When Bush's prescription drug bill for seniors was passed, many Democrats opposed it because it expressly prevented Medicare from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices. Nevertheless, once the bill was law, Democrats did not try to undermine its implementation.
Which is exactly what Republicans are doing -- not covertly, but directly out in the open -- cravenly and without shame. Ornstein writes:
"But to do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation—which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil—is simply unacceptable, even contemptible. One might expect this kind of behavior from a few grenade-throwing firebrands. That the effort is spearheaded by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate—even if Speaker John Boehner is motivated by fear of his caucus, and McConnell and Cornyn by fear of Kentucky and Texas Republican activists—takes one's breath away."Hundreds of thousands of jobs have already been lost due to the sequester. Predictions are of more than 1 million more lost if it continues into next year -- and that's even if the Republicans don't shut down the government to try to force Obama to abandon health care reforms.
I have run out of words to convey my outrage and contempt.
How many times have we thought: 'it can't get any worse'?
. . . and then it got worse.
Ralph
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