Friday, September 20, 2013

Obamacare government shutdown


The Colbert Report
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The Colbert Report
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I like how Sean Hannity (Fox 'News,' of course) claims that it's the Democrats who'll shut down the government (if they refuse to give Republicans everything they want).

You know, we just had an election last year, and the Republicans made 'Obamacare' a centerpiece of their strategy. They lost. They lost bigtime. But now they want to hold America hostage until they get their way anyway?

Isn't this a democracy? You win some, you lose some. But not for Republicans, apparently. To them, if you lose a vote, you just take hostages and put a gun to someone's head. And, according to Fox 'News,' if that gun goes off, it's your fault for not giving in.

Note that these statewide health insurance marketplaces are supposed to begin in less than two weeks. Insurance companies already have their prices set, based on the current law.

Also note that the whole idea here was developed by right-wing Republicans as their free-market, capitalistic, insurance company-friendly alternative to government-run health care. The only reason they oppose it now - their own plan! - is because they've vowed to oppose everything the Democrats try to do.

You know, the Republican Party could have just taken credit for this program. (And, trust me, that's exactly what they'll try to do, eventually.) After all, right now they're terrified that their own program will be popular! How crazy is that?

But they've demonized 'Obamacare' so much that even Mitt Romney was forced to run away from it - his signature achievement as governor of Massachusetts - last year.

I think it's great that their cynical political manipulations are biting them in the ass, but it's not so great what they're doing to America. Or what they're doing to us Americans who, unlike their billionaire supporters, really need health insurance.

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