Are you kidding me? People must be asking themselves.
What just happened? The Supreme Court of the United States let stand “The Affordable Healthcare Act”, a/k/a ObamaCare. The ruling shocked everybody, on both sides of the issue.
However, being taken by
surprise is an understatement. CNN and FOX News both reported that the Court
struck down the ObamaCare mandates. In their haste to be the first to pronounce doom,
they did a SNAFU by broadcasting a Breaking News false report. In the split second, between
false news and its retraction, the world went bananas.
Some news analysts were already touting that this was a blow to President Barack Obama. Then, suddenly, they choked on their words, and begged their viewing audience to be cautious.
Are you kidding me? The FOX
New anchorman tells me to be cautious after he realizes that he was wrong in his
initial report on the demise of ObamaCare mandates. Be cautious against whom, I would ask?
SECOND: The Chief Justice prefaced the ruling by rejecting the mandates on the
basis of the Interstate Commerce Act. BUT SAY NO MORE. The bean-head Twitters are off
tweeting: Mandate Struck Down.
Was Justice John Roberts a wily
fox? Here was a landmark decision that could etch the Roberts Court into
immortal history, and he held the decisive swing 5-4 vote.
He coyly implies that the
legislation may not be good policy, but its legality can stand because of the
authority given it through the legislative process. Therefore, he was NOT
judging the policy of healthcare mandates, he was justifying the law as a TAX.
SURPRISE, surprise. As one
writer puts it, a Lucy-and-the-football
surprise.
WTF? The Twitter world went
crazy with acronyms. Even worse, the Republicans immediately declared war to
repeal the Healthcare Act. And, it did not seem to matter to them that they kill the whole thing in
one swoop.
Mitt Romney told reporters
shortly before noon that he would repeal the law his first day in office if
elected. “ObamaCare was bad policy yesterday, it's bad policy today,” he said.
“Today's ruling underscores
the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety,” House Speaker John
Boehner said in a statement.
Phrases like “first day in
office” and “the urgency” indicates that the battle lines are drawn against the full Patient
Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act.
Had the Court issued a
partial ruling, as many watchers had originally expected, then both parties
would have gone back to its respective Congressional corners and immerse itself in more gridlock. There would be more anti-Obamacare sideshows and rallies
and inflamed townhall meetings.
With the ruling, there was now nothing to nitpick, not even a
thread. The Act is ruled law, and therefore constitutional. What other GOP option was there, short of concession? The impulse is to strike back. But they can only do
so by stirring up more public anger. In order to do that, the public again must be
misinformed and incited.
After all, nobody has read the dang thing. A 1,000-page law is 999
more pages than a simpleton can handle. A false report about it is as good as
the truth when hardhearted minds are set in stone.
