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The Rise Of Obamacare McCarthyism

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Thursday, December 5, 2013 08:41
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Monday, December 2, 2013 3:02 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Quote:

I've not seen anything like this before," said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "It is just such an interesting phenomenon -- call it anthropological or sociological or pathological. An obsessive hatred with all things Obamacare that has infected everybody on the Republican side. They can't say anything positive about any element of a law that is based on their own fundamental ideas. It means that when anybody says something that could in any way be construed as positive regarding Obamacare it becomes fodder for attacks. ... Conservatives are eating their own."

In a way, the phenomenon is reminiscent of McCarthyism, named after Sen. Joe McCarthy, who in the 1950s accused U.S. government officials and others of secretly sympathizing with communism. But Obamacare McCarthyism takes that to a new level, Ornstein argued.

"Even then it was pretty clear that you had a lot of Republicans -- it was very clear that President [Dwight D.] Eisenhower viewed what McCarthy was doing as appalling," he said. "We call it McCarthyism when you're basically slimed for something you said or did. But even that was different because you had a party that was divided -- not on the issue of communism, but on whether it was fair to [attack people as communist sympathizers]."

The accusations in the fall were so devastating that GOP leaders, against their better instincts, caved and shut down the federal government for 16 days to prove their anti-Obamacare mettle. Three months later, as tensions reach a fever pitch over the law's rollout woes, the McCarthyite insinuations continue to spring up when Republicans profess less than a unvarnished desire to destroy Obamacare at all costs, no matter the likelihood of success or the impacts of the scorched-earth strategy on the lives of their constituents.

A recent target is Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican running for the Senate, who last week told a local radio station that it's not "responsible" to sit back and watch Obamacare "fall to pieces on its own."

"A lot of conservatives say, 'Nah, let's just step back and let this thing fall to pieces on its own. But I don't think that's always the responsible thing to do," he said. "We need to be looking for things that improve health care overall for all of us. And if there is something in Obamacare, we need to know about it."

The conservative pushback was merciless. "Jack Kingston has Surrendered on Obamacare," blared a headline on RedState.com, accusing the congressman of "[c]oming to terms with Obamacare" and insisting conservatives must not "acquiesce" to the law. One of Kingston's Republican opponents echoed the attack.

"Just yesterday, Congressman Jack Kingston wondered aloud on a radio program if allowing ObamaCare to fail is the 'responsible' thing to do," said Rep. Paul Brown (R-GA). "Unlike Congressman Kingston, Dr. Paul Broun is certain that allowing ObamaCare to continue is absolutely irresponsible. Dr. Broun is not trying to fix ObamaCare; he is working to fully repeal it."

Another victim is Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), who is fending off a primary challenge from Liz Cheney in 2014. An outside group called Americans for Job Security last week released an ad attacking him for praising the concept of insurance market exchanges -- the vehicle for Obamacare, which was modeled on conservative principles -- early in 2010. "These exchanges can be good," Enzi said then, in a clip that the ad repeatedly plays.

"Good?" says the narrator in the 30-second ad. "Tell Mike Enzi we don't like these liberal, big government Obamacare exchanges." The attack forced Enzi's campaign to defend him by touting his efforts to "stop the worst parts of the law."

A third -- and most prominent -- target is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Last week his primary challenger, Matt Bevin, spoke of a "rather disturbing trend" in which the GOP leader has ostensibly been working to protect Obamacare, despite claiming otherwise.

"We're seeing yet again the fact that behind the scenes and now with increasing amounts of overtness he's really working actively to ensure that this is not a piece of legislation that is ended," Bevin told reporters.

Despite his ruthless opposition to Obamacare from the get-go, McConnell is the victim of a series of accusations, most notably by the Senate Conservatives Fund, of appeasement and surrender on the health care law. And he has been forced to fight back, with his campaign calling the attacks against him "profoundly stupid."

Erick Erickson, the founder of RedState, explained the thinking behind the scorched-earth activism in a blog post Monday. "We must deny them the opportunity to fix the law itself," he wrote. "Let the American people see big government in all its glory. Then offer a repeal."

Ornstein summed it up this way: "These are the talking points and if you don't apply them, then you're a traitor." He confessed that he's "never seen anything like that before. I mean, you can certainly find party litmus tests," he said, mentioning support for abortion rights and opposition to the Vietnam war for Democrats in the 1970s. "But this has been taken to a level that I think is almost bizarre." More at http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/obamacare-mccarthyism]


Gee, they even look kind of alike...



...and as I remember, McCarthy did what he did specifically to make a name for himself. It's working pretty well for Cruz; are we still that stupid?

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013 2:54 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


It's true idiots do look alike.............

All this vitriol and negative energy has to go somewhere.

Part of the Worst Congress EVER.........only passed 52 laws (lowest ever in America's history).
No wonder they have a 9% approval rating.


SGG

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013 8:47 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two


Quote:

Originally posted by G:
That actually might be a positive considering these clowns.

One law passed was the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014. The government is funded only until January 15, 2014, and the debt ceiling only suspended until February 7, 2014. Another Obamacare crisis is on schedule.

Senator Cruz of Texas will be back on all the TV channels, making a name for himself. Perhaps Cruz will run for President. www.businessinsider.com/why-republicans-love-ted-cruz-2013-5

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013 3:03 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Quote:

Originally posted by G:
That actually might be a positive considering these clowns.


Amen to that!!



Where's Eddie Murrow when ya need him?
Seriously, the mainstream media is a buncha fuckin jackboot licking quislings.

-F

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Thursday, December 5, 2013 8:41 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
Part of the Worst Congress EVER.........only passed 52 laws (lowest ever in America's history).
No wonder they have a 9% approval rating.
SGG



This is a happy stat for me. Had only one law per week been passed since 2000, we'd be living in a much better America today.

The more they fight each other and the less laws that get passed the better off we all are.

The WORST times for our countries are years where the House/Senate/President are all aligned. For every bad bill that has been adopted under Obama's rule, there were just as many bad bills that were adopted under GWB's rule.


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