Patterico's Pontifications

3/24/2017

GOP Lawmaker: Previous ObamaCare Repeal Votes Were a Fraud

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:09 pm



Yup, this is pretty clear.

If the quote from Rep. Joe Barton isn’t showing up properly in your browser, I’ll repeat it. It deserves to be repeated anyway.

Reporters asked why, after Republicans held dozens of nearly-unanimous votes to repeal ObamaCare under President Obama, they were getting cold feet now that they control the levers of power.

“Sometimes you’re playing Fantasy Football and sometimes you’re in the real game,” he admitted. “We knew the President, if we could get a repeal bill to his desk, it would almost certainly be vetoed. This time we knew if it got to the President’s desk it would be signed.”

That’s about as blatant an admission of political fraud as you are ever likely to see.

Confirming that this was kabuki are Paul Ryan’s and Donald Trump’s reactions. Paul Ryan says they’re moving on from health care. After a very, very, very short effort. Trump is glad he got it out of the way:

Frauds. Charlatans. Liars.

I can’t exit the post without some reminders of how easy it was going to be:

And this:

My first day in office I’m going to ask Congress to put a bill on my desk getting rid of this disastrous law, and replacing it with reforms that expand choice, freedom, affordability. You’re going to have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost, and it’s gonna be so easy.

Con artists.

Today’s lack of a vote was glorious. We avoided a disaster. But giving up now? Unforgivable.

Pass the real repeal you promised.

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

31 Responses to “GOP Lawmaker: Previous ObamaCare Repeal Votes Were a Fraud”

  1. Ding.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. republicans are kinda like pro-lifers

    they love spouting off about their jesus principles

    but they’re never gonna actually

    you know

    do something to save an effing black fetus

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  3. Well they did fully find robertscare in the end.

    narciso (4d15c8)

  4. indeed

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  5. Frauds. Charlatans. Liars.

    POLITICIANS!

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  6. YES!!! Barton is my rep and he’s horrible, this will SINK him in the next election.

    Sean (595ea0)

  7. There are those who have the courage of their convictions and those who are convicted of having no courage.

    This was a glorious day in the further clarity of the sham that is the GOP, and of course, DJT.

    Preach on, Pat! Take a victory lap, or three.

    Ed from SFV (3400a5)

  8. Let’s face the fact that there are a lot of Republicans who love government programs. Both George Bushes were decent men who were just sure that they could make Big Government run efficiently and effectively, and the current POTUS seems to think he can tame the bureaucracy too. The only principled conservative position on healthcare is to get the government the hell out of it and let the free market go to work, but I would wager that somewhere around half of registered Republicans would be dead set against that because they are getting some sort of government help, whether it be Medicare/Medicaid or an ObamaCare subsidy. And we may not want to admit it, but I am willing to bet that a majority in this country would frankly rather have the government make big decisions on their behalf — what sort of health care coverage to purchase, what sort of mortgage to take out, what sort of automobile to purchase, etc. — rather than have to do the hard work of figuring it out for themselves. We’ve lost the battle: America is now a very easily coddled and lazy nation, totally dependent upon the bureaucracy, and there is no going back. Oh well, it was swell while it lasted.

    JVW (5de783)

  9. Next stop: Sanders style socialism.

    JVW (5de783)

  10. We watch Demos vote as a unified block in ’09. But today the GOP was not so much. Some joined an incremental-improvement group and some dissented by wanting perfection.

    Are they all “Frauds. Charlatans. Liars”?

    I would rather say that the Dems who voted in Obamacare are the “Frauds. Charlatans. Liars.”

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  11. The CBO score killed this bill. Sent all the moderates for the exits, and prevented any traction for real repeal.

    But the GOP needed to come to grips with the fact that you couldn’t keep “the popular” parts of Obamacare, because its the popular parts that cost the most money.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  12. But the GOP needed to come to grips with the fact that you couldn’t keep “the popular” parts of Obamacare, because its the popular parts that cost the most money.

    Exactly. I know people who are Republicans and consider themselves “conservatives” who want to keep the provision where insurance companies can’t deny coverage for preexisting conditions, but then they tell you that they are against mandatory coverage and subsidies for low income folks. Hello! How do they think bringing a bunch of already sick people into the system is going to be paid for? I get progressive Democrats being this deluded, but not conservative Republicans.

    JVW (5de783)

  13. This is important only to people who 1) gave a hoot about Obamacare and not because Trump was going to “stop the browning of America and bring back the Second Amendment”, 2) believed him, and 3) supported him, whether with money or votes, because of it. I seriously doubt that there are any people like that.

    nk (dbc370)

  14. To elucidate further, Trump’s mouth-breathers don’t consider themselves fooled. They consider themselves Trump’s co-conspirators in the fraud. Cause that’s “Winning!”

    nk (dbc370)

  15. So many leftists that run as Republicans. We have 2 parties that are one and the same. All show votes.

    NJRob (43d957)

  16. Well that’s certainly part of it, shipwrecked, and like the crowdstrike report it is a tool of practical irrelevance.

    narciso (e1024d)

  17. #ThisIsWhatWinningLooksLike

    Jerryskids (3308c1)

  18. That’s about as blatant an admission of political fraud as you are ever likely to see.

    I bet you go to Kabuki performances and heckle.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  19. shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 3/24/2017 @ 9:44 pm

    But the GOP needed to come to grips with the fact that you couldn’t keep “the popular” parts of Obamacare, because its the popular parts that cost the most money.

    Obamacare is in danger of imploding because the math doesn’t add up, and the math won’t add up without inputting more money (which has to come either from taxes or government borrowing money, where it is taxes or borrowing by the federal government or by the states – it will NOT come, too much, from the consumer paying more) or leaving \some people out in the lurch.

    Even successfully cutting down costs without reducing quality leaves some people out in the lurch – doctors, nurses, hospitals, hospital executives, insurance companies etc.

    Either income or jobs for some people will be lost. This was called by Joseph Schumpeter “creative destruction.”

    Sammy Finkelman (bd89d5)

  20. I heard one pundit this Sun. a.m. say that the Ryan bill was written with more of an eye toward getting through the Senate than getting through the House. Makes sense to me.

    AZ Bob (f7a491)

  21. #NeverTrump opinions and comments are as popular and sought after as a Greek accountant.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  22. I think he wanted to get it through the Senate unchanged, because if anything was changed, there was no need for the House to pass a detailed bill or even a non-preposterous bill ti get the bakll rolling. They could have raised a whole bunch of taxes that nobody is ever going to do all of it, and make some no-chance-in-hxll budget cuts.

    There was supposed to be a Phase 2, which was HHS Secetary Tom Price removing some regulations so that policies could be sold at a cheaper price, which they say may still happen; and a Phase 3 was to pass another bill (after passing tax reform) that some Democrats would have to vote for because now they’d be operating without a safety net.

    Senator Cotton said there is a must pass health care bill coming up anyway this year – renewal of
    CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) so they could put things in that bill.

    Sammy Finkelman (bd89d5)

  23. 10… yes, AZ Bob. Exactly.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  24. Repeal it and try to make the transition away as painless as possible/reasonable. Transition to the market-based solutions and stop the expansion of Medicaid. Think outside the box, e.g., ask Gingrich to chair a working group and come up with a plan or keep it simple and go with what they’d passed 15 months ago.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  25. is repeal really enough for the freedom filth caucus?

    the evidence suggests they’d hold out for more

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  26. koch bros vs donahue & the coc for ever and ever. Trump has no chance to pass his tax plan. Or anything else. The uni-party has control.

    mg (31009b)

  27. Mr. Feets @2, I’m pro-life. I would crawl a mile over broken glass to prevent a black baby from getting aborted.

    Sandra Bullock needs to make a sequel to “The Blind Side.”

    No, seriously, what do I have to fear? From God, a lot. From black babies, not so much.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  28. Unfortunately the vast majority of black women, women in general actually, don’t consult me on their pregnancies.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  29. that’s very dedicated Mr. 57

    very eyes on the prize and all that

    but the freedom filth, they don’t share your dedication

    i think they might be kind of phony baloney

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  30. I can’t speak for others.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  31. A fact.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


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