There really aren't any liars. The moderates who oppose repeal without keeping some parts of Obamacare via replacement have been upfront about that since before the election. They'd vote for the repeal bill, but generally while also saying that they wanted to see some aspects of it kept. And it was an open secret that Republicans in Congress before the election could not get agreement on a replacement bill.
But that wasn't what they have been telling the folks back home who have been clamoring for the repeal of this disaster. From the beginning, some 60% of Americans were in favor of repeal, and while that looks highly unlikely, those same people who were aghast at Roberts' failure to find a penalty for not purchasing a product to be unconstitutional are again aghast that those who voted for repeal when there was no chance of anything but a veto, now will not when there is a chance the bill will be signed into law.
It is no accident that this last election turnouts were execrable, barely enough to rid the political landscape of Hillary for a while. Now another layer of disillusionment has been added for the people who actually thought Mr Smith went to Washington on their behalf.
In the meantime, the 'right' people are laughing over drinks and God only knows what else at the plebeian rubes who put them in office, smugly shoulder to shoulder in slick suits at the 'right' cocktail parties, just living the dream at our children's childrens' expense, and buying votes with your wages.
The supposed "unity" on just repealing ObamaCare and letting the chips fall where they may never existed. This debacle was just confirmation of what has generally been known by anyone looking at facts rather than just seeing what they want to see.
Sure, it existed, it was a lie, but that doesn't mean there wasn't unity.
No, apparently there was no intent to actually repeal the thing, any more than America had a snowball's chance in Hell of seeing it thrown out at the SCOTUS. It is all a charade, typical cherry blossom Kabuki theater for the tourists, for the suckers back home.
That is the reason Ryan pulled the bill. If it had gone for a vote,
someone would have voted for it, and they'd have had some awkward moments at townhall meetings back in their home district explaining that. There would have had to be some pretty serious staging to keep the questions from being asked that just might cost them their jobs.
This way they can hide behind the actions of the speaker.
Trump's willingness to keep parts of the bill enables this nonsense, too. If we had someone in there who would simply say "Send me a bill to repeal this monstrosity", they'd really be out on a limb.
Here is an article from June 2016.
GOP framework for Obamacare replacement is short on details
Seven months before President Barack Obama leaves the White House, congressional Republicans have little more than a white paper to show voters what they would do if given the chance to repeal the health care law that bears his name.
Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday will lay out the House’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare in a paper designed to show voters the GOP isn’t just a party of no.
But the paper — which paints a conservative health policy agenda in broad strokes but doesn’t get into details like dollar amounts, who would be covered or how much financial help they might get — underscores the political and policy problems facing Republicans as they seek to unite around a plan to unravel a social safety net program that is already used by 20 million people.
Twenty million?
Six percent? How many LOST their insurance because of this 'safety net', and how many more are stuck with some plan that leaves them paying multiples of their previous premiums and paying out of pocket for their health care, too?
You mean to tell me that six percent of the American people are what Congress is worried about?
Not likely, not even as a voting bloc.
Which tells me the scammers on The Hill are lining their pockets over this deal. There can be no other explanation for throwing out the 94% of the American people who got the shaft.
Conservative factions have blasted plans deemed to provide too much coverage — such as Scott Walker’s prescription when he was running for president — as “Obamacare Lite.” At the other end of the spectrum, moderate Republicans have criticized plans that offer too little coverage as unsympathetic to people with expensive pre-existing illnesses.
“If you live in the Republican conference … I don’t think Jesus could get everyone to agree on everything,” said Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), a physician who has attended all of the task force meetings on the health plan.[/i]
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/obamacare-house-republicans-224640
Trapped by the false narrative of having to
replace something that has done far more damage than good, that was fundamentally unsound, economically and otherwise,
conservatives Republicans on the Hill have found themselves bound by a Gordian knot of of this program/that program/whose arse to kiss to keep their job, when the actual solution is to cut the damned rope.
The only truly shocking thing is that so many people are shocked that they can't reach an agreement. That's been an open secret for a very long time, covered up by a lot of self-delusion that there existed this great consensus to just eliminate ObamaCare without doing anything else.
The deal was simple. We sent them to Washington to get rid of Obamacare. We didn't want government run health insurance (it never was health
care, just
insurance) because even those of us who were buying our own insurance had a better deal in the private sector.
The basis on which the GOP obtained a majority in Congress was repeal.
They're politicians, they lied. What a shocker!
How damned long are we, the constituents, the voters going to allow those bastards to get away with that?
I have ever been skeptical of the efficacy of an Article 5 convention, but if and when it happens: Amendment
"Every elected office holder in the Federal Government shall be subject to recall election upon petition by 10% of the voters in their home district or State, and be replaced upon the majority vote of those voters to remove them from office, with the exception of the offices of President and Vice President."I'd prefer that result myself, but it's not going to happen. And if people think the midterms are going to be the chance to get a majority of conservatives in both the House and Senate willing to vote for a straight repeal...good luck. That ain't happening either.
No, it won't happen in the midterms. Unfortunately, these scalywags grease their home districts well enough that they'll likely be reelected, even after such an egregious breach of the public trust. If they aren't removed by a primary challenger, they will rely on the fear of depredations which would be imposed by a Democrat majority.
Both sides of the aisle use this fear of the other Party to maintain their jobs.
