GOP failure to repeal Obamacare gives RINO new meaning

Republicans have been running for office since 2009 on the promise lie to repeal Obamacare. Repeal of the Orwellian-sounding “Affordable Care Act” was also on Donald Trump’s punch list of agenda items to be checked off during his first 100 days in office. Unfortunately, ever since the election that gave Trump and the Republicans complete power to accomplish this objective, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan and The Donald have provided plenty of lip service to make it sound like they are repealing Obamacare, but very little action.

The betrayal began shortly after New Year’s Day when Daniel Horowitz at Conservative Review revealed that the GOP was making plans for a “fake” repeal of Obamacare. A few days following this revelation, Senator Bob Corker and Kellyanne Conway admitted that the GOP had no plans to repeal the law. In addition, Conway stated that parts of Obamacare had merit and should be kept.

Around mid-January Trump himself went on record regarding his plan to repeal of the failing healthcare law, saying that he would “cover everybody” regardless of cost. After revealing the rest of his ideas at the time, Trump confirmed that Trumpcare is essentially Obamacare 2.0. Then, at the end of the month during their annual retreat Republicans were heard to be moonwalking their way backwards from repeal-and-replace to retreat-and-repair.

With Congress on a week-long recess–because they’ve been working so hard over the past six weeks–a ghost from Congress past, John Boehner, spoke at a healthcare conference where he confirmed what we now know to be true:

“[Congressional Republicans are] going to fix Obamacare – I shouldn’t call it repeal-and-replace, because it’s not going to happen,” he said…

On Thursday, Boehner said the talk in November about lightning-fast passage of a new health care framework was wildly optimistic.

“I started laughing,” he said. “Republicans never ever agree on health care.”

In the end, “Most of the framework of the Affordable Care Act … that’s going to be there,” he concluded.

The RINO acrostic has long stood for “Republican In Name Only,” but maybe things have changed. It still defines Republicans, but in light of this cave concerning Obamacare, it could stand for “Repeal In Name Only.”

 

David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative, your source for opinion that’s politically incorrect and always “right.” His articles can also be found on RedState.com.

His daily radio commentary is nationally syndicated with Salem Radio Network and can be heard on stations across America.