I see a lot of people on my cable news channels who are against Health Care Reform, including one G.O.P. Congressman who insists that Republicans should not allow the passage of any legislation about anything that does not includes a clause that totally repeals what the Democrats passed in this area. Some of these folks strike me as just interested in the power play…i.e., we're going to show that we can muster the force to neutralize anything Barack Obama does. They seem to have an utter disconnect to the problem that H.C.R. was intended to fix. It's been a long time since I'm seen any of them even pretend to have an alternate proposal…and they're drowning out those who might have legit concerns about how H.C.R. will operate and its costs. It's kinda like, "Obama's major achievement? Well, we have to undo that, whatever it is!"
The other day, I lost my leading "Prominent Republican for whom I still have some respect" when Mike Huckabee, for God-knows-what reason, came out against health insurance that covers pre-existing conditions. During the main debate on Health Care, Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson infuriated many Republicans by suggesting that their proposals for Health Care could be summed up in the following phrase: "Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." That was an unfair summary of most G.O.P. talking points but I'm not sure it doesn't describe Huckabee's position. Nor would "You have a life-threatening condition and no insurance? Well, that's most unfortunate." That Huckabee would take this stand is kinda baffling when you note that even some of the loudest opponents of Health Care Reform like the part about covering folks with pre-existing conditions. I'd hate to think Huckabee just thought he could inch his way back to front runner status in his party by outcrazying the crazies.
This new website is full of non-partisan info on the state of Health Care Reform in this country. It says that at the moment — it could change by lunchtime — the country is pretty evenly split on whether the Health Care Reform that was passed is a good thing or a bad thing. That certainly is not the split I see represented on cable news, not even on the allegedly Liberal MSNBC. (I will believe, by the way, that MSNBC is the left-wing equivalent of Fox when Fox hands three hours of airtime a day over to a host who is as Liberal as Joe Scarborough is Conservative.) In any case, I'd be curious to see some polling on whether those who want to see "Obamacare" overturned would be happy to revert to the old system for the forseeable future or if they're assuming that there's some better plan in the offing. Because I don't think there is. I think there's just the old setup but with much higher rates.