Ah, the GOP replacement plan.
The Democrats passed immigration reform out of the Senate, and an unemployment extension. The Senate Republicans have become quite reasonable. And again, even if they weren’t the Democratic Party needs to put their cards on the table. Are they not bringing changes up for a vote because they know they won’t pass, or because they are afraid they might?
If the Democrats thought the changes would make the law better, and/or make the law more popular, (and, of course, would have a chance at passing), then they would bring a vote in a heartbeat.
… and if there was any chance that Boehner would even allow them to be voted on in the House. Which, as even adaher knows, there isn’t. So, the real-world politics are that making Republican oppositionism a central campaign issue, so that there’s hope of actual progress in the *next *session, is all that can be accomplished today.
News flash: they aren’t going to vote on any changes. They don’t actually support any. They support red state Senators proposing smallbore changes that don’t even address the public’s issue with the law.
THe reason I suspect the individual mandate is the big issue is because polling consistently shows it’s the most hated part of the law.
You’re the one obsessed with the individual mandate. The public at large is not that concerned about it. We already had that fight at the ballot box, and even if lots of people don’t like it, they didn’t care enough to actually vote out the President.
If the public hated the individual mandate as much as you seem to think they do, Obama would have lost in a landslide. Instead, he won very comfortably.
There really was a 2012, adaher. Really. Even if you slept through it.
There was also a 2010, even if you rationalized it away. Sounds like you folks have already decided that the losses in 2014 won’t have anything to do with the health care law.
LOL. Apparently you’ve decided that Obama’s dominant re-election (which was much more recent) had nothing to do with the health care law.
No rationalization is necessary to point out that a more recent election is a better predictor of the next one than a more distant one.
You’re amazing. But not in a good way.
In 2012, the health care law hadn’t affected many people. Cancellation notices and people paying more for insurance is going to motivate voters a lot more than the law existing but not affecting people yet.
What is your explanation for the Democrats’ current polling woes? They had Republicans on the ropes due the shutdown and all of a sudden they ended up in an even worse position than the Republicans had been in? How did that happen?
The Democrats are not in a worse position than the Republicans were in. That didn’t happen.
The Republicans were going to lose 5-6 Senate seats after the shutdown?
What does this have to do with comparing the position of the Democrats now to the Republicans months ago? If you want to make up criteria, then here’s another one – “The Republicans are going to continue to not control the White House in 2014, therefore the Democrats are still in a better position”.
There was a thread here saying that if the election were held after the shutdown, the Republicans were in danger of losing the House.
Now taking back the House is unthinkable and the Senate has a good chance of being lost. What could possibly cause such a change in fortune? Could it be that the issue you wish so much to be settled in 2012 has not actually been settled? Could it be that as people experience the health care law, as opposed to it just being theoretical, that it’s hurting Democrats?
No, and no. The Democrats may be in a somewhat worse position than they were a little while ago, but (contrary to what you said) they are still in a much better position than the Republicans were after the shutdown.
I wonder what their position will look like when the 2015 premiums get announced?
And what will their position look like when the government starts using loopholes in PPACA to harvest citizens for their internal organs? WHAT THEN, PEOPLE???
What will *yours *be? Still nothing more than sniping?
That depends on what premiums for policies outside of the exchanges do. Would you expect them to stay the same?