It seems a rather Quxotic task to try to predict wha tthe GOP will do if the SJC knows down Obamacare subsidies but Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman over at the Plum Line do a pretty good job of it. Here is the latest example over at PL.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/19/morning-plum-koch-brothers-pose-tough-conservative-litmus-test-to-2016-gop-hopefuls/
I consider everything they write about it to be important and worth reading but I will give you the shorter version of what they'll do if Obamacare is knocked down:
1. Celebrate.
2. Promise though that a fix will be put in which will basically fix ACA by killing it.
ExtremeLiberal I think is on to something that if they do succeed in knocking down the ACA this will come back to bite them.
https://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/will-the-supreme-court-kill-the-republican-party-in-king-v-burwell/
But I don't think this matters as they never consider the future consequences of their actions anyway. If they did they would have been sure to pass something meaningful on immigration reform that post Romney's unexpectedly steep loss they had all agreed publicly they needed to do. Yet they didn't. On some level I think they realize their in a race against time and are just trying to draw it out as long as possible.
The ACA fix will go the same way for them as IR went of fixing Clause 4 of the Voting Rights Act. Evidnetly John Robert convinced himself that the GOP Congress would update the VRA if they did this, but that was naively optimistic to say the least.
The very day Clause 4 was struck down, a bunch of Southern states come up with some new voter restrictions.
"Just weeks ahead of a major court case from civil rights groups challenging North Carolina’svoting restrictions, state legislators passed a bill Thursday easing the controversial voter ID provision."
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/06/19/3671820/lawsuit-looming-north-carolina-scrambles-pass-bill-loosen-voter-id-rules/
I don;t thin anyone could accuse me of all people for having too optimistic an opinion of the GOP and what it's capable of, but I must say I find this a little shocking. If anyone isn't shocked here they should be: in NC there is a law that says you can't vote a straight ticket!
Those of us who believe this is a democracy don't live in NC. It truly isn't there anymore. I say this as someone who has voted a straight ticket from time to time-2 guess which one.This was exactly the point of Clause 4. The Roberts' Court decided the need for this was over, that the Southern states play nice these days. It was obvious the Court was wrong but who could have guessed how quickly this would have been shown in spades?
Meanwhile the GOP Assembly leader thinks that the state governments ought to play 'hard to get' with voters and not make it to difficult for them; maybe this is what she does on her dates...
"Like a teenager playing hard to get, if the government were to just make voting harder more people would want to do it, according to California’s Assembly GOP Leader."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/19/morning-plum-koch-brothers-pose-tough-conservative-litmus-test-to-2016-gop-hopefuls/
I consider everything they write about it to be important and worth reading but I will give you the shorter version of what they'll do if Obamacare is knocked down:
1. Celebrate.
2. Promise though that a fix will be put in which will basically fix ACA by killing it.
ExtremeLiberal I think is on to something that if they do succeed in knocking down the ACA this will come back to bite them.
https://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/will-the-supreme-court-kill-the-republican-party-in-king-v-burwell/
But I don't think this matters as they never consider the future consequences of their actions anyway. If they did they would have been sure to pass something meaningful on immigration reform that post Romney's unexpectedly steep loss they had all agreed publicly they needed to do. Yet they didn't. On some level I think they realize their in a race against time and are just trying to draw it out as long as possible.
The ACA fix will go the same way for them as IR went of fixing Clause 4 of the Voting Rights Act. Evidnetly John Robert convinced himself that the GOP Congress would update the VRA if they did this, but that was naively optimistic to say the least.
The very day Clause 4 was struck down, a bunch of Southern states come up with some new voter restrictions.
"Just weeks ahead of a major court case from civil rights groups challenging North Carolina’svoting restrictions, state legislators passed a bill Thursday easing the controversial voter ID provision."
"If Governor Pat McCrory signs the new bill, voters who lack the an ID will still be able to cast a ballot, but only if they sign an affidavit swearing they fall into one of the acceptable categories of reasons they couldn’t obtain a government photo ID: a lack of transportation, disability or illness, lost or stolen photo ID, a lack of a birth certificate or other documents to obtain a photo ID, work schedules or family responsibilities. The voter would also need to present an “alternate form of identification,” the last four digits of their Social Security number, and their date of birth."
"Yet the voter ID provision — which does not allow for the use of student IDs — is just one piece of the sweeping voting law overhaul that the state passed just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a cornerstone of the Voting Rights Act. The law also eliminated same-day voter registration, cut a full week of early voting, barred voters from casting a ballot outside their home precinct, ended straight-ticket voting, and scrapped a program to pre-register high school students who would turn 18 by Election Day.
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/06/19/3671820/lawsuit-looming-north-carolina-scrambles-pass-bill-loosen-voter-id-rules/
I don;t thin anyone could accuse me of all people for having too optimistic an opinion of the GOP and what it's capable of, but I must say I find this a little shocking. If anyone isn't shocked here they should be: in NC there is a law that says you can't vote a straight ticket!
Those of us who believe this is a democracy don't live in NC. It truly isn't there anymore. I say this as someone who has voted a straight ticket from time to time-2 guess which one.This was exactly the point of Clause 4. The Roberts' Court decided the need for this was over, that the Southern states play nice these days. It was obvious the Court was wrong but who could have guessed how quickly this would have been shown in spades?
Meanwhile the GOP Assembly leader thinks that the state governments ought to play 'hard to get' with voters and not make it to difficult for them; maybe this is what she does on her dates...
"Like a teenager playing hard to get, if the government were to just make voting harder more people would want to do it, according to California’s Assembly GOP Leader."
"Rather than supporting steps to ease barriers to the ballot box, State Rep. Kristin Olsen (R) argued on the Broeske & Musson radio program last week that California’s low voter turnout rates are because the state makes it too easy to vote."
"The solution in her mind: make it harder to vote so people want it more."
“It’s just like anything in life, if there’s something you can’t have, you want it even more,” Olsen told the radio hosts. “Maybe we do need to make it harder and that that in and of itself would increase participation.”"
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/06/16/3669994/kristin-olsen-voting-harder/
Right. These laws are meant to increase participation.
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