I?m reluctant to poison the punch bowl as conservatives celebrate Scott Brown?s election victory in Massachusetts. Still, I see at least a sliver of dark cloud in the silver lining as I read the following passage in Karen Tumulty?s latest article for TIME:
As I talked with voters braving the snow to get a glimpse of Brown in the days leading up to the election, the health care issue came up again and again. They were unsettled by the mounting costs of their state’s program and even more so by the process they saw going on in Washington. Rather than being drafted with the common good in mind, they said, the health bill was turning into a series of backroom deals ? a Medicaid exemption for Senator Ben Nelson’s Nebraska, tax breaks for unions, sweeteners for the hospital and drug industries. As a veteran of the Kennedy political operation put it, “They think there’s a lot coming out of Washington ? and none of it is for them.”
The good news in that quotation? People see the problems associated with Massachusetts? state-run health-care program. They also see the blatant political shenanigans associated with ObamaCare.
The bad news? If the ?veteran of the Kennedy political operation? is correct, voters have not necessarily realized yet that any plan for government-run health care is going to be bad.
If the administration, congressional Democrats, and their accomplices in the media can tweak the spin machine to convince people they?ll get a free lunch with health-care ?reform,? some version of that monstrosity might be able to resurface.
ObamaCare?s opponents cannot rest until it?s clear that a vast majority of Americans agree that the entire concept of government-run health care ? not just the details of this current proposal ? is entirely unacceptable.
