Liberals: Why Won't These Damn Republicans Just Accept ObamaCare?

There's something I hate about liberals and also admire...they NEVER give up. It doesn't matter how many times they lose or are told no, they keep coming back. However when they win, everything must be frozen in stone, unchangeable and never to be questioned.

Take this current JurnoList reaction to continued GOP opposition to ObamaCare.

First, NBC (via Jay Cost who you should be following on Twitter).

*** Welcome to the perpetual campaign: Here’s a thought exercise on this summer morning: Imagine that after the controversial and Medicare prescription-drug legislation was passed into law in 2003, Democrats did everything they could to thwart one of George W. Bush’s top domestic achievements. They launched Senate filibusters to block essential HHS appointees from administering the law; they warned the sports and entertainment industries from participating in any public service announcements to help seniors understand how the law works; and, after taking control of the House of Representatives in 2007, they used the power of the purse to prohibit any more federal funds from being used to implement the law. As it turns out, none of that happened. And despite Democratic warnings that the law would be a bust -- we remember the 2004 Dem presidential candidates campaigning against it -- the Medicare prescription-drug law has been, for the most part, a pretty big success. But that thought exercise has become a reality 10 years later as Republicans have worked to thwart/stymie/sabotage -- pick your word -- the implementation of President Obama’s health-care and financial-reform laws.

And one of Greg Sargent's co-bloggers at the Washington Post.

What are the responsibilities of the opponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? Is it reasonable to undermine it at every step? Several commentators (including me last week, and Brian Beutler today) have argued that there is in fact something unusual about GOP resistance to Obamacare. The pushback from conservatives is to flip the story: ACA supporters are simply seeking to shift blame if reform fails from the law to its opponents. Philip Klein rolled out that argument earlier this week; Patrick Ruffini refined it today:

Shorter @brianbeutler: Republicans won’t help Obama fix the mess he created.

I think that may work as political rhetoric. Well, actually, I don’t think it matters much; if the ACA fails, no one is going to blame Republicans whether they bear any of the responsibility or not. At any rate, I don’t think that’s what those of us who have made the observation about undermining the ACA mean, however, or at least it’s not what I had in mind. My question would be whether Republicans, in undermining the law in order to destroy it, are acting responsibly.

First of all, the idea of NBC accusing the GOP of conducting a "perpetual campaign" in the age of Obama is hysterical in and of itself.

Second, maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly but I seem to recall the Democrats desperately trying to undermine the Iraq war. That they didn't go all out to repeal Medicare Part D is because their opposition to it was that it didn't go far enough (remember "the doughnut hole"?). They were more than happy to take the expansion of government and try and expand it latter (which they did by closing the hole in ObamaCare).

The most ridiculous part of this is the idea that liberals, who are constantly trying to create new laws are upset that people won't accept the supposed status quo.

Imagine for a moment NBC or the liberals at the Washington Post saying, "You know, people who are trying to pass Schumer-Toomey gun control are undermining existing laws. Why can't they just accept that the laws on the books are there and let it be?".

So much of political arguments is about the unstated assumptions underlying the debate. Liberals are much better at managing those than conservatives are. Much of that is because of liberal control of the media. By controlling the ground rules of a discussion, you set the terms under which the debate is conducted and you're halfway to victory before it beings. That's one of the real damages of media bias.

Kudos to conservatives and many Republicans for not playing along. It's clearly starting to bother the liberals.

Oh, I'll start considering ObamaCare settled law when Obama starts acting like it and enforcing/implementing it as written. Until then, it's still very much a live issue.

posted by DrewM. at 10:47 AM

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