Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat
That is just political spin. If Dems are so good at predicting the future, why is the Party in the worst shape it has been in 90 years... 
The truth is that Dems got caught with their pants down because they did not think the GOP would pass the AHCA and now they are ramping up their rhetoric to near-apocalyptic tones to try to stop it in the Senate. |
Oh, its more than just political spin and the DEMs are in far better shape than you think; they really haven't had to do anything but stand by the sidelines and watch the GOP and its Congressional leadership keep fumbling the ball, each time its had possession. The main GOP party leadership is very aware of the danger of losing their hold on the House, and less likely, the Senate and are taking what you, and the Trump apologists, refer to as "spin" in mind; they see the problems and are taking them seriously. The GOP Far Right has been virtually writing the campaign literature for the DEMs for the 2018 Mid-Terms. Every time Trump makes an ineptly inane (if not actually insane) action or spouts some absurd gibberish or tweet, the DEMs are just banking it for the Mid-Terms; the GOP Congress is amply assisting in the effort by acting like they have no concept of how the government even actually works (we all know Trump is clueless on the subject). They passed their version of the AHCA without even waiting for the CBO to make public its findings on the House bill. It could be said this very highly irregular action was taken in order to give both the GOP House and Trump some semblance of a 'victory' before Congress went into recess, after having failed twice with their previous efforts; it could also be said the GOP House was extremely concerned, after a previous CBO report on the prior version of the bill showed some very serious detrimental financial, social, and political ramifications, the 'new!! improved!!' version would fare even less well under the CBO's scrutiny and sink the bill yet again. The fact the House GOP leadership was only able to pass the bill by the minimal margin of one (1) vote and, in the process, had twenty (20) of its own party members vote against passage is a strong indicator all is not well in the Congressional GOP, particularly the GOP House. Compounding this is the fact several senior and influential Senate GOP members have expressed grave reservations of the abbreviated, abortive, GOP House actions and have publicly indicated there will be extreme scrutiny and vetting of the GOP House bill, something of which the GOP House leadership is very afraid. The Senate, unlike the House, has far less wriggle room when it comes to any party assembling a sufficient majority to pass/approve House bills in their own chambers; the number of Senate members being even less than a quarter of the total House membership means every single vote does count in a much more important manner than a single vote normally counts in the House. There is also the added nature of the difference in the constituencies between a Senator and a Congressman; House members are elected by a relatively small pool of voters and they tend to pander to whatever are the needs of that pool; Senate members, since each state is only allowed two (2) Senators each, and the Senators are elected, at large, from a pool of
all the voters in their state, have to find a means of addressing the need to give the greatest benefit to the largest number of voters in the pool, regardless of whether all the districts lean towards or against their party, not just a smaller fraction like a Congressman. When a Senator looks at what he needs to keep his seat, and/or achieve his goals, the narrowness of strict party adherence is less of an influence...
The GOP finds itself between a rock and a hard place and all the DEMs have to do is watch the pressure grow. The pressure seems to be getting to not a few of the GOP House members; some faced with a very strong backlash from their districts, have indicated they will not seek reelection and a couple, notably Rep. Jason Chaffetz,
Chairman of the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, have actually announced they will not stand for reelection; Chaffetz is notable because he has come under fire, from all sides, over his 'handling' of investigations into the Trump conflicts of interest and the allegations of Russian influence in the 2016 Presidential election. I guess he doesn't want to be anywhere on the bridge when the House ship hits the iceberg...
Some may have noticed or heard the GOP House AHCA bill exempted Congress from having to abide by the provisions of the Act, unlike the rest of the citizens of the US. This is widely acknowledged as a very risky move on the part of the GOP House, but the reason was not self-serving in the sense of being above the law to be followed by the rest of the nation: it appears the GOP is seeking to avoid a situation where they will need a majority of sixty-one (61) out of one hundred (100) votes, rather than a simple majority of fifty-one (51) votes in order to pass the AHCA through the Senate; just as the GOP Senate was willing to use the politically unpopular "nuclear option" to eke out the votes to confirm Gorsuch to the SCOTUS, the GOP House is willing to take a political hit, in desperation, just to try to ensure any chance of passage in the Senate:
http://www.businessinsider.com/congr...plained-2017-5
So, the GOP's rush to put a "W" in the win column is very much premature:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...re-celebration
If this is a political circus, it seems the GOP are both the 'Elephants' and the clowns...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat
The whole thing is a political circus. The ACA had some good points and some bad points and is nowhere near as bad as the GOP says. OTOH, the AHCA has some good points and some bad points and is nowhere near as bad as the Dems say.
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I do agree with your comments on the ACA/AHCA (surprised, eh?). Something has to be done about the state of health care in the US and the rising costs of medical services and products; the ACA is/was not the best solution, but it was, for the first time in a very long (and long overdue) time, a step in the right direction; the AHCA, in its present GOP House form, is/will not be a perfect solution; somewhere in the middle is a solution meeting the best interests of providers and patients; whichever party fnally realizes that simple fact will have much to gain, but as long as each of the parties is more intent on scoring 'brownie points' against each other than actually doing the work of government, we are probably doomed to more gridlock and misery; a very big reason I don't adhere to any party...
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