CNN: Today was a 'train wreck' for Obamacare

The Examiner /CNN ^ | March 27, 2012 1:03pm | Charlie Spiering

[Semper911]

CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin said that it was a rough day for the Obama administration, as lawyers worked to defend the Obamacare's individual mandate.

"This was a train wreck for the Obama administration," Tobin said. "This law looks like it's going to be struck down. I'm telling you, all of the predictions including mine that the justices would not have a problem with this law were wrong."

Tobin said that U.S. Solicitor General David Verrilli was woefully unprepared in his defense.

"I don't know why he had a bad day, he is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. He was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices," he said.

"If I had to bet today I would bet that this court is going to strike down the individual mandate." he said.

Tobin was not alone in his analysis. NBC's Justice corespondent Pete Williams was also skeptical.

"It would seem at this point in the process that I think it's very doubtful that the court is going to find the health care law constitutional," he said, "I don't see five votes to find the law constitutional."

[RitchieAprile]

satisfied customer for 5 years. if you’re truthful to it,
it will be truthful to you.

[RitchieAprile]

last seen in a strip mall near Texas Stadium.

[Ronin]

Don’t count chickens, etc.

Keep your powder dry and your eye peeled.

[AmericanInTokyo]

We could still be in for a real surprising, sneak attack Pearl Harbor-style that would knock the wind out of us in June. They could say it looks like SCOTUS are going to strike down GoebbelsCare, and then they fool us at the last moment. One of the lib Justices could be letting on Sun Tzu like, that they are opposed, blah blah blah, just for the sake of showing an "open judicial mind", and then vote to upheld as the fix would already be in, such as with Elena Kagan, who should be recused. The Fat Lady has not sung yet. Fallback plan: We MUST elect a solid GOP Senate and Congress to then eviscerate this legislation so that it is essentially dead on arrive come 2014. Stay the course. Pray. Keep sober and don't pop the champagne just yet. These libs don't go defeated into the cold, dark night that easily.

[politicianslie]

GREAT JOB OBAMA!

Apparently you are one of the many Americans who think this clown playing President is an incompetent idiot. To figure out the real answer, let me give you a hint.

His middle name is Hussein. Get it now? He couldn't be that stupid, it's impossible. Hussein is destroying America on purpose. Maybe you can now figure out the rest of the his story.

[Leep]

Apparently you are one of the many Americans who think this clown playing President is an incompetent idiot.

---

No, I have said many times Obama is calculating,manipulative,possibly one of the biggest liers in the known Universe,a radical marxist usurper whose mind is made up of radical marxist usurpery mind rot.
I first started to get a clue when Ted Kennedy publicly embrassed this mealy mouthed weasel.
Otherwise,I would have never voted for Gramps in 2008.
That is why I will not vote for Romney this time around. I still have that creepy feeling that I compromised my priciples to much to vote for McLameO.
Like others the only way I could even bring myself to vote for him is Palin.
In hindsight, wonder how many people, now that Obama has “served” nearly a full term as Present-ident , think maybe Palin would not have been to bad???

[do the dhue]

I think 99 percent of the folks on this site could have told these Jack Wagons that this law was a train wreck.

The funny thing is, like the Congress that passed the law, I didn't read the bill and I could have told them it was a train wreck.

But nobody listens to me...geesh

Thanks for listening,
Do the dhue Oppenheimer jr

[WayneS]

Even worse than the terrible job the president’s SG did, were certain supreme court justices actually trying to assist the helpless clown with his arguments.

There was not even a SHOW of impartiality on the parts of at least two of the four leftist wing-nuts on the court.

[Andy from Chapel Hill]

I think that the SC will vote:

9-0 to allow the case to continue
7-2 that the individual mandate is unconstitutional
5-4 that the law cannot be severed and thus is toast

My premise is that two lib judges will see the light on the commerce clause issue, but hold tight on the severability issue.

[glennaro]

Hey, 'Rats, 1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual

Well recalled, Karl.
All -- Post 21 is worth a quick look.

[mdmathis6]

I think Obama care will be upheld...barely!

[mdmathis6]

I think Obama care will be upheld...barely!

[Lazamataz]

Watch. If it is overturned, the Administration will claim that its a narrow interpretation and proceed as planned.

At that point, passive resistance and noncompliance is the answer.

[HamiltonJay]

You don’t need to be a supreme court justice to know the constitution does not give the federal government the authority to FORCE anyone to purchase a good or service simply because they are breathing.

Its an assinine argument to try to make, and its abjectly shameful that I any Justice would vote for it, but we all know that the leftists on the court will, because the constitution is irrellevant to them.

[fabian]

great!

[riverdawg]

“Without the individual mandate, if they enforce the rest of ObamaCare, the health insurance industry will not collapse, nor will it implode. It will evaporate. Gone in thirty seconds.”

That's why eliminating only the individual mandate will be, at best, a Pyrrhic victory. If the federal government can require insurance companies to cover various expenditures (contraception, wellness visits, mammograms, PSA tests, etc.) with no co-pays or deductibles and individuals can select out of the insurance pool, then either insurance premiums for those who remain in the pool will go through the roof or the companies will stop writing policies. In either case, the federal government will have an “excuse” to move in and “rescue” the health insurance system at taxpayers’ expense by expanding Medicare/medicare to cover everybody.

[riverdawg]

“Mittens could close out Bobo then and there by having a speech ready in which he admits Romneycare was flawed/Obamacare was unconstitutional and Congress must repeal/properly, the states are incubators, not the fed/how do we properly engage the real problem, extending care to the 24 mill who don't have it-won’t get it-too stupid to care, and are clogging up our emergency rooms for the rest of us.”

This argument has been there for the taking by Romney for months now. The only reason he hasn't pursued it is that he is afraid to admit he made a big mistake while Gov. of MA. The “states as incubators” argument was used in the 1990s to develop the consensus around welfare reform. Some states’ experiments worked, and others didn't. There was no shame in having tried policies at the individual state level that didn't perform as expected. It happens in many states with various issues all the time.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It’s a feature, not a bug.

[katiedidit1]

As am I...no telling what Obama is plotting and I am not that comfortable with the SCOTUS. However, the news is truly looking good.

[Monorprise]

“The only thing better than getting Obamacare declared unconstitutional... the knowledge that the Democrats threw away their majority... for nothing ! ROFl”

They gave their supporters more a trillion dollars, instituted repressive regulations of our financial markets, and desecrated our military with the open inclusion of people with at odds sexual orientations to quarter with our troops.