My wife's uncle (a Republican) speaks some truth
Lee T. is a Republican from way back, but one that you can actually carry on a conversation with, unlike most of today's ignorant yahoos. He has taught Political Science at a college in South Texas for several years. We have some good back-and-forth. His email is a little long, but it only took me a couple of minutes to read it. I thought it was well-put.
A few years ago when Sen. McCain was about to be nominated for the Presidency to represent the Republican Party, I told my poli-sci class that he needed to choose a woman, preferably Sen. Snowe if he wanted to win the Presidency whether the Democrats chose Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton in 2008. The reason for that thought process was and still is simple: generally women support the Democratic nominee, while white men support (the majority) the Republican nominee. Basically, Sen. McCain, a moderate and very well-respected Republican, would have easily defeated any Democrat with the right running mate. Instead, he chose Gov. Palin from Alaska who turned out to be not only a right-winger Tea Party type but also exceptionally ignorant not only of national events but also of international events and even world geography.
Many Americans absolutely admire Sen. McCain and were ready to go campaign for him but he ended up choosing a good looking, hot, sexy woman with a very empty brain. He should have chosen Sen. Snowe and right now we'd have a Pres. McCain and not a Pres. Obama. But we can't change history. Even my university students asked me, "where did he find that idiot?" Those were their words. College kids went about 8-2 for Sen. Obama.
Before you give too much credit to a Governor of a Big State like Alaska, Austin, Texas has more people than the whole state of Alaska.
I saw this interview (Former GOP Sen. Snowe: 'This Isn't a Party I Recognize'). Those of us who worked for and with the Republican Party for many years find it disheartening to see such a nice bright lady, politically and philosophically responsible, feel exactly as I do, totally estranged from the new right wing Tea-Taliban-Republican Party. Look what's going on right now in Washington, the minority faction of the Republican Party, the Tea Party, now controls Speaker Boehner and he has shut down the government just to please a few anarchists (protect the Speaker's Chair, his Chair).
These Tea Partiers, starting with Sen. Cruz of Texas, was called out today by several very respected Republicans, including Sen. McCain and Rep. King. "Ted Cruz is a fraud and a con man, he is a liar". These words came from his own colleagues, a Republican nominee for President, and a powerful Republican chairman of a House committee. It's a sad day in American history and in the history of our Republican Party to see one party destroyed by a minority faction of anarchists.
My position is that I will not allow myself to be a slave to anyone's political ideology, particularly when that ideology is an extremist ideology, just like the Taliban.
Thus, what used to be the Republican Party but a few years ago became the Party of No, than the Party of hate, and now the Party of Anarchy. All this is happening for one simple reason, the Republican Right Wing is trying to undo Pres. Obama's health care legislation, his pride and joy which had been tried since 1898 and finally succeeded. They are merely trying to break his trophy legislation and they are willing to destroy the government and millions of American people just to make their point. Of those 800,000 federal employees furloughed yesterday, 23,800 are in San Antonio. Let's not forget the domino effect to our surrounding businesses. Damn, we can't lose the breakfast taco business in San Antone, that's our economy next to the medical and military industries.
The Republicans in the House need to remember and accept the following facts: Mr. Obama was re-elected on the issue of the ACA; He won Romney's state; He also won Ryan's state; He even won the Speaker's state, Ohio; He won the House majority leader's state, Virginia, and he won twelve of the thirteen contested states; He overwhelmingly won the Electoral college. He won. That's it and Republican Tea partiers cannot accept the loss. In political science we call it an electorate and Electoral victory, in Texas we call it an Ass Whipping. That's the bottom (no pun intended) line.
One other reminder, the Republicans vehemently opposed the Social Security program, yet they did not call it "FDR care" and Mr. FDR was elected four times. (There were no presidential term limits at the time) The Republicans vehemently opposed Medicare but they didn't call it "LBJ Care", in fact they made fun of President Johnson. I don't hear one single Republicans trying to legislate to get rid of Social Security or Medicare. The Republicans opposed Medicaid very strongly also but 50 years later we know how important it turned out to be for millions and millions of people, including some of you on my distribution list or some of your family members. Now we have the ACA legislation, improperly called "Obamacare" by the Republicans, and they're trying to repeal it or defund it so it can't operate. That is not going to happen. As of today, 4.8 million people signed into the website to look over or sign up for the program.
People who do not have health insurance overwhelmingly support the program. They didn't have health insurance for one of two main reasons, or both: Insurance companies would not accept them due to a preexisting condition or they could not afford it. The ACA took care of both problems.
I think the President was right in pursing this legislation. I think the Congress was right in passing this legislation. And, I think the Supreme Court was right in upholding this legislation as constitutional. Interesting, it was a Republican Justice who made the majority vote, CJ Roberts.
After you get through bitching at me, or about me, think of the following:
Where would millions and millions of Seniors be today without Medicare?
Where would millions of disabled people be today without Medicare?
Where would millions of Seniors, widows, children, or disabled people be today without Social Security benefits or Medicare?
Where would millions of Americans, especially children, be today without Medicaid?
Ten years from now, ask yourselves, where would millions of college kids/citizens who can't afford or do not get health coverage from parents or employers be?
There is a lot more here than meets the eye, the ACA is merely the springboard for the future of American politics in Congress and who controls future legislation. If you want to hear about it, let me know and I'll explain it to you. But the bottom line is that it's all about future VOTES and who controls the House and Senate for many years to come as happened after 1932. Check your political history books.
Here is my final point as to why Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to the last drop of blood to derail the ACA (Obamacare).
In five to ten years, during which time some 41 to 48 million people will sign up under the ACA. Where do you think their political loyalty will be placed?
= new reply since forum marked as read
and we could have a Sen. T. instead of Cruz. 
How lucky you are to know a knowledgeable Republican...
I questioned whether he was a Republican. Then I remembered a time when Republicans were actually about smaller government and not Looney Tunes like they are today.
I don't agree with the 2008 election analysis though. That election was in an environment where Bush had burned the country to the ground, and no Republican was winning.
But the Obamacare stuff is spot on. They don't really worry it will fail. When has any political party ever worried that the opponents passed a crappy law that is going to fail and hang like an albatross around their neck for generations? Yes, Republicans are trying to save the Democrats from themselves, and in order to do so, they are willing to destroy the American and Global economy. That makes sense. 
In reality, they are trying to save themselves from being the party that opposed a popular law, and that's what it will be. 20 years from now, when Health Care is ubiquitous, they will be on the wrong side of history. They know this already. So the only option is to completely dump the law and start over. It can never be allowed to survive in any form. The reasonable thing to do would be to leave the law mostly intact, and amend issues with it that come up later. Or, even now. The law is far from perfect. If they passed things that changed parts of the law and "fixed" it, it would actually have a good chance of passing and being signed into law. But they can't do that, because doing so would leave Obama with credit, and they can't allow that to happen. That's why it has always been "repeal and replace...with the same exact law." Ironically, they created this situation by calling it Obamacare. He's now tied to it, it will help millions of people. Obviously, hiccups will happen and the law will be modified in the future, but it is now forever tied to Obama, and it will never go away. Obama has his legacy, and ultimately positive one, and that is what the Republicans have been railing against. The law itself is docile. It's what the law will symbolize, a major accomplishment for a Democratic president, that they are trying to prevent.
And a point I've never considered -
NAILED IT !!!!!
is an endangered species
But he is right about her grey matter deficit.
- This is exactly what I said when the bill was passed. And I realized that the Tea Party could be the undoing of the Republicans. And now its all coming true......
