— Lee’s latest fit: Obsession with ACA is farcical — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
Obamacare is here to stay. Congress passed it. The president signed it. The Supreme Court upheld it. States are implementing it. Insurance companies are learning to live with it — with premiums said to be going up 72 percent in Indiana and dropping by as much as 50 percent in New York.
The fact that some Republicans in Congress seem totally unable, or unwilling, to grasp this political truth is alternately farcical and tragic.
The latest tantrum from the lungs of Utah’s junior senator, Republican Mike Lee, falls firmly in the farce category. Unless he actually succeeds in blocking key funding bills that will come before Congress in October, in which case, his efforts will qualify as tragedy. ...
— Mike Lee is only Republican in Senate to oppose student loan deal — Salt Lake Tribune
[This one specifically answers Lee's argument that the delay of the employer mandate should mean its time to give up on Obamacare:]
— GOP misses mark on Obamacare mandates — Robert Robb | The Arizona Republic
... Republicans are trying to score populist points by saying that if President Obama is going to delay the employer mandate under Obamacare, he should delay the individual mandate as well.That’s probably effective political rhetoric. But it’s not a sound substantive argument. The two mandates are only marginally related, operationally or in terms of fairness. ...
— Vandals and Saboteurs — Andrew Sullivan | The Dish
... What stands out to me – again – is the nihilism of it all. A candidate ran for president on a platform for a right-of-center plan for universal health coverage, much more incremental than the Clintons’ proposal, far less statist than Nixon’s, and adopting several conservative ideas – such as the healthcare exchanges which already seem to be bearing fruit in lowering premium prices. He got it through the Congress, was re-elected solidly, his own party won the popular vote in both Houses … and the GOP in the House is effectively threatening to sabotage the economy and the government’s fiscal stability to cut off its funding. What do they intend to do about tens of millions of people without insurance (or more than ten million people living in this country without papers)? Not a single thing – except bromides against big g0vernment that could have been uttered (and were) in the 1980s. ...
— Watch out, Republicans! You’re helping Obamacare succeed — Sarah Kliff | Washington Post Wonkblog
... Republicans have set Obamacare expectations so incredibly low that, if Godzilla doesn’t march in on Oct. 1 and gobble up our health insurance coverage and legions of IRS agents fail to microchip the masses, that could plausibly look like a success. ...
— The Unprecedented—and Contemptible—Attempts to Sabotage Obamacare — Norman Ornstein | The Washington Post
Doing everything possible to block the law's implementation is not treasonous—just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials. ...
— Unworkable ObamaCare — Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker | The Wall Street Journal
... Unworkable. That word best describes ObamaCare. Government agencies in states across the country, whether red or blue, have spent countless hours and incalculable dollars trying to keep the ObamaCare train on its track, but the wreck is coming. And it is the American people who are going to pay the price. ...
— Mr. Obama offers eloquent vision for the middle-class. GOP: Nope — St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial
... here in the Midwest, Mr. Obama was talking as if most congressional Republicans were reasonable people who secretly believed in his plans to strengthen the middle class and not toadies for plutocrats. He said he’d be "calling on" them.
They shouldn’t be called on, they must be called out, by name, every day. The president must lend his voice and his presence to ceaseless close-air support, district by district, state by state, on how GOP policies would hurt the 90 percent of Americans who have yet to enjoy the blessings of economic recovery. He must connect the dots and name names. ...
— Obama comes out strong for the middle class — Kansas City Star Editorial
Why President Barack Obama wanted to get out of D.C. to talk about the economy is not hard to decipher. The Capitol is ground zero of GOP obstructionists. ...
— Obamacare problems: doctor shortage, honor system — Thomas Elias | Los Angeles Daily News
