Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Bad News For The GOP



A 1993 memo from conservative William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, explains why the GOP waged war on health care reform and all efforts by the Democrats to reform the system.  Here are Kristol's own words about the dangers of a Democratic Party success, and it has nothing to do with helping Americans obtain affordable health care.  It's about political power:



For twenty years, Republicans have feared not that health care reform would fail the American people, but that it would succeed. To put it another way, the GOP was never really concerned about a "government takeover of health care", "rationing", "the doctor-patient relationship" or mythical "death panels," but that an American public grateful for access to health care could provide Democrats with an enduring majority for years to come. 

 But what Utah Senator Orrin Hatch called a "holy war" to block health care reform didn't start when Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009, but instead when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993. It was then that former Quayle chief of staff and Republican strategist William Kristol warned his GOP allies that a Clinton victory on health care could guarantee Democratic majorities for the foreseeable future. 

"The Clinton proposal is also a serious political threat to the Republican Party," Kristol wrote in his infamous December 3, 1993 memo titled "Defeating President Clinton's Health Care Proposal," adding: "Its passage in the short run will do nothing to hurt (and everything to help) Democratic electoral prospects in 1996. But the long-term political effects of a successful Clinton health care bill will be even worse--much worse. It will relegitimize middle-class dependence for 'security' on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government." 

And that, for Kristol, meant it had to be stopped at all costs: 

 "The first step in that process must be the unqualified political defeat of the Clinton health care proposal. Its rejection by Congress and the public would be a monumental setback for the president; and an incontestable piece of evidence that Democratic welfare-state liberalism remains firmly in retreat."  --SOURCE





Happily, the only defeat was Kristol's:




Via Daily Kos:

Eugene Robinson:

It’s all over but the shouting: Obamacare is working. All the naysaying in the world can’t drown out mounting evidence that the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature domestic achievement, is a real success. Republican candidates running this fall on an anti-Obamacare platform will have to divert voters’ attention from the facts, which tell an increasingly positive story. [...] Why was the Affordable Care Act so desperately needed? Because without it, 54 million Americans would currently have no health insurance. Within three years, according to the CBO, Obamacare will have slashed the problem nearly in half.

 Jason Millman at The Washington Post:

The health-care law's expansion of insurance coverage will cost $104 billion less than projected over the next decade, according to revised estimates from nonpartisan budget analysts Monday. Obamacare's lower-than-expected costs will come largely because premiums will be cheaper than previously thought. [...] The CBO report points out that it previously thought Obamacare's exchange plans would look more like employer-based coverage, but that hasn't turned out to be the case so far — hence, the cheaper premiums. "The plans being offered through the exchanges this year appear to have, in general, lower payment rates for providers, narrower networks of providers, and tighter management of their subscribers’ use of health care than employment-based plans," CBO wrote.

8 comments:

Infidel753 said...

Of course there's still a lot of work to be done in the area of overcoming the vast accumulation of Republican lies which have worked their way into the mass public minds. It's said that justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done; in the same way, Obamacare must not only be working, but must be seen to be working.

That's the Democratic party's task this year -- to make sure the success is widely understood. Once that's done, the Republicans are stuck. Their commitment to the meme of failure has been so high-profile and histrionic that they can't change course.

BB-Idaho said...

Kristol was a 'former Quayle chief of staff'? Dang, what an
embarrassing credential!!

Dave Miller said...

I'll try and be careful with my words so they don't get used somewhere else to mischaracterize me and others here.

BB... great line.

Shaw, regarding Kristol... I would expect something like this from him, as a political strategist. His job is to think about how the GOP can win elections.

As such, at least for me, there's nothing necessarily nefarious about what he said. He was 100% correct, politically.

The GOP has a vision on what will help the middle class. It may, or may not work. As do the Dems, and theirs may of not work.

I am sure if we were to find an old Bob Shrum memo from the past, he might have said similar things from his perspective as a Dem operative.

Regarding the ACA, as I've said before, it has been a Godsend for me and my wife. And yet, I can totally understand the argument that wonders if we can sustain it monetarily.

Costs for premiums are scheduled to increase dramatically over the next 10 years, doubling according to some estimates.

Those are legit concerns that must be dealt with.

But history shows me that the Dems are not very imaginative in their thinking.

Rarely do Dems think about cutting real spending, as opposed to the rate of growth, to meet financial goals. Just as the GOP rarely sees a need for any tax increases unless it is to fund the military.

Les Carpenter said...

Those who place place their trust entirely with conservative OR progressive views will always be in danger. And neither will know why or how. Nor will they likely care.

okjimm said...

BB IDAHO....embarassement? hmmmmm...to Quayle or Kristol?

Infidel...well, there are at least 10 million who will talk about it. AND...I am hearing from nominally conservative folks who have gotten better deals, or lower deductibles off of the exchange than they did from their previous carrier. I hope the word keeps spreading.

okjimm said...

Dave Miller... cost estimates are
decreasing
http://acasignups.net/14/04/14/cbo-report-aca-will-cost-100b-less-expected-premiums-only-slightly-next-year

...part of the problem in Health Care Costs was an inflation caused by private insurance companies...bloated, inefficient and, well, greedy.

Infidel753 said...

It's encouraging that one of the biggest Obamacare success stories has been Kentucky, with almost half a million people newly insured there. The Kentucky Senate election is expected to be close. Let's hope that those people are motivated to vote as a result of their improved circumstances.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Infidel753: "Their [GOP] commitment to the meme of failure has been so high-profile and histrionic that they can't change course."


Yes. And when people keep calling it "Obamacare," the Goopers will be the first to try to take credit away from Mr. Obama.

"BB-Idaho said...
Kristol was a 'former Quayle chief of staff'? Dang, what an
embarrassing credential!!"


Kristol was also among the GOP "bright lights" who went to Alaska and sought out Mrs. Palin. Afterwards, he sang her praises and thought she'd be a winner for the GOP ticket. EPIC FAIL!

"Dave Miller said...
I'll try and be careful with my words so they don't get used somewhere else to mischaracterize me and others here."

Well someone pointed out the dishonesty of the person who posted skudrunner's comment on the conservative blog and attributed it to you. That correction was deleted, and the misattributed one remains. It's pretty apparent that they prefer lies to truth. No surprise there.



Rational Nation USA said...
Those who place place their trust entirely with conservative OR progressive views will always be in danger. And neither will know why or how. Nor will they likely care.

Don't know anyone who places "their trust entirely" with any political party's view.

okjimm said...
BB IDAHO....embarassement? hmmmmm...to Quayle or Kristol?

How about embarrassement to the country?

Infidel...well, there are at least 10 million who will talk about it. AND...I am hearing from nominally conservative folks who have gotten better deals, or lower deductibles off of the exchange than they did from their previous carrier. I hope the word keeps spreading".

That's their recurring nightmare; that the ACA will succeed by helping Americans.

"okjimm said...

...part of the problem in Health Care Costs was an inflation caused by private insurance companies...bloated, inefficient and, well, greedy."

Yep.


"Infidel753 said...
It's encouraging that one of the biggest Obamacare success stories has been Kentucky, with almost half a million people newly insured there. The Kentucky Senate election is expected to be close. Let's hope that those people are motivated to vote as a result of their improved circumstances."

Unfortunately, a lot of those people are used to voting against their own self interests. Bad habits are difficult to break.