Health Care’s Ugly Losers Blame Antichrist

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=ajfAwWBbcYRM

Health Care’s Ugly Losers Blame Antichrist
Commentary by Margaret Carlson


March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Democrats won their health-care victory ugly, after a yearlong, fractious, uninspiring process filled with rancid deals and worse compromises, redeemed only by the moment when they actually delivered reform to the country.

Republicans lost even uglier, not so much in opposition as in sullen, lockstep refusal to consider any reforms, even ones they were previously for, like cutting waste and fraud from Medicare.

Which would you rather brandish at a town hall meeting? A vote to contain the insurance companies, or a vote to let them have their way?

The fixes that will take effect before the midterm election include bans on excluding children from coverage because of preexisting conditions and on canceling policies when someone gets sick. Dependents will be permitted to stay on a policy until they’re 26. A favorite Republican constituency, small businesses, gets help purchasing insurance for their employees. Seniors get $250 toward closing a loophole in their Medicare prescription-drug coverage.

After voters have their say in November, Republicans may look back on all the dire warnings they issued about certain defeat and realize they were talking about themselves.

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If and when they have to govern again, sane Republicans will find there’s a cost to being pulled down to the level of the haters, since it undermines the ability to lead.

The Harris Poll today releases the results of an online survey of 2,320 Americans as the health-care battle raged. As John Avlon reported yesterday on the Daily Beast Web site, it found that 67 percent of Republicans believe that Obama is a socialist -- and that’s one of the more benign results.

Some 38 percent of Republicans say that Obama is “doing many of the things that Hitler did.” A stunning 24 percent say that Obama “may be the Antichrist.”

Maybe they will see they’ve gone too far. I can’t picture John Boehner campaigning against an Antichrist who gave Grandma a $250 rebate or let junior remain on his parents’ insurance policy until he finds a job. I bet Republicans leave the repeal drive to Rush Limbaugh, newly ensconced in Costa Rica -- where, to his dismay, he’ll find there’s universal health care.