What's The Difference Now, GOP? (with update!)

Prior to last Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, the GOP's main argument as to why ObamaCare is different from RomneyCare was that RomneyCare is constitutional whereas ObamaCare is unconstitutional. Given that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared ObamaCare constitutional, what's the run-of-the-mill Obama-hating Republican supposed to say now?

If GOP Senator Marco Rubio's recent attempt to differentiate the two laws is any indication, the Republicans generally -- and Romney specifically -- are going to have a tough time on this issue. Incredibly, Rubio stated on Thursday (and I'm not making this up):   "[Romney] supported it on the state level, which means if you didn’t like it in Massachusetts, you could move to another state."

If the Republican Party is really going to push ObamaCare as a major issue during the General Election, then it must come up with a better answer than that.  The real difficulty for the GOP, of course, was summed up by Rick Santorum last February when he said with regard to health care:  "The problem is, we have a candidate . . . who is the worst possible person in the field to put up on this most fundamental issue in this campaign, and that is Gov. Romney."

UPDATE: I guess you can place this one in the Holy Shit! category:



Romney and Obama agree! The Individual Mandate is not a tax (starting at 1:26 in video), despite the fact that the entire radical right-wing echo chamber has been screaming for the last several days that it is a tax:

CHUCK TODD (MSNBC): What you just said is that Governor Romney agrees that it's not a tax. But you guys call it a penalty.

ERIC FEHRNSTROM (TOP ROMNEY AIDE): The governor disagreed with the ruling of the court. He agreed with the dissent that was written by Justice Scalia which very clearly stated that the mandate was not a tax.

TODD: So ... I think we're talking around each other. The governor does not believe the mandate is a tax, that's what you're saying?

FEHRNSTROM: The governor believes that what we put in place in Massachusetts was a penalty and he disagrees with the court's ruling that the mandate was a tax.

TODD: But he agrees with the president that it is not, that you shouldn't call the tax penalty a tax, you should call it a penalty or a fee or a fine?

FEHRNSTROM: That's correct.

Let's see how long it takes the Romney Camp to reverse itself on this one.

Historic ObamaCare Quote of the Week (With Updates)

"This was a train wreck for the Obama administration. This law looks like it's going to be struck down. All of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong."

- CNN legal correspondent Jeffrey Toobin, on March 27, 2012.

I hope Toobin learned his lesson on this one, namely, what happens during oral argument in an appellate case is not usually a good indicator of what a court will ultimately decide.

Bottom line here:  The Individual Mandate was a conservative idea cooked up by Republicans, and a conservative court upheld it.  I expect that Mitt Romney will take full credit for ObamaCare any day now.

UPDATE:  And while we're on the topic of historic quotes regarding health care reform, here's what Senator (and legendary Obama hater) Jim DeMint said back in 2007 about RomneyCare:

"Well, that's something that I think we should do for the whole country."

Yes, he actually said that in 2007.  But here is what that piece-of-shit DeMint is saying today:

“I urge every governor to stop implementing the health care exchanges that would help implement the harmful effects of this misguided law. Americans have loudly rejected this federal takeover of health care, and governors should join with the people and reject its implementation.”

DeMint is a flip-flopping, racist, and seditious asshole.

UPDATE II:  This video shows my favorite "reaction" so far to the Supreme Court's health care decision.  Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH), who may be the dumbest person in Congress, originally thought -- thanks to shitty CNN reporting -- that ObamaCare had been ruled unconstitutional. Here is how she reacted when she thought the law had been thrown out:

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Hopefully there is a video out there of how she responded when she learned the truth because I'd love to see it.  I have no doubt the Court's decision ruined her whole day, and that makes me very happy.

And by the way, if you haven't done so already, turn on FoxNews and watch the "fair and balanced" folks on that channel react to the ObamaCare decision.  You'd have to go all the way back to Mussolini's death to find this much sadness amongst the Radical Right Wing.

Republican Tells Truth About GOP Voter Suppression Scheme

This is refreshing:

“We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years. Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."

- Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai.

This Is Hilarious

From Bloomberg:

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign asked Florida Governor Rick Scott to tone down his statements heralding improvements in the state’s economy because they clash with the presumptive Republican nominee’s message that the nation is suffering under President Barack Obama, according to two people familiar with the matter. Scott, a Republican, was asked to say that the state’s jobless rate could improve faster under a Romney presidency, according to the people, who asked not to be named. What’s unfolding in Florida highlights a dilemma for the Romney campaign: how to allow Republican governors to take credit for economic improvements in their states while faulting Obama’s stewardship of the national economy. Republican governors in Ohio, Virginia, Michigan and Wisconsin also have highlighted improving economies.

Oh, and by the way, it is now official: Richard Mourdock is a fucking idiot.

Reverse Birtherism?

At least one Birther is now saying that Obama is an American citizen. Well, I guess that's a step in the right direction:

The top election official in Arizona, fresh off his flirtation with birtherism, has moved on to a strange new conspiracy theory involving President Barack Obama.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett says he’s convinced Obama was born in Hawaii, but he now believes the president fraudulently claimed to be born in Kenya so he could get into college. He also believes the president has spent millions of dollars since then to cover it up. * * *

By the way, a recent poll asked this question: "Which of the following statements best describes your view on whether Barack Obama was born in the United States?" 55.6% of Republicans responded "I have always believed President Obama was born in another country."

In other words, half the members of the GOP are racist. No wonder Republican politicians feel the need to suck up to these folks on a regular basis.

I Didn't Think This Story Could Get Any Better . . .

. . . but it has:

Federal campaign regulators brought the hammer down on disgraced former Sen. Larry Craig on Monday, accusing him of misusing hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash to pay for his legal defense following an arrest in a Minneapolis airport bathroom sex sting. The Federal Election Commission filed a federal lawsuit against Craig, who now works as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., asking a judge to order the former lawmaker to pay back his campaign committee more than $200,000 and stop him from raiding the committee for his own personal use.

This guy should have his own TV show.

This Graph Says It All