John Cassidy sums up the unexpected little raincloud that emptied on the GOP today:
My oh my, this is fun. Who knew that watching the Fox News Channel could be so enjoyable?
Like certain others in the cable universe, the folks at 1211 Sixth Avenue began their coverage of the Supreme Court ruling by reporting that the individual mandate had been overturned. But then came the realization that John Roberts, the man in whom the entire conservative movement had placed its faith, the man who addressed the Federalist Society’s twenty-fifth anniversary gala, for goodness sakes, had gone over to the other side.
Appearing from his home state of Texas, Karl Rove looked ashen. For a moment, I thought he was going to accuse Roberts of treachery and call for his impeachment by the House of Representatives. Instead, speaking in funereal tones, he described the Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act on the grounds that the individual mandate was effectively a tax as “an extraordinary step.” And he went on:
It is a boost to the President, but it doesn’t make the controversy go away. In fact, it probably enhances the controversy…. Clearly, this will now be a dispute between the two candidates.
Rove wasn’t the only homie in the “fair and balanced” posse who was desperately looking for a silver lining. Bret Baier, a Fox anchor, thought he had found one in the Court’s ruling on the Medicaid provision, which appeared to give the states some latitude. “Can the states opt out” of the entire bill? Baier asked. “That is the key point.” It was left to Shannon Bream, Fox’s reporter outside the Supreme Court, to disappoint Baier’s hopes. No, she said, the language of the ruling wasn’t that broad.
Poor Slut Wallah- all he can come up with is a hysterical Chicken Little lead about the end of freedom and free markets, and canned releases from elected state GOP hacks (oh- and as if to show the utter intellectual vacuity of the SCGOP chatterati, he's got an op-ed up by Paymaster Howard Rich, wondering if President Obama can complete the accusatory ideological circle of the Right by being- a fascist?). And if you like your Christianity ostentatious, self-regarding, and spittle-flecked with rage, Pomp & Punishment is the blog for you this harbinger of the End Times day.*
Waldo is always in favor of participatory democracy: FITSNews is running a poll asking if you support the Obamacare decision. Do weigh in- so far, even the T&A crowd that's his care readership is saying "yes", 56-44.
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*In a characteristically inapt historical analogy, P&P shows The US Capitol Campus' Peace Monument to navy members lost in the Civil War. Grief holds her covered face against the shoulder of History and weeps in
mourning. History holds a stylus and a tablet that was inscribed "They died that
their country might live." Below Grief and History, another life-size classical
female figure represents Victory, holding high a laurel wreath and carrying an
oak branch, signifying strength.
It's just what you'd think of when you think of a great step forward in the provision of universal healthcare to God's US children, eh?
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