The GOP nightmare, in one HuffPo comment

[Proud Public Servant]

Just signed up at the CO exchange for a plan that will save my family $13,000 over my 2013 costs, without changing insurance companies, without any subsidy, and with improved coverage and lower deductible and max oop. Thanks to ACA I no longer have to take the one flawed plan anyone would sell me: now I have a choice of several plans, every one of which is WAY better than what I could previously get. Thanks to this law my life expectancy is significantly higher than it was last year, and I plan to spend all of the rest of it voting against every Republican I ever see on any ballot.

Whoomp! There it is...as the kids used to say.

[mstinamotorcity2]

1. ACA is for the people.

Medicare for all should be next goal. congrats you deserve quality affordable health care.

[Berlum]

2. "Oh shit. It's good for America. Damn it." - Republicons (R)

[Rosa Luxemburg]

29. Republicans will have 'egg on face' on this one

to have egg on one's face - to be embarrassed by something one has done. (As if one went out in public with a dirty face.)

have egg on your face (informal) - to seem stupid because of something you have done You'll be the one who has egg on your face if it goes wrong

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+egg+on+face

[sakabatou]

39. +1

[Whisp]

3. This should be framed like a beautiful piece of art. n/t

[Cracklin Charlie]

23. Disagree.

Some art is so beautiful that it doesn't even need a frame.

This falls into that category.

Power to the People!

[Cha]

4. Bam!

"Thanks to ACA I no longer have to take the one flawed plan anyone would sell me: now I have a choice of several plans, every one of which is WAY better than what I could previously get. Thanks to this law my life expectancy is significantly higher than it was last year, and I plan to spend all of the rest of it voting against every Republican I ever see on any ballot."

Thanks PPS!

[Old and In the Way]

5. As great defenders of the "Free Market"...

I find it very interesting that Republicans see a market based health insurance model as a threat. The game has always been rigged against the consumer (and there's really nothing optional about it - virtually everyone needs healthcare) because it pits each person, individually, against the HI corporations and their armies of claim deniers-delayers/lawyers. Now that the ACA gives everyone a chance to shop, costs are falling...yet for some reason, Republicans in Congress fear the free market - in this case only. Strange, that. Wonder if their campaign funding was contingent on opposing this law? They've been doing it for over 20 years. I wonder how much this has cost everyone in real money over that period of time?

[Hawaiianlight]

13. Mind control

The only people who actually stand to lose are those tied to the Insurance lobby. The rest respond to the corporate blabber plus propaganda. The truth is slowly rising to the surface in a sea of deceit.

[klook]

16. There are two factors that make Republicans white hot with rage over "Obamacare" ...

1. The "Obama" part, of course.
2. It's a government program that helps people in need.

#1 is simple, as we've discussed on hundreds of DU threads since January 2009. Right-wingers think Obama is the Anti-Christ.

#2 is the other key, I think. Their orthodoxy tells them that nothing the government does can possibly be any good, except intrusions into private morality and the military. But it's more than that. I really believe a lot of them have this Randian/Libertarian view that if you're in need, it's your own fault. And any help you get should come from your church. (What? You don't have one?? Then just die.)

Many on the Right apparently take satisfaction in punishment of the "indolent" by means of the free market's Invisible Hand. When poor people suffer, when government employees lose their pensions, or when the buyers of sub-prime mortgages lose their homes, it's their proof that "the system is working." Of course, many of them don't actively relish this suffering -- more often they're just indifferent to the suffering. If forced to consider the misery, the general reaction is "What do I care? It's not me or my family."

I know you know all this... I'm just scratching my head along with you over their illogic and obliviousness. (And I'm lumping all conservatives into the same mindset, when really there are variations and nuances within the group. But I think this describes the prevailing mindset.)

Sometimes in a paranoid moment, it seems to me that this is just the end game of an elaborate right-wing conspiracy to get the Heritage Foundation's plan in place. But the way it's played out, with all the attempts to stifle "a government takeover of health care," I really think it's more that the RW spinmeisters have manipulated the popular conservative imagination into seeing the ACA as the demonic offspring of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We hear the law described as the undoing of the Constitution, proof that Obama is a dictator, a victory for Marxism, the triumph of evil in this world, and so on.

In a weird way, I have to just stand back and marvel at the ability of the right-wing brainwashing apparatus to convince their flock that a plan based on an industry-friendly model cooked up by a conservative think tank (and implemented by a Republican governor) is somehow "socialism."

And I predict, that like moon landing-deniers, many of them will never believe the successes of the ACA are for real, no matter how much evidence is presented to them.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

20. there are Holocaust deniers too

And there were kamikaze pilots isolating themselves and thinking the Emperor won.

The majority do open their eyes sooner or later. DU members in general pretty much know what's going on way ahead of the rest of the herd. Which is pretty frustrating!

I agree with you too about many on the right wanting punishment of the indolent. The belief that ALL who receive assistance are sitting on lazy asses and want it that way is actually fairly widespread. I've been pretty surprised at how often I hear that sentiment, and from whom.

[Curmudgeoness]

28. Two factors---the Obama part, and the care part. nt

[klook]

42. Yes - nice succinct summation. (n/t)

[Cosmocat]

19. What is always a treat

is watching some idiot republican pol being offered the public forum to spew nonsense being asked by a member of the "liberal media" what the "republican alternative" to the ACA would be and every time, every stinking time they babble about "increasing competition" while the "liberal media" member smiles and approves ...

[1StrongBlackMan]

22. Actually ...

republicans in Congress fear the "free market" whenever it touches the non-investor/non-executive class. For example, they claim free market principle reign when worker wages are depressed ... arguing there is always some worker out there willing and able to do that job for $1.00+/hr less; but they fear that same free market principle that says there is always a CEO out there willing and able to do that job for $1,000,000 less ... European and Asian companies don't seem to have a problem finding them; with better results.

[Half-Century Man]

36. There are 370,000,000 people in the USA

And over 7 BILLION people in the world.
It is mathematically impossible to not be able to find someone to replace every single corporate officer in the world with candidates more skilled and willing to work for a fraction of their salaries.

[Hugin]

37. Yes, "collective bargaining" is probably the one aspect of free-markets they'd most like gone.

But, then that wouldn't really be a free-market at all. I guess in the warped Republican world view the only thing that is allowed to collect and bargain is money and not labor.

[1StrongBlackMan]

44. Exactly ...

republicans like to parrot the "individuals seeking to pursue their individual interests" line in defining the free market; but go quiet when asked to explain why the walmart vendor purchasing model or buyer's clubs, both of which use free market principles to obtain favorable pricing, is good when collective action (unionization) using the same principle to obtain favorable wages is bad.

[kydo]

27. Maybe baggers are the really closet communist?

Obamacare seems more like Capitalism with market places to shop that have of options and baggers hate it. What do they want a one size fits all government run plan? Oh wait that's socialism, but yet I am hearing more about how a single payer would be better coming from the baggers. Talk about identity crisis.

[BlueCaliDem]

51. Nah. Baggers are fascists cloaked in the American Flag. They support Corporate Rule

over the Will of the People - even if they don't even know it.

[Blue Owl]

6. Hey Boehner! Put that in your shot glass and slam it.

n/t

[watoos]

9. He drinks warm wine.

[11 Bravo]

12. So if his below minimum wage earning waitperson pisses in it, he won't even know?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

21. heh! n/t

[calimary]

33. Now wait a minute - doesn't he already do that?

How else does one explain that weird dark-piss-colored skin of his?

[pscot]

7. kick

[ehrnst]

8. One year from now, the GOP won't be calling the ACA "Obamacare"

It will be "The bi-partisan Heritage Foundation health care success story"

[watoos]

10. Just came from periodontist but you made me laugh.

..and Newt will be on Crossfire taking credit for it.

[Old and In the Way]

14. You are so correct.

And the immediate past will all be forgotten by the so-called liberal media.

[The Wizard]

11. And the GOP

breaks out the hemlock.

[NBachers]

34. Please! Fall on your swords already!

What's taking so long?

[hue]

15. Yup!! This IS IT!! K&R!!

[citizen blues]

17. How about a link to where it is on Huffpost?

A source would be helpful.

[Proud Public Servant]

30. Here you go, sort of

This is the story:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/obamacare-signups-surge_n_4384984.html

But there's no way to link to a comment; you just have to scroll through. The comment I cited was made around 3 pm EST.

[citizen blues]

53. Thank you!

[cantbeserious]

18. Kick And Recommend

eom

[ReRe]

24. Saving $13,000 over his 2013 health costs!

Just think what this dad can use that extra $1,083/month for. That's a stack of moola that's going to STAY in HIS pocket, in other words it won't be picked from his pocket by The Insurance Corporation anymore. That's called relief. That's called change you can believe in. I call that just plain ole social justice. And that part in his last sentence about how he's going to vote from here on out is exactly why the Republicans are quaking in their boots.

[mwb970]

25. Any good news like this is Kryptonite for republicans.

They are only happy when they are making others miserable. Sick puppies, every one.

[JEFF9K]

26. Funny they don't report these cases on right-wing radio.

[ffr]

31. "...I plan to spend all of the rest of it voting against every Republican..."

Me too!

No More Republicans! Not one! Not ever!

[bluestate10]

32. $13,000 is a lot of money. That is a serious addition to the kids college funds,

or, a family vacation that the kids will remember for the rest of their lives. And to top it all off, health and financial security.

[Major Hogwash]

35. There it is, indeed!

Colorado will probably go really blue next year because of the ACA once the word gets out more.

[Left Coast2020]

38. Its all happening because of this guy

The GOP's future looks very bleak.

[Hekate]

40. That gives me a warm happy glow all over. Big Kick and Rec.

[47of74]

41. K and R!

[Laelth]

43. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[Left Coast2020]

49. I have to tell you guys and gals, when I saw this pic on Stumble...

...I said to myself, WOW! I froze for a moment because I couldn't believe it.

Friggin amazing.

[niyad]

45. k and r--my hope is that each and every one of these disgusting puke pols, their acolytes,

sycophants, cheerleaders and kool=ade drinkers, receives exactly what they deserve.

[Auntie Bush]

46. I'm going to email that comment to my 2 ReThug brothers who disapprove of ACA .

[Scurrilous]

47. K & R

[JNelson6563]

48. And there will be many, many more just like this!

In spite of the Rethugs' best efforts, those bastards.

Julie

[jimlup]

50. Yep in a nutshell indeed!

This is exactly why they've been beside themselves freaking out over the ACA. They are desperately afraid that it will work.

Unfortunately they seem to have temporarily convinced most of America that they are right. But time will fix that as people start to discover that the ACA can help them and that the horror stories which have been so exaggerated are mostly false.

[Tarheel_Dem]

52. Let's see if these kind of stories get the same kind of play in the M$M that the negative ones did.