The Supreme Court is set to hand down its decision over Obamacare as early as next week, and everybody's going to be talking about it (unless Beiber (Bieber?) breaks his eyebrow again). If you haven't been paying attention, or need a refresher course, here's a handy guide to faking your way through a convo about the Affordable Care Act, complete with a glossary, useful links, handy phrases, drink recommendations and warning lines that you need to make for the exit.
Topic: What will Democrats do if it's overturned?
Read:
The card every Democratic legislator is carriyng around in their pocket, with all the people who have already benefited from the health care law.
Why The Supreme Court Can Only Help Obama, New York Magazine. Money lines:
As James Carville correctly pointed out this week, the GOP “will own the healthcare system for the foreseeable future.” The Democrats can heap the blame for rising costs and every other health-care ill on the Republicans, who to this day have not offered a plausible alternative to Obamacare. Indeed, Carville argues that a court decision against Obama “will be the best thing that has ever happened to the Democratic Party.” That’s hyperbole, but he’s onto something.
Why Running Against The Supreme Court Just Might Work For Obama, Washington Post. Money lines:
Regardless of the reasoning, the declining favorability of the Court does give Obama a potential opening if both the health care and immigration rulings go against him. In the Pew poll, one in three Democrats said that the oral arguments around the health care law made them less favorably inclined to the Court; just 14 percent of Republicans and 16 percent of independents said the same. What those numbers suggest is that while running against the Court probably won’t sway undecided voters, it could well be a potent way for Obama to rev up the Democratic base in advance of November.
What to say:
"This is the last chance for health care reform for the next two generations. No Democratic president will try this ever again."
"This shows the extreme ideological bent of the Supreme Court, and the importance of presidential elections. Who's on the Court ultimately has the power over the policy of this country, which means we need to reelect Obama so we get the next Court appointments."
"By running on the popular parts of the program, and against a Supreme Court that struck down universal health care but gave us Citizens United, Obama can populist his way back into the White House. What economy?"
Things not to say:
"I can't believe Obama didn't push harder for single payer."
"This whole bill was just a hand out to the health insurance industry."
"I was really hoping to see somebody about this rash."
Drink:
Knob Creek, neat Jim Beam. Save your money for emergency clinic visits.
Topic: What will Republicans do if it's overturned?
Read:
Waterloo, David Frum. Money lines:
We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.
Disguising Repeal and Replace, Political Animal. Money lines:
It’s not just a matter of Romney denying the wisdom of his own health care plan in Massachusetts (which depended, BTW, on the kind of generous federal Medicaid subsidies his and Ryan’s budget proposals would make a thing of the distant past) and offering dishonest and threadbare “solutions” to the problem of pre-existing conditions and other shortcomings of the status quo ante. By supporting interstate insurance sales and major reductions in federal Medicaid funding and (for dessert) the herding of people now covered by employer-based policies into the individual market, Romney would make the coverage and affordability problems far worse than they were in 2010.
The GOP's Repeal And Replace Fraud, Washington Post. Key lines:
The truth is that “replace” has always been a fraud, cooked up presumably because a flat-out repeal of health care reform polls much worse than replacing it with some unspecified legislation which would presumably contain all of the popular items in the health lawwithout any of the costs. Since such a bill is impossible, however, the timeline for when the bill will be developed keeps slipping into the unspecified future.
What to say:
"Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha L'chaim."
"The ACA is only unpopular because Republicans have campaigned against it in the abstract. Once the more popular provisions kick in, opinions about the bill will change."
Things not to say:
"Now I can stop taking care of myself."
"Government imposed mandates is exactly how Hitler started."
Drink:
Andre
Next: Did liberals intimidate the Supreme Court?
Previous: What's everyone arguing about?
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