Today has been a very good day for the country as was Monday with the striking down of most of Arizona's draconian SB 1070. The GOP of course will attempt some sort of counter strategy.
They've done well with counter offensives before so don't underestimate them. They managed to with a small minority in 2009 largely hamstring the President's agenda-though he helped them with his unrealistic belief in bipartisanship. This however is a very big day as it goes to the question of judicial legtimacy and precedent. With precedent on their side it will be a much more uphill battle defeating ACA now.
What the GOP is doing mostly is what it always does-when it wins it gloats, when it loses it whines. They actually had, count them, four different strategies depending on today's ruling.
"In a series of talking points obtained by POLITICO, Republicans lay out four possible rulings and detail how their party should respond in each of those cases. Sensitive to Democratic criticisms that they lack a plan to call their own, they will make the case that they won’t enact a 2,700 page law and will instead replace it “step-by-step” piecemeal reforms."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77891.html#ixzz1z6r9dZPR
Yes that would have been a brilliant answer to the charge that they lack a plan of their own-what an answer 'we'll show you by not having a plan'. That's what piecemeal reform would have amounted to.
"By deciding against offering a detailed legislative proposal, Republicans can avoid making the difficult tradeoffs required in developing a major health care plan. Instead, they can rely on a series of well-worn talking points aimed at uniting their party and taking what they believe are their best arguments to voters this fall."
This is just like Romney is running-it's not true we have no plan and we'll tell you all about it after you vote for us. In any case the GOP had a plan coming in today's ruling-actually four plans whatever the outcome-turns out the worst outcome is what they got.
"The document sheds light on a secretive level of planning at the highest rungs of Senate Republican leadership and between the 47-member Senate GOP Conference, in an attempt to create an echo chamber aimed at shaping public opinion immediately after the court issues its ruling on Thursday. The talking points appear to mirror the arguments that will be made by House Speaker John Boehner and Mitt Romney, officials say. And they rehash long-standing ideas and rhetoric that has regularly been espoused by the GOP on health care."
"According to the internal documents, Republicans are prepared for four possible scenarios.
If the law that the GOP calls “Obamacare” is upheld, Republicans will step up their calls to repeal the entire law and make the claim that the law is “making things worse” and hurting small businesses.
If the entire law is struck down, they will argue that the ruling will underscore the need for new leadership in the White House since it “clears the way” to enact “step- by-step” reforms to “protect Americans’ access to the care they need, form the doctor they choose, at a lower cost.”
"If the individual mandate is struck down, Republicans will point to comments made by Democratic Sens. Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman and Al Franken and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer questioning whether the law would work without it. And they will make the same point if the court rejects the mandate along with a series of health insurance reforms, including ones that are popular, such as the prohibition against those with pre-existing conditions."
"Republicans will then try to highlight a series of health care ideas that have long been popular with their party as their preferred alternative, including by allowing small businesses “to pool resources to purchase health insurance” for employees, opening the door for health insurance to be purchased across state lines, targeting malpractice lawsuits against doctors, expanding health savings accounts and giving state governments unspecified “incentives” to lower costs."
Oh well, so much for the road not travelled. They of course will argue that the ACA must be repealed, Romney is already calling for that. The political momentum for this will be weak though, this is going to be a an uphill fight.
Now that the ACA has won something there'll be a bandwagon effect with voters. This along with the Arizona ruling and Obama's immigration executive order all contribute to a positive sense of narrative and momentum. The real problem for conservatives is precedent. Once precedent is set it's not unset. It's the logic of Starve the Beast. You can't allow the people to ever have any positive experience of government because once they have, anti-government arguments don't work anymore.
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