Here we go again.
And another August recess, another show from the extremely well-funded far-right in town hall meetings screeching about Obamacare. This time, though, it's not going to be about trying to stop it or even repeal it, it's going to be about sabotaging it. The job of Republicans and their moneybags will be to try to convince people that
they really don't want to be insured.
Party officials, political analysts and lobbyists say the coming showdown will mark a new phase in the years-old battle over healthcare reform by shifting the focus from political ideology to specific examples of how "Obamacare" allegedly falls short, just as the administration presses the public on its benefits. [...]
"The best way to get the juices of that right-wing electorate and activist group going is to attack Obamacare - make everything that happens look awful and voters will rebel against it," said Norman Ornstein, an expert on congressional politics at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.[...]
FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, a conservative issue group financed by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, known for funding conservative causes, are planning separate media and grassroots campaigns aimed at adults in their 20s and 30s—the very people Obama needs to have sign up for healthcare coverage in new online insurance exchanges if his reforms are to succeed.
"We're trying to make it socially acceptable to skip the exchange," said Dean Clancy, vice president for public policy at FreedomWorks, which boasts 6 million supporters. The group is designing a symbolic "Obamacare card" that college students can burn during campus protests.
They're obviously terrified at the prospect of Obamacare working. Here's an indication of how terrified they are: There are a number of House Republicans who are
refusing to help their constituents navigate the new law. That's unprecedented, unheard of malpractice by an elected representative.
They also know they've got an uphill battle in convincing people that having health insurance will be bad for them. The fact that they think that not having health insurance is a lifestyle choice they can make "socially acceptable" is evidence of just how far around the bend their irrational hatred of President Obama and his law has taken them. And how out-of-touch with the lives their constituents they really are.