I presume the right wing is foaming at the mouth today over the Chief Justice.
The GOP was getting ready to celebrate. Their spokespersons were at the high Court, waiting for Obamacare to be struck down, ready to come out of the Court and make a prepared statement to the media. "The American people have triumphed and our Constitution is secure blah blah blah."
But no.
The Chief Justice stabbed them in the back. I know my goombah Antonim was foaming. Too bad. He’s a fascist anyway. We Italians know them when we see them. Alito immediately got on the line to the Pope. Clarence Thomas shook his head - he hasn’t made a sound in Court in years.
And then we come to Justice Kennedy. He who was supposed to be the new "swing vote", the key player whose vote could carry the liberal or conservative wings to victory. His swing vote was to replace that of Sandra Day O’Connor. He is more conservative than Justice O’Connor but is considered the most moderate Justice of the conservative wing
Kennedy had the chance to be more than a hack, to make a mark - but no. He was the fifth vote on Citizens United and voted yesterday with the minority. In the end he is just another Reagan appointee and while he has had the chance to rise to greatness, he has not.
It was the Chief Justice who surprised. He found a way. Don’t call it a mandate - call it a tax.
Why did he even bother to search for a way to support Obamacare? Everyone knew the Court was going to strike it down. He knew how he was supposed to vote. I mean, the party was already underway. It would have been so easy for him to vote "aye".
But he didn’t. And now everyone is looking for reasons.
Maybe he was concerned that another 5 - 4 split over healthcare was going to cast the Court in a very bad light with folks. Maybe he is concerned we might think our Justices were just political hacks. Once we come to that conclusion the Court loses all respect in the eyes of millions. Still, the appointment process to the Court has become a political circus, entertaining us every few years.
Perhaps the Chief Justice is concerned that the "Roberts Court" is becoming just another piece of the right wing machine. Maybe he is concerned about having his named sullied or mentioned in the same breath with the likes of John Boehner or Eric Cantor. Maybe he is concerned over the right assuming they have his vote in their hip pocket.
Maybe he was thinking of Earl Warren known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring "one-man-one vote" rules of apportionment. He made the Court a power center on a more even base with Congress and the presidency.
I mean, who was going to remember the Roberts Court other than with contempt?
Or maybe he had a Thomas a Becket moment when he had to choose between being Chancellor of England for Henry II or defending the honor of the church when Henry appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury. Henry assumed Becket's vote would always be with the crown. It was not.
After yesterday I’m sure there are those on the right muttering as did Henry - "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?".
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IceRune
Very Thingish Things
Daniel Rigney
Mary Joan Koch
john guzlowski
Jan Wilberg
Salon.com
Comments
Thanks for reading.
Regards.
Didn't these folks get the message from the CEOs?
Guess not.
PS - I've always been for a single payer system. Medicare for all!!
Just once I wish these Justices or Politicians would stop thinking about their legacies, or if they have the appearance of being Great Men or Great Women, and start thinking of people other than themselves.
Too much preening or sulking, not enough doing the right thing. I'm sorry to be so irritable, it's not you, it's that these people have millions of lives in their hands.
I do admit to chuckling when you wrote "I know my goombah Antonim was foaming. Too bad. He’s a fascist anyway." Just another egomaniac with an insecurity complex frothing and sulking.
Jeeze doesn't anybody understand politics down there? Look guys, one of the righties on the Supreme Court HAD to cross over and vote for that bill. The Republicans WANTED that bill to pass. All their posturing and fretting against it was just window dressing. Politics. Shit folks it was almost identical to one the Repubs proposed FIRST! They only spoke against it because it was proposed by the Democrats. They ALWAYS speak against ANY bill proposed by Dems, EVEN IF IT IS ONE THEY WANT PASSED. They knew perfectly well that they could depend on Roberts to do what he is told to do when he's told to do it.
It serves the insurance companies interests beautifully. They are laughing and scratching today! Bet on it. The insurance companies will coin a mint out of that law. Do you think for one moment that they care who pays for everyone having health insurance that MUST be bought from them? They'll accept payment from the government as quickly as they'll accept it from you! All the care about is getting the money. Heck, you know that.
But here's the problem. That bill is seriously flawed. It enshrines "health care for profit" - HUGE profit for insurance companies, at the same time as it allows the Repubs to block any bill that would upgrade it so as to create a proper health care system. They can look aggrieved when anyone mentions setting up a better system and plaintively bleat, "But you've GOT a health care system; what more can you want?"
The flaws in this new system are legion and you'll NEVER be able to get them fixed now. The Repubs will block any attempt to do that. Moreover, as soon as the insurance companies figure out how to bleed more money out of the system the Repubs will see to it that those changes are made.
If that bill had NOT been passed you'd still have a good chance to get a decent health care bill passed by giving Obama and the Dems a majority in congress. Yes, it would have delayed getting any immediate health care over what you have now. And that would not have been good. But sometimes you have to wait to get what you want if you want it to be done right.
The Republican back-room boys are quietly but joyously celebrating with the insurance company execs right now!
I wish you well with this fake "health care" plan.
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And I thought I was paranoid. Sheesh.
He listed the ten craziest right wing quotes today; here's a few:
“I would SERIOUSLY consider moving to Texas if it would secede from the union and re-form as The Republic of Texas. It has that power.” — Neal Boortz, conservative talk radio host.
“Our freedom of choice just met its death panel: the Supreme Court of the United States.” — Rush Limbaugh, conservative talk radio host.
“This is the greatest destruction of individual liberty since Dred Scott. This is the end of America as we know it. No exaggeration.” — Ben Shapiro, editor-at-large of Breitbart.com.
“It’s well known that Roberts, unfortunately for him, has suffered from epileptic seizures. Therefore he has been on medication. Therefore neurologists will tell you that medication used for seizure disorders, such as epilepsy, can introduce mental slowing, forgetfulness and other cognitive problems. And if you look at Roberts’s writings you can see the cognitive disassociation [sic] in what he is saying…” — Michael Savage, conservative talk radio host.
They sure sound happy to me!
::)
I have always supported single payer - Medicare for all!
I just don't think that any of that was the deciding factor in Robert's vote. I think he was thinking of his legacy. But then again everyone knows I' m a sap.
Regards,
Frank
C'mon man! You can think better than that. You know perfectly well that the insurance companies will NEVER let the Rs kill such a golden goose if - IF - they ever get into a position to do it.
And the Rs also cannot get elected on that platform. Once people get accustomed to having health care - even this shitty kind - they won't elect anyone they think will take it away from them. It has never been the intention of the Rs to stop health care. It was their intention, from the time they proposed their own health care bill, to see to it that their masters in the insurance industry (and they themselves) profited hugely from any such bill that got passed.
And they accomplished that beautifully while staying in a position to blame Obama for any glitches (there's always some in a new program).
Don't make the error of thinking that the Rs aren't devious or clever. They are both. AND well financed. A very dangerous combination. I doubt that either of us could be paranoid enough to meet up with the reality of some of the shit politicians of ALL sides are capable of doing.
;-)
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(1) The decision slightly rehabilitates Robert's reputation -- and the Court's
(2) It also puts the clamps on the Commerce clause, a move with implications for future cases
(3) His vote will provide Roberts a lot of cover
(4) Since the chief beneficiary of the ACA is healh insurers, the decision is consistent with Roberts' history of ruling for the benefit of corporations
(5) Who knows? Maybe he thought it was the right thing to do.
indicates that the acceptance of the Obamacare bill is a far more dangerous Trojan horse than merely basing the ruling on taxes. It could very well destroy te federal government's rights to have any regulative control over free enterprise at all. All the federal control to see that industry is not hugely damaging to basic human rights is based on the Commerce clause and this ruling could undermine that and succeed in the proclaimed desire of the right to destroy democratic representative government entirely.