Posted on 07/28/2013 6:36:44 AM PDT by LD Jackson
If there is anyone here who really believes the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is a good idea, please feel free to raise your hand in the comments. This monstrous piece of legislation is despised by conservatives, and rightfully so. It was forced down our throats and we have been told we need to learn to like the new normal it is producing. That hasn't sat well with many members of the GOP, thus the many efforts to repeal Obamacare.
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) recognizes that the efforts to disable or repeal Obamacare are useless. In fact, he has went so far as to call them dishonest. This comes from PJ Tatler, via BadBlue.
The Washington Examiner - In a phone interview from his home state of Oklahoma, Coburn slammed a dozen fellow Republican senators who have signed a pledge not to vote for any continuing resolution or appropriations bill that funds Obamacare, which is set to go fully into effect on January 1, 2014. “I’d love to defund it,” said Coburn, a physician who has opposed the president’s national health care scheme from the beginning. “I’d be leading the charge if I thought this would work. But it will not work.” (For details on the problems with the defunding plan, see here.)I am relatively sure there will be many people who will think Tom Coburn is caving on his conservative principles and shying away from the fight. To those people, I would say you obviously do not know the good Doctor from Oklahoma very well. He has never been one to not speak his mind. He has worked tirelessly to stop the waste, fraud, and abuse that is so rampant in Washington. He also has personal experience with government shut downs, as he alluded to in his remarks. He was in the House of Representatives in 1995 and 1996 when the government was shut down. He remembers how the GOP was castigated in the media then. Do you think, with the advent of a much more liberal media caste, that it will not be worse in this era, if the GOP manages to shut down the government, in order to defund Obamacare?Coburn’s case against the proposal is simple: Republicans, having failed to win control of the White House and Senate in 2012, do not have the votes to cut off Obamacare funding. Given that, he sees the defunding proposal as not just wrongheaded but also an effort to mislead conservatives across the country who long to see Republicans stop Obamacare. “The worst thing is being dishonest with your base about what you can accomplish, ginning everybody up and then creating disappointment,” Coburn said. “It’s a terribly dangerous and not successful strategy.”
“You’re going to set an expectation among the conservatives in our party that we can achieve something that we’re not able to achieve,” Coburn continued. “It’s not an achievable strategy. It’s creating the false impression that you can do something when you can’t. And it’s dishonest.”
Even though Republicans don’t have the votes to defund Obamacare, they do have the power, if they choose, to bring the government to a halt. Coburn sees that as a disastrous possible result of the plan. “You’re not going to stop the funding, but what you will do is shut down the government,” he said. “Among that group of senators that has been considering this, I was the only one who was here for that,” a reference to the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996, when Coburn was a member of the House. “The president is never going to sign a bill defunding Obamacare. Do you think he’s going to cave?”
“The strategy that has been laid out is a good way for Republicans to lose the House.”
The House of Representatives has held numerous votes to repeal the bill. Of course, those votes have all been in the affirmative because the Republicans control the House. The Senate is controlled by the Democrats and it is unlikely such a vote will get close to a floor vote while Harry Reid has the leadership in that esteemed body. That isn't even taking into consideration that Barack Obama still resides in the White House and there isn't a chance he would sign a bill to repeal his signature legislation. In other words, we are stuck with Obamacare, at least for the time being, whether we like it or not. That doesn't mean we should just sit down and shut up, but there are limits to what we can do.
As such, I think we should all give Tom Coburn's advice serious consideration. This applies especially to the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Before we can possibly go ahead with efforts to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare, we need to have control of both houses of the legislature. Even defunding isn't going to work because we do not have the votes to pass such an amendment, attached to another bill or standing on its own, much less override a presidential veto. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about it, but it is a fact, nonetheless. Perhaps Tom Coburn is right. Maybe we should reserve our efforts for a battle we can actually win, without bloodying ourselves to the point of death.
Does anyone think that, if the show was on the other foot, Democrats would hesitate to shut down the government and blame it on a GOP president?
Gutless, gutless, gutless. Coburn is a squish. He CLAIMS he wants smaller government, but won't take any tough ACTION to achieve it.
Should we just shut up and accept this and hope it'll implode on its own?
That's the cowardly way out and that's the current GOP regime's talking points.
I am not signing up for any government-run healthcare, and I'm not paying any fines.
I’m not going to get into an argument on Senator Coburn. He talks a good game but really doesn’t fight very hard. Not a single department or agency has spent less this year than last year. And we’ve been running the government on continuing resolutions since 2009, and the minute somebody actually threatens to stop the usual business from happening, the establishment of both parties whips into action to prevent it. And Coburn is obviously on their side. He’s said he’ll only serve two terms. I hope he sticks to that and this’ll be his last term, because the quiet conversations on the floor and the backroom cloakroom arguments have clearly gotten to him.
They’e so afraid of shutting down the government since what happened in 1995. The House has enormous leverage, but nobody ever wants to use it. Fund every bill but HHS or whatever bill Obamacare is in. Then let the Senate sit on them and ride out the pressure. Boehner caved in 2011 and we are now 17 trillion in debt instead of 14 trillion. Brilliant! Great job! How about we try something different?? Oh, no, Senator Coburn’s got his new glasses and said that would be dishonest, so let’s all just roll over then.
I don't care what Coburn has done in the past.
This is the here and now, and it's time for him and the GOP to take a stand.
The House should not pass any appropriations bill that includes Obamacare funding, and Senate Republicans should vote no if it does.
If it does passes without the GOP's help, then the GOP should simply tell people not to comply with the law.
We'll lose the House because enough disgusted conservatives will stay home thanks to Boehner and his boys caving again.
And look at this quote “The president is never going to sign a bill defunding Obamacare. Do you think he’s going to cave?”
Coburn’s an idiot. The House does not have to write a bill saying they’re defunding something, they just don’t have to fund it. Don’t include it in whatever bill they send, or just don’t fund the entire HHS department. Just don’t send that appropriations bill to the senate. Just don’t do it. There doesn’t need to be action. There needs to be inaction. The republicans are going to get blamed and excoriated one way or the other. How about actually getting something out of it instead of just caving. Is there nobody in a postion of power in Washington who can take the pressure??
Have these dishonorable whores and traitors have no shame?
“Lowell, Let Obamacare take root, and then you’ll have the Unions, and all your neighbors helping to pull it out by the roots. Some have to experience it, before everyone sees how awful it is.”
It is designed to fail. When it fails and the people are demanding it end the grand compromise solution will be the single payer government system Obama wanted all along. Those in the business community still contributing to the Republican Party also want a single payer, government run, system so they can eliminate the expense of employer funded health care premiums just as they ditched employer funded pensions twenty years ago. We will hear Karl Rove and the establishment leaders on Fox every night telling us how wonderful single payer will be. It will be just like Medicare..
Senators like Coburn know the real game and the real game is to have a government run single payer system in the US just like Canada and Great Britain. It means more patronage jobs to hand out. It means their business friends will have lower employee benefit costs, it means more lobbying money flowing on Capitol Hill.
The RINO Republicans complaining about Obamacare are as sincere as Obama is when he talks about helping the middle class. They are as despicable as any Democrat. Lying, cheating, immoral scoundrels.
Sorry but I have not ever viewed Tom Coburn as the standard bearer for conservatism in the GOP. Sometimes doing the right thing is hard and thats when the real meal deal guys stand out. We know who they are.
No, Tom, the GOP is dishonest, and I have had enough of you and everyone like you.
What?
If you shutdown the government by defunding the government, how is that not stopping the funding of Obamacare?
Obama canceled part of Obamacare using questionable legality and these Republicans like Coburn never really protested. But let some Republicans talk about legally canceling Obamacare, following Obama’s own lead, and these same Republicans squeal like pigs. Instead of standing up to Obama, they peep at him from a distance.
Obama will veto any bill that he knows defunds ObamaCare, and the corrupt media will blame republicans. When that happens, decent people will lose. The answer? Stealth repeal. Stick the repeal in a monstrous “must pass” bill as it comes out of conference committee. Don’t make it incredibly obvious, and don’t draw attention to it, just do it quietly, dishonestly, just like a democrat would. Then, once it’s signed, point out that that one line in an obscure list of trivia is a repeal of ACA.
Defunding lets the WH that we aren’t giving up on getting rid of this TAX.
Crappy GOP strategy.
I think Colburn is right-every time there’s been a gubmint “shut down”, dems win.
We have 11 senators...( 5 asked for their name to be removed from Lee’s letter) So how’s that going to work?
Let the Obamacare trainwreck play itself out and the rats wear it around their neck. By 2016 people will see what a failure it is.
Totally agree ...
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