Rule by tantrum
By Tom Sullivan
In response to yesterday's Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare ... again ... expect Republican leaders to prescribe another thousand cuts. They'll eventually "cure" America of Obamacare the way medieval barbers used bloodletting and leeches to cure patients. They're just folksy, that way.
But first they will pitch a patented right wing hissy fit. If T-Party cannot have Torquemada for Chief Justice, it will at least try to inflict the kind of pain that (it believes) would make him smile:
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) said that his SCOTUScare Act would make all nine justices and their employees join the national healthcare law’s exchanges.
“As the Supreme Court continues to ignore the letter of the law, it’s important that these six individuals understand the full impact of their decisions on the American people,” he said.
“That’s why I introduced the SCOTUScare Act to require the Supreme Court and all of its employees to sign up for ObamaCare,” Babin said.
"Trolling as Governance," as Chris Hayes tweeted. This will be Obama's Waterloo, dammit!
Indeed, throwing tantrums seems to be the best prominent conservatives can manage lately. Whether it is Bill O'Reilly declaring war over criticism of his network's coverage of race, or Sen. Ted Cruz vowing ... again ... to repeal "every single word" of Obamacare.
They have not only a policy problem, but political and image problems. The tantrums keep landing them in corners they've painted themselves into. A new poll, for example, shows that Republican primary voters are uninterested in improving race relations at a time three-quarters of the rest of the country is focused on it:
One-third of likely Republican primary voters see race relations as unimportant to some degree, compared to only 9 percent of likely Democratic voters who feel that way.
"There is a tension Republicans are trying to navigate, and they are really stuck between a rock and a hard place," said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
"You have the majority of the public on one side, but the people who are actually going to vote for them in the primaries are less interested in this particular issue and may have different takes or alternate priorities altogether," he said.
Plus, they need to learn to appeal to minorities before their old, white base becomes one. How's that going, Donald Trump?
The would-be leaders of the future still can't get their heads out of the past.