Posted on 06/28/2012 1:43:28 PM PDT by Whenifhow
Before you look to do harm to Chief Justice Roberts or his family, it’s important that you think carefully about the meaning – the true nature — of his ruling on Obama-care. The Left will shout that they won, that Obama-care was upheld and all the rest. Let them.
It will be a short-lived celebration.
Here’s what really occurred — payback. Yes, payback for Obama’s numerous, ill-advised and childish insults directed toward SCOTUS.
Chief Justice Roberts actually ruled the mandate, relative to the commerce clause, was unconstitutional. That’s how the Democrats got Obama-care going in the first place. This is critical. His ruling means Congress can’t compel American citizens to purchase anything. Ever. The notion is now officially and forever, unconstitutional. As it should be.
Next, he stated that, because Congress doesn’t have the ability to mandate, it must, to fund Obama-care, rely on its power to tax. Therefore, the mechanism that funds Obama-care is a tax. This is also critical. Recall back during the initial Obama-care battles, the Democrats called it a penalty, Republicans called it a tax. Democrats consistently soft sold it as a penalty. It went to vote as a penalty. Obama declared endlessly, that it was not a tax, it was a penalty. But when the Democrats argued in front of the Supreme Court, they said ‘hey, a penalty or a tax, either way’. So, Roberts gave them a tax. It is now the official law of the land — beyond word-play and silly shenanigans. Obama-care is funded by tax dollars. Democrats now must defend a tax increase to justify the Obama-care law.
Finally, he struck down as unconstitutional, the Obama-care idea that the federal government can bully states into complying by yanking their existing medicaid funding. Liberals, through Obama-care, basically said to the states — ‘comply with Obama-care or we will stop existing funding.’ Roberts ruled that is a no-no. If a state takes the money, fine, the Feds can tell the state how to run a program, but if the state refuses money, the federal government can’t penalize the state by yanking other funding. Therefore, a state can decline to participate in Obama-care without penalty. This is obviously a serious problem. Are we going to have 10, 12, 25 states not participating in “national” health-care? Suddenly, it’s not national, is it?
Ultimately, Roberts supported states rights by limiting the federal government’s coercive abilities. He ruled that the government can not force the people to purchase products or services under the commerce clause and he forced liberals to have to come clean and admit that Obama-care is funded by tax increases.
Although he didn’t guarantee Romney a win, he certainly did more than his part and should be applauded.
And he did this without creating a civil war or having bricks thrown threw his windshield. Oh, and he’ll be home in time for dinner.
Brilliant.
The Dems are applauding for now .... Obama got his Obamacare which turns out to be the booby prize. Roberts chained it around Obama’s neck and padlocked it with a Supreme Court ruling .... the largest tax hike in history. Now Obama, in a horrible ecomony (it’s getting worse, too) will be faced with trying to defend a tax hike despite many, many promises that he will not raise taxes on anyone making under $250K by “one penny, one dime”. Everyone gets hit by this. Folks will ignore terminology like “individual mandate”, but tell them they just got hit with a new TAX and watch the explosion. As one columnist put it ... “the Dems made their bed & the Supreme Court is making them lie in it”. All the Dems running for re-election will have to defend being a ‘tax hiker’. I’m guessing there are no champagne corks popping at the WH tonight. BTW - I don’t think in his ‘victory’ speech after the SOTUS ruling that Obama mentioned the word “tax” one time.
Mary Landrieu got her Louisiana Purchase medicaid extra $ for her vote. Now, with compromise being done on student loan/transportation bill, that Louisiana Purchase is being done away with and LA will get no money:)
It’s unreal how many are writing absurd columns like this today. Haven’t these geniuses yet learned that an activist judge will arrive at whatever conclusion he or she wants? Do they honesty think some supposed new restraint on the commerce clause will hold the activists back in the future?
He gave the federal government the right to demand we buy something by simply calling it a tax and buying it for us. THAT is not a win.
I agree with this. Oh, I’d have liked to see it thrown out, but I really can see the upside.
It’s a tax. That’s why the IRS is enforcing it. A mandate IS illegal, a tax is not.
The Republicans have already raised millions of dollars today. Zero’s people were all set up to run their campaign on the Republicans denying people’s health care. Now it will run on this hugely unpopular law, that every doctor hates, that old folks are already seeing their benefits decline.
People HATE this law, in a bipartisan manner. Rush said it -”Obama is now responsible for the largest tax on the middle class in history”. Everyone knows it is death to the economy, to the budget. Last night Frank Luntz had on a whole bunch of Obama voters who hated this law.
The Senate is now well in play. The only problem I see, is that our Republican legislators, like all politicians, tend to lie their faces off about what they will do when they get in power. They view us as useful idiots.
PS Put my Gadsen flag out this am.
Assuming it’s truly a clever win, he perhaps forgot that most citizens won’t parse their way thru 200 pages of dense legalese. Practical upshot is the government does have an apparently unlimited power to tax not only activity, but mere simple existence - consequences of which will involve more than a brick.
Selling your soul to the devil is a dangerous thing.
Roberts, you Magnificent Bastard?
I agree, Miss Magnolia: the court designated Obamacare a turd that is not unconstitutional on its merits. But a turd it still is. Now the president will have to defend a turd funded by a big tax increase. A big boost for Romney if he’s smart enough to push it.
TC
BS!
When it was being argued before SCOTUS. Obama himself may not have not been in the courtroom, but it was his directive to claim it was a tax before the court.
I don't like the decision, but it does prove what we have all been saying all along - it is a HUGE tax increase. Thus, the Court today declared Obama and the Democrats in Congress are all LIARS.
It’s up to the Repubs to inform folks that it is the Obamatax not Obamacare. They’ll do a good job or a bad job and we’ll see the results in November.
It is not their job to rewrite and legislate from the bench, which is what this is.
We have all lost today.
'John McCain is a genius for rising above the fray and not playing dirty politics.'
'Mitt Romney is a genius for not getting involved in the illegal immigrant argument and keeping the focus on the economy.'
'Roberts is a genius by upholding unconstitutional law so it can be brought back to SCOTUS and semantically declared unconstitutional.'
My favorite I heard today, 'Roberts is a genius and knew what he was doing all along; he just handed Romney the election.'
Question: If an attacker cuts my arm rather severely, does shooting myself in the head with a shotgun so I won't bleed to death make me -
A: A Genius
B: A Complete idiot
C: A Republican
D: Both B and C
Our country, our very way of life is being sold down the river and everyone thinks it's genius.
Yes, I wholeheartedly expect King Romney and his magic underwear to swoop in and save us by REPLACING 0care.
Let's see, under current sheeple logic this makes Romney like super-duper double genius with seventy-eleventy billion IQ points......he created Romney Care in Mass. (that was such a stunning success) so that 0bama and the commies in Congress would later use Romney Care as a building block for 0care, so that it could be used to take over and socialize the American people, so that it would go to SCOTUS, so it could be declared an unconstitutional constitutional tax, so that Romney could be elected President.......?
BRILLIANT why didn't I think of that?
Be no wonder the GOPe doesn't need to pick conservative candidates.......they just need ones as dumb as their constituents; that will call them "genius" on the paved highway to hell.
/rant
“it’s idiotic”
Absolutely.
“The decision kicked open the barn door on a whole new way for the government to impose their will on citizens subjects.”
Yep. No genius here. Only backstabbing.
Chief justice Roberts is a fool. His genius just handed us Obamacare. Now it will be almost impossible to get out from under its thumb. They will start implementing it and once they’ve started, it will not be possible to turn back. Any other interpretation is dilirious.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.