises its horrendous head again."
I never realized that "Remember Pearl Harbor!" was taken by some people to be whining about the Japanese not playing fair, because everyone knows that all is fair in love and war.... and politics too.
The Big E| 7.3.12 @ 2:16PM
". . . everyone knows that all is fair in love and war.... and politics too.'
Obviously, the Republican party, or at least its elected officials and pundits, do not. There is nothing new about what went on that led to the passage of Obamacare. Democrats have been stealing elections, playing fast and loose with the rules, and strongarming results for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I can remember, Republicans have been complaining about Democrat tactics, but have been utterly unwilling to either do anything to stop it, or anything to match it. Thus, the Democrats continue to get their way because they are willing to do anything to win, while the Republicans are not.
JimP| 7.3.12 @ 2:50PM
True, but none of that is relevant to my point. What you've done is take something out of context (quoting me) and misrepresent it to try and make an altogether different point. Your point about the failures and flaws with the GOP and too many people in DC is well taken, but that does not make Quin's column just so much whining: or as you called it "... playground crying, 'He cheated'. " From your point of view, Frank Capra's WWII film series "Why We Fight" is playground crying, just like "Remember Pearl Harbor" was. On this, we disagree. Period. I hear a call to battle in Quin's column. He recounts the infamous conduct the same way Capra's films recounted the infamous conduct of our WWII enemies. They are both doing so to educate and remind, as well as to help build up the "cold fury" from the "lessons burned" "into our brains and souls" for the purpose of calling everyone to do battle with the enemy until they are destroyed once and for all- be they Democrats or Republicans of the ilk of Justice Roberts. From your perspective Churchill's speeches during WWII are just a bunch of whining.
JimP| 7.3.12 @ 2:50PM
Quin's words are reminiscent of exactly the kinds of phrasing that Churchill used. I can hear old Winnie saying, verbatim, what Quin has put down on electronic paper. Congratulations, Quin, and thank you for the inspiring words. Therefore Big E, I find your argument unconvincing. Kind of like Justice Roberts arguments about why it's a tax, but not a tax at some times and it's active inactivity or, or, or whatever the heck he was meaning to mean.
So, I'm letting the cold fury build and burn into my mind and soul while 'strategerizing' and 'tacticalizing' what I individually can do to remove replace and prevent this and any other such scourge from the face of the earth. What are you going to do, besides bellyache at Quin?
The Big E| 7.3.12 @ 3:27PM
I'm willing to play the game the way the Democrats do. Are you?
JimP| 7.3.12 @ 3:34PM
If by that you mean lying, cheating and stealing and rampant corruption to take and hold power and deny people their liberty, then NO I will not play the game the way the Dems do. But again, how to play the game was not my point. Are you ready to stop bellyaching at Quin?
Quin Hillyer| 7.3.12 @ 6:11PM
Wow. Thanks! -- Quin
TenthAmendmentNetwork | 7.3.12 @ 1:37PM
In a sense the Supreme Court's decision upholding Obamacare is the perfect complement to the very list of shenanigans that got it passed in the first place. Fraud from beginning to end.
The complete head-scratching SCOTUS decision analysis:
http://www.tenthamendment.net/.....?postid=15
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:28PM
Since Day 1 of His Majesty's Chicago Organized Crime Family Administration.
Anyone Surprised?
Quartermaster| 7.3.12 @ 2:22PM
The decision, combined with the rest of teh "process" that brought it to us, shows how deeply corrupt the entire FedGov is.
The comments by RCV and his trollish ilk show how deeply corrupt that side of the electorate is. Frankly, it's been this way for quite awhile now, and no society has ever survived such corruption.
TLP| 7.3.12 @ 4:29PM
It's a Cult.
Think: Tom Cruise, and Scientology.
Cobalt| 7.3.12 @ 2:48PM
Andy Griffith won't get vote for Obama again, unless it's by absentee ballot.
The Big E| 7.3.12 @ 3:28PM
Since when does death keep Democrats from voting? Republicans, yes. But Democrats? Undoubtedly, Andy will be voting for many years to come.
Bob Grant| 7.3.12 @ 7:09PM
Anyone planning to be in North Carolina around November 6th and would like to cast an extra vote?
JD| 7.3.12 @ 7:20PM
Lots of people actually become Democratic voters when they die (or move out of state), even if they were previously Republicans!
nathan| 7.3.12 @ 3:28PM
These guys knew based on past history (New Deal, Great Society) that if they could get it passed it would stay passed. No major social spending bill has ever been repealed in whole or in part. Show me one element of the New Deal that got blown away when republicans regained control of the government. Name me one Great Society piece of legislation that got repealed when republicans came back into power. Not a one. In fact republicans like to add to these programs. Take medicare. Instead of pushing to get of all or part of it, you have Bush and the republicans adding the drug benefit. And look at the cabinent level positions. Carter added three, Reagan comes in. Now is the time to blow them away. Here we are 30 years later and all three are still there.
And all of you know, rant all you want, that ACA is here to stay. Republicans can rant and rave. But 10 years from now not a single major piece of it will be gone. In fact I guarantee you it will be REPUBLICANS that will be adding to it.
You know I'm right. These guys knew that, BHO knew it, knew all he had to do was get it passed, his legacy was assured. Live with it folks because it's NEVER going away.
JD| 7.3.12 @ 7:07PM
You are right that entitlements are never repealed. That is an excellent reason for opposing their initial creation.
But nowhere does your post actually prove that ObamaCare is a good thing. With good reason.
Purp| 7.4.12 @ 10:31AM
That's because the largest # of recipients of Obomneycare are in the red states and particularly the Old South. Their constituents don't want Soc Sec and Medicare destroyed.
They pay lip service to a lot of rhetoric just to win an election, but they never follow through, because they don't believe in what they say they will do.
Look at Romney - he's such a flip-flopper, they should call him "Flipper". What does this man believe in, really?
alphadoc| 7.4.12 @ 3:50PM
Consider this alternate theory: It was actually the Republican leadership that "got to" Roberts to change his opinion.
The Bushes and Republicans shepherded Roberts through decades to get him on the high court and he owes them for his career. He also seems like an unlikely revolutionary.
We know that many of the Republicans are as Statist as the Dems and also want to control health care. With this opinion they can campaign and likely win on the repeal issue, but then have every excuse not to do so, since it's the law of the land. They can then roll out their "improved" version of central planning.
Crassus| 7.4.12 @ 4:50PM
Or the Republican establishment is taking a chance that upholding Obama Care will in the end lead to the defeat of Mittenz (who's always been their second choice) and thus leave the field in 2016 wide open for their hero, Jebber Boosh.
jgill15| 7.3.12 @ 10:40PM
Quin,
You possess the boldness and passion of a Nathan Bedford Forest and the courage, clarity, and charity of a Lincoln!
Respectfully,
Jim Gill
Gary B| 7.4.12 @ 7:20AM
Mr. Hillyer has done a great job documenting the Democrat-engineered perfect storm that closed the deal on their 100-year quest to take over America. We will be fighting back with the likes of Romney, a Congress full of reach-across-the-aisle RINOs and Roberts. I'd sleep better with Joe the Plumber in charge. What a mess...
Purp| 7.4.12 @ 9:41AM
It's Constitutional, passed by all 3 branches of government, it's the law. 'nuf said, move on.
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 10:16AM
True, AND ADDITIONALLY it will be TOAST when Romney and his Republican congress repeal this piece of governmental health insurance /tax/penalty/welfare next year!!!!!
Purp| 7.4.12 @ 10:51AM
Senator Mitch McConnell disagrees with you - even if they win, they will figure some way to blame the Democrats for not being able to repeal it - secretly, their insurance and Big Pharma masters want this law, and the boys in Congress won't repeal it. They won't tell you that, but that's what McConnell was doing - starting to get you ready for disappointment so you can blame the bad, old Democrats - again.
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 11:33AM
No, McConnell is referring to the Republicans in the House who will pass a repeal legislation bill between now and November. Since Democrats now control the Senate, it will die there but its effect will signal Republicans attempt to what the SCOTUS failed to do. If Romney becomes POTUS and enough Republicans are elected to have 51 votes in the Senate for a reconciliation passing of a repeal of WELFARECARE, it will be TOAST as I said and as Romney as indicated will be his first act as POTUS. It's coming, so enjoy your finite SCOTUS victory complements of Sonya the Pig and Elania the Homosexual!!!!!
Gary B| 7.4.12 @ 12:10PM
Purp,
I hope you're wrong. If I had real money down on this, however, I'd bet on the spread between what Republicans say and what they do will be huge. But, there's nothing new in that, right?
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 12:59PM
All of you liberal domestic terrorists LIE:
'.... Breitbart.com ....This morning, WHAS 11 in Kentucky reported that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated regarding Obamacare’s repeal, “If you thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in this direction, I'd say the odds are still on your side, because it's a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place.” The comment prompted widespread consternation from conservatives concerned that McConnell and Republican leadership might somehow go wobbly in the quest to repeal Obamacare. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News today, Senator McConnell put all such fears to rest. “I have said many times that if I'm the leader of the majority next year, I commit to the American people that the repeal of ‘Obamacare’ will be job one,” he reiterated. “That includes pursuing reconciliation. What people need to understand is that this is literally a fight for the future of our country and Democrats have proven during this debate that they will stop at nothing to protect this massive expansion of government into our lives and our health care. We need to be aware that this will take every ounce of our energy to accomplish.”McConnell went on to explain that the fight would not stop with the election: “Our success is dependent upon the voices of the many who are concerned about Obamacare to get involved and stay involved.......'
Dixon| 7.4.12 @ 3:54PM
I would rather have majority leader DeMitt and Speaker Ryan lead the repeal charge.
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 4:35PM
I would settle for anyone other than Harry-Ars and Nancy Facelift [as long as their Republicans, that is]!!!!!!
Rocketman| 7.4.12 @ 11:11AM
You forgot one. Substitution f Lautenberg for Torricelli in NJ in violation of NJ law. A Democrat activist NJ supreme court felt that the law was less important compared with aving a competitive race that teir party would likely win..
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 11:37AM
'...Newsmax....Conservative fury at the chief justice of the United States, John Roberts, for the Supreme Court ruling declining to strike down the bulk of ObamaCare is misplaced.Some of the more perfervid criticism makes it sound like the law is actually the fault of the chief justice, who merely declined to overrule most of the law, rather than the responsibility of President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and the then-speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.....'
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 11:44AM
'...... As Roberts himself wrote, “Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”On some broader level, the whole episode points to the risks of the way in which the conservative movement, including the libertarian wing of it, has been overrun by lawyers in a less than entirely healthy way.This, as told most usefully by John Miller in his book "A Gift Of Freedom: How The John M. Olin Foundation Changed America," is in part a great success story. Millions of dollars in grants from conservative philanthropists funded the Federalist Society and law-and-economics programs at American law schools, producing cadres of free-market-minded young constitutional lawyers who could progress along a well-defined career ladder of judicial clerkships and jobs in both private firms and, when it was in Republican hands, the Justice Department.
The presence of all these brainy right-leaning lawyers was not without its drawbacks, however.......'
Gary B| 7.4.12 @ 12:19PM
If there was ever evidence the Supreme Court is mostly political, this is it. It seems to be getting closer to the time where we defer to a higher authority... pitchforks and torches.
Before that happens, governors are well positioned to send DC its walking papers, but will they? We'll see. Some promising early signs, but the Big Wimp Out is always possible, even likely. Threats and bribes carry a lot weight. Just ask Jack Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
WallyG| 7.4.12 @ 12:42PM
My frustration comes from the decades long milquetoast, wimplike behavior of the GOP leadership! The aways seem to get caught flatfooted while the dems play their games and dirty tricks and laugh all the way to the SCOTUS! We need sleazeballs like Schumer on our side and congresshacks like Waxman who just go out there and say outrageous stuff but get the party's way all the time! Elections have no effect on the democrats and despite heavy wins, our side is the same scared little puppy that just got taken home! That's not what wins wars, politics or elections! Now we have Romney! Wow! Isn't that just peachy?
Daniel| 7.4.12 @ 12:53PM
Of all the political occurrences that cascaded into the perfect storm of Obamacare, the author left one item out. I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, putting Harriet Myers on the Supreme Court wasn't such a bad idea after all. I don't think she would have caved in to the New York Times in the manner of Roberts.
Dixon| 7.4.12 @ 4:06PM
That aunt Harriet was considered by Bush to be on SCOTUS...as was the sophist Gonzales...explains so much.
Makes me wonder how Alito was ever nominated.
Oldefarte| 7.4.12 @ 4:39PM
Well we have no doubt as to how South-of-the-border-Sonia and her cohort Alternative-Lifestyle-Ailena came to be wearing black robes, now don't we [and it certainly wasn't due to their outstanding physical appearances]??????
truzak| 7.4.12 @ 1:40PM
The inconceivable hurdles this law overcame just confirms for me that Obamacare - like Obama himself - is a judgement by God on a declining and decrepit nation.
And as God's hand is clearly in the passage of this evil and destructive law, you can rest assured it will NEVER be repealed until it has had its intended effect - to create such misery and injustice that the nation will confess, repent, and ask forgiveness of its wickedness.
Of course, that ain't ever going to happen because the people doing the wicked things are never going to repent and ask forgiveness.
So those of us who are trying to live upright will suffer along with the wicked because our leaders are corrupt and wicked - just as they were in ancient Israel before it was conquered and destroyed - taking out the just with the unjust. Sound familiar?
Don't believe me? Think I'm a fanatical religious wacko? You probably also think Republicans will regain the Senate and Romney will win the WH. Here is a clue - Republicans will not be able to "repeal and replace" Obamacare in 2013 unless and until God relents of His judgement. But unless and until We the People relent of our sinful ways, we will endure the nightmare that will be Obamacare. Read the book - it's already been written once before.
Dixon| 7.4.12 @ 4:17PM
Yes, truth was written by John's hand.
How long can a nation that kills it's own babies...calling it a "right"....while stealing from generations yet unborn in the name "fairness"... Long endure?
Another book to read if you doubt the Father's benevolence or his absence of it...is clearly, albeit disturbingly written in the book "Harbinger".
Dixon| 7.4.12 @ 3:40PM
What a depressing chronicle...it reads like a history of a banana republic.
Two additional hideous historical notes:
1. The selection of Roberts the Souter by GW after the thorough "vetting" by Alberto Gonzales...who after the hideous decision said he "agreed with Roberts' ruling.
2. All the waivers granted to socialist cronies and elitists to be spared from the greatness of BOcare for some reason.
Boehner and McConnell should agree to pass a law to outlaw ALL waivers to BOcare if it survives...rule of law thing...you know, equal protection and enforcement...kind of a big deal, Constitutionally speaking.
I would enjoy watching BO defend the hypocrisy to the rest of us serfs....why he and moochelle will be exempted from his healthcare brilliance.
Ron Ackenberry| 7.5.12 @ 5:51AM
That was an excellent re-telling of the fox and sour grapes fable.
Very enjoyable in my view.
"“IT IS EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GET.” -Aesop
Thank you.
Marvin E. Fox | 7.7.12 @ 7:35PM
Aint the two party system wonderful? The one thing we must remember in our present circumstances is: we must get rid of the Democratic Party before we can retrain, reinvent, or reject the Republilcan Party. The Republicans are presently head and shoulders above the bottom of the barrel Democrats/Marxist/socialists/Progressives/therestoftherevolutionaries. A vote against any Democrat is a vote against every Marxist.
Marvin E. Fox
Ray Bacak| 7.7.12 @ 11:14PM
One major thing left out of this article was that Senate Republican leadership had the votes and was filibstering a defense appropriations bill with a strategy of killing time for Obamacare to be enacted before Christmas 2009. Their strategy was broken by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, RINO from TX, thankfully retiring. After she bucked leadership, Sens. Snowe and Collins joined her. After Christmas Scott Brown was elected and the Senate would not have passed Obamacare. NO MORE RINOs!