ObamaCare losing support—among Democrats who voted for it
posted at 11:48 am on April 20, 2012 by Howard Portnoy
When the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act passed the House in March of 2010, it did so on fumes. Far from the president’s fanciful recollection that the bill was passed by “a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” it limped across the finish line on the back of a slender 7-vote margin. The final tally was 219 to 212, with 34 Democrats and all 178 Republicans voting nay.
The nays have had it ever since. And now the naysayers have grown to include a number of Democrats who voted for it but now see poison in that there bill. According to The Hill, the growing crop of skeptics not to be outdone by their constituents now embraces Reps. Brad Miller (NC), Dennis Cardoza (CA), Barney Frank (MA), Norm Dicks (WA), and Sen. Jim Webb (VA).
Not remarkably, the opinions these politicians are expressing include many of the criticisms that were voiced by conservatives during the lengthy on-again, off-again debate over the bill:
- The nation would have been better off if Congress had dealt first with economy first (Miller)
- Congress should have figured out how they were going to finance the bill before working on the details of the legislation.
- The bill should have been delivered piecemeal rather than as an all-out sweeping reform of a system that accounts for one-sixth of the economy.
The article notes that the law still has its defenders, which include Rep. Henry Waxman (CA), one of the bill’s authors. Then there are those who theorize that a formal repudiation of the law by the Supreme Court would help, rather than hinder, Obama in November.
And finally, there is the president himself, who is quoted as tweeting on Thursday:
An uninsured father with a cancer diagnosis could have been a short, sad story. Thanks to the #ACA, it’s not.
It is inspiring to behold a captain going down with his ship.
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There he goes again — another one of Obama’s infamous Straw Men, this time the “Uninsured (and likely unemployed, thanks to Obama) Father with Cancer Who Would Die if not for Obamacare.” BS, pure and simple.
And to all those Democrats who now are backing away from Obamcare — screw you for screwing us. This remorse is a day late and several trillion dollars short.
natasha333 on April 20, 2012 at 12:38 PM
This is a dog of a bill, which it why it was at the top of Obama’s menu. Feel better now, Demonrats.
Gladtobehere on April 20, 2012 at 1:49 PM