He’s blowing smoke, but all’s not lost. There’s a reason the Democrats never pulled the plug on funding Iraq even when anti-war sentiment was at a fever pitch: Americans don’t like the idea of not fulfilling their obligations, especially in matters of life and death, which is precisely how the Dems would spin a bid to defund O-Care. If the GOP had the balls to send an appropriations bill like that to The One’s desk, he’d surely veto it and pat himself on the back for protecting all those vulnerable children who’ll be paying for his travesty for decades and decades and decades. But Boehner knows that. Just as defunding was leverage for the Dems to negotiate benchmarks with Bush, defunding could be leverage for the GOP to negotiate benchmarks for O-Care — something the left’s already worried about. Take three minutes and go read Megan McArdle’s post on how the liberal bien pensants who promised us hundreds of thousands of fewer deaths and hundreds of billions in new savings under O-Care are already trying to inch away from their predictions. Frankly, that should have been a core GOP plank all along. You guys seriously believe this unprecedented boondoggle will bend the curve and improve care? Fine: Decide on targets for cost, life expectancy, etc., and insert them into the bill together with some sort of sunset provision that would roll it back if those targets are missed. Democrats would never have gone for that but it would have been a superb talking point. (“Prove us wrong!”) As it is, it should be a priority for a GOP Congress, which would have the leverage to make it happen.