And you as well.

---

~
"You lie!" The Prophet Joe Wilson

I am confused as to why they rushed it. The ACA wasn't introduced until September 2009, after long negotiations with the blue dog Democrats.

Ryan seems to have been more interested in destroying Medicaid than anything else. I don't know how they get a compromise here. The progressives among the Democrats gave a lot to get the handful of holdout DINO's on board. I don't see the same willingness in the tea party Republicans. That may be good or bad, but the Republicans have been trumpeting that they have a better plan for 8 years. Turns out they had no plan at all that they agreed on.

I don't know how you get tea party house Republicans on board with the moderate Senate Republicans. Seems like they are light years apart.

Always more fun to be the party of no than the party that has to get stuff done.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

The reason for this being described as a monumental loss is right there in your statement. Contrary to your claim, we are actually twothousandfivehundredfiftyfive plus days in on this issue (7 years x 365 for rough math). The fact that there is no viable replacement plan whatsoever is a staggering fiasco.

Many of us knew it all along but it should be getting pretty clear to the holdouts and perhaps eventually to the dumb masses at large as well - the repeal and replace platform is a giant political bait and switch (lie, for the truly dense among us). Obamacare is the conservative solution already and it doesn't work because the conservative solution never meant to cover everyone affordably.

We can man up and own the ideology by admitting that we do indeed want the poor to die from preventable causes (and pay for it via increased costs to the system). Or we can man up and admit that a plan that hopes a bunch of private interests will redistribute the costs (which we are not willing to control) equitably is a shitty system.

Your argument that the Dems still own this is shitty too. Yeah, they own Obamacare...so? The Pubs own the decision to do nothing about it and let the "unbearable suffering" that they've been milking for election after election for 7 years continue. I'm not sure if that's getting through to the hardcore supporters yet so I'll try another one. The Dems lit the house on fire. The Pubs are standing at the curb with a working fire truck looking at the flames.

Isn't that pretty much what Trump is saying? "Let it burn".

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Indeed. But that's not what he promised. Some of his voters are inside that house and he promised to extinguish the fire and build them a new house. He may want to claim that he never promised to do that but we know that is not true. Do those poor bastards inside know? I guess we'll see how he skates out of this controversy. Maybe he oughta grab Ryan by the pussy.

Whatever you think of his policies, etc. anyone who thinks he actually gives a shit about other people including those that voted for him is a fool.

They were just means to the end of Trump winning, whether he carries through with his promises to them is neither here nor there. Just wait until his tax proposals come out. I bet like the health bill it's going to disproportionately negatively affect his "base".

But the rich sure will get a hell of a lot richer.

TRUMP 2020!!!

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

And that's how Washington should work. It was better than Obama Care but still a mess. Glad it failed, just like I'm glad Obama Care is now going to implode on itself, forcing both parties to get their collective crap together and do something right, not political for once.

But hey, my guess is you loved the "unity" the Dems had when they all banded together to pass a 2700 page mess which none of them had actually read? I think most people who voted for Trump would rather not see a Republican Congress and Senate run rough shod over everyone just to get what the leadership want. We need a divided Republican Party, much like we need a divided Democratic Party so we have checks and balances within each party. That is what will force Trump and the leadership to do what's right, not what's political.

But hey, the Dems are still lost so I don't expect them to participate. Several are now out in public stating Russia and the U.S. are at war.

 
Indeed. But that's not what he promised. Some of his voters are inside that house and he promised to extinguish the fire and build them a new house.

The bill was also not what he promised.

I agree with most of what you say, apart from the bit where you guess what I loved. Obamacare was ill thought out, misrepresented and jammed through Congress. But the bigger problem though is that the US healthcare industry is so broken that there really isn't a viable fix at the moment. Between the typical battery of expensive tests doctors order to protect themselves against malpractice suits, to the exhorbitant cost of pharmaceuticals, to the insurance companies price gouging and the hospitals over-charging, the whole system is a mess. And we are all losers.

But the bigger problem though is that the US healthcare industry is so broken that there really isn't a viable fix at the moment.

Both parties, and many of their supporters, are more concerned with winning than providing a good plan for the public. Trump is no different. He seemed completely disinterested in the bill and other than saying Obamacare is the worst plan ever and that it would be repealed and replaced on his first day in office, has rarely provided any details on what he would actually do to make it better.

It seems now that Ryan and others in his party lost (not him of course) he realizes this is a battle he might not win so wants to take his ball and go home. He's not someone who would fight a potentially losing battle if there is a chance he doesn't win.

That's what I meant.

No regard whatsoever for his prior statements/promises. Zero.

Was listening to NPR this morning and Jim Hobart, a Republican analyst and pollster, made this comment:

"It's going to be difficult. Look - governing is hard. And I think that Republicans are seeing that after - this is the first time they've controlled all three branches of government since before the 2006 elections. And several congressmen said over the weekend that, look, we've gotten so used to voting no on everything and that being a successful strategy. Now we're going to have to take some time to learn how to govern, and it's going to take some time."


I think someone forgot to tell the House Freedom Caucus to stop voting no. lol
No really; it just amazes me that after 7 years of voting to repeal, it seems like they never came to even a slight agreement on what would come next. Maybe they just thought they would never really get the chance.
Was so hoping to move on beyond the ACA, now that seems to be on the mid to distant horizon.

More like 7 years and 2 months.

"They were just means to the end of Trump winning, whether he carries through with his promises to them is neither here nor there."

I think you're right here. Given his lifetime of being all over the place politically, I don't think the Donald is particularly wedded to any group, and in a way that may be his saving grace, in that he may end up working with moderates from either side to create and pass legislation...any legislation, so that he can call it a win. It's like we elected Charlie Sheen.

Fixed it for you.

Frankly, I'm just amazed that Trump's preferred method of just throwing superlatives at an issue doesn't magically fix it.

He is a good salesman though, I'll give him that.