Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 21, 2013

The shutdown helped a Democrat win the governor’s race in Va.

And the bestest thing about all of this – we can blame that guy in the White House even though our fingerprints are all over it!! Good job, guys!

Of course now the guy in the White House wants to delay Obamacare just like the Republicans wanted to do. If Obama had been willing to listen and work with the GOP, the shut down would not have happened.

Even the leader of the herd produces b*llsh*t.

A while season’s Congressional Follies, in four panels!

As a big ol’ rural WASP white guy who’s been around long enough to remember where I was when I heard that Kennedy was shot, I perfectly well know ugly racism when I see it. Frankly, I’m at least mildly surprised that the Congressional Teapublicans & Co. haven’t yet succumbed to the temptation to go and burn a cross on the White House lawn.

Well, Herdleader. not “just like the Republicans”, who wanted the Obama care to fail miserably and terminally; he took the resonsibility for the many glitches and is trying to mend the act as fast as possible, and to make it cover as many as possible. There is a difference between an act with bugs to be eliiminated and an act of sabotage.

But it’s always sad to see people feeling they have to leave a party they have always supported because it has been taken over and changed so much. Happened over here in the UK in the 80s when the Labour party, traditional home of the blue-collar worker, got infiltrated by Militant, a Trotskyist group. Just as the Tea Party seem to have done, they managed to take control of the party’s local apparatus simply by being sufficiently obnoxious that they drove away all the old hands. Only lasted a few years, as these things inevitably do, but it did a lot of damage at the time, including making Labour unelectable for over a decade.

This must have been the easiest strip he’s ever done. It was already written for him.

“Liberals tend to underestimate how many people share their ideology, while conservatives tend to overestimate those who agree with them, U.S. researchers say.”

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/11/20/Conservatives-overestimate-support-liberals-underestimate/UPI-68741384997107/#ixzz2lH0FamdU

As the insurance companies have made clear, dumping the ACA now is going to inflict much worse pain on the nation that going ahead with it and making it work. The GOP is crowing with delight over the very real problems with the transition, the websites, the unexpected and undesired actions by the insurance companies in not only dropping people and offering them only much more expensive options but in narrowing the range of hospitals and doctors that they will cover, etc. Certainly these problem were unexpected, or the Democrats would have made plans how to deal with these things when the time came. One might almost sympathize with the ACA’s critics at this point, if not for the fact that none of them predicted these problems either, and none of their efforts to derail the law focused on its actual problems. The choice before the nation now is whether to sink the ACA and injure the millions who have already benefited from it and the 16 million uninsured who have the prospect of benefiting from it; injuring the portion of the 10 million (these figures are only ballpark ones) who have individual insurance who find their coverage more expensive and/or limited. Or, and this is a real possibility, injuring both, by breaking the ACA but failing to restore the status quo ante. Though that status quo was failing anyway, and is not much to return to. I saw a study that showed that 46% of the uninsured (who are the ones most likely to benefit by the ACA) are white, while 77% of the individually insured (who seem to be the ones most likely to be unhappy with the new law) are white. Does that tell you anything? Meanwhile the states with their own exchanges (those who cooperated with the new law) are doing okay (not well), while those who resisted it and have thrown their people onto the Federal website are having the biggest problems. Oddly enough, those are the states that are dominated by people who favor local control and “states rights” etc., and should have been the ones to most strongly desire to run their own marketplaces. And Massachusetts, with 97% of their population insured under program on which Obamacare is modeled, looks on and laughs at the way the rest of the nation is floundering. I am continually impressed with the evidence that one of the biggest differences between “liberals” and “conservatives” is that liberals think the USA is a single nation and a single people that ought to respect and serve all of its citizens, and the conservatives do not. For them there are Americans who matter, and those who do not.

one of them admits to a drug problem, gets caught, and slap on the wrist punishment. but, if he was a person of color, they would have thrown the book at him. plus, he won’t quit, and now be facing primary challengers.

Thanks, May Kitten, for restoring my faith in humanity.

@doughfoot:

Thank you for such insightful and informative comments regarding the ACA. The Republicans did everything in their power to destroy the ACA, including shutting down the government to the tune $24 billion added to the deficit, then feign outrage when their plans work and the ACA is crippled, holding kangaroo court hearings to further cast aspersions on our President and the ACA. Your assessment of the cause of the animosity towards the ACA from Red state voters is, sadly, completely accurate.

@vwdualnomand

So very true.. but how can we be surprised? One only has to look to the Voice of Conservatism, Rush Limbaugh. I keep waiting for him to be lined up against the wall and shot, just as he prescribed for all drug addicts, all the while having his housekeeper score oxycontin for him. As the great George Carlin once said" “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it!”

But hey, we can always hope he loses to a Tea Party candidate in the primary. Another seat gained for the Dems in the House. ;)

I, too, am a recovering Republican. I was getting fed up with the far-right’s antics, but was still considering myself a conservative – and I still do, in some ways – and had been registered as a Republican since I had started voting.And then … Palin. That’s all she wrote. And I am Alaskan – lots of my fellow Alaskans supported her just because, you know, hometown girl makes the big time. But she proceeded to make a fool of herself, came home profoundly changed – and NOT in a good way – by her time in the spotlight, abandoned her commitment to our state, and embarked on a bizarre career of being famous for being famous.

And the GOP still – at least in public – still supports her.

Goodbye, GOP.

You know, the trouble starts when people start blindly supporting “their party” instead of supporting their personal beliefs. Too many lemmings in this country that talk big and bad about everyone else, yet, really couldn’t speak intelligently about a single issue in front of them. Me, I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal—yup, don’t fit into the cookie cutter the major parties would like me to, and TFB for them. Am I pro-choice? Yes. Do I want to continue to see abortion used as birth control? No. Do I want to help provide for the poor? Yes. Do I want to give them a free ride for life? No. People, the answers are in the middle, not out on the fringes. But it’s not going to happen. This country will continue to infight it’s way right down the sh*tter.

lol and the guy from Florida, who wants to means test benefits for drugs, is a druggie. and Obama screws everyone with Obamacare, the Democrats especially. Gosh, both sides of the same party know how to F over everyone.

Could we ask for a better more ef-ed up set of Elites??? lol

Too bad we have so few leaders and good managers in Washington.

Yes, GT is back!!!

Don’t you ever wonder what they really say to each other behind closed doors?

Implimentation, not implication.People who don’t proofread produce strange texts..(I heard on NPR yesterday that ACA contains four conflicting definitions of Native Americans. I have no idea why they were singled out, haven’t read it, waiting for the movie to come out.)

A little lesson in civics, Trudeau. The House can defund any bill they choose, anytime they choose.

The Tea Party types will eventually sink under the weight of their own BS, but I understand your dilemma. Although I have always been a registered Democrat, I come from a family of Republicans. None of them would recognize their party today.

How silly to try to defund the ACA when all they had to do was wait for the Democrats to unveil it.

That was very well said John Baranick. I prefer compromise over conflict.

As a Democrat, I LOVE Republicans. If they lose, we win, and if they win, we win.

Great job, Trudea. Now let’s see you attack the President like you’ve done with other Presidents.

I appreciate the level-headedness of today’s discussions. I guess that the past actions of some have become so egregious, that most people are able to see past the scaffolding of misrepresentations.

‘Now let’s see you attack the President like you’ve done with other Presidents’.Why should he, when he has you and your ilk doing it nonstop already? More would just be even more boring than you all are.

You could write in Jesse Ventura and Russell Brand…

I don’t vote for anyone who holds to a political party’s rhetoric, I consider the person rather that party affiliation. Needless to say, those I prefer seldom get elected.

There is very little wrong with the ACA but a lot right. Low bidder, probably, got contract for the computer work.

Where is Jimmy Jones when you need to serve the ’low information" types some more Kool-aid®…This from the guy who said,“Do you think that your posts being angry, lacking in content, and full of personal attacks are the reasons the monitor is “making them disappear” ?”Pot, meet kettle.

Brilliant.

The Unaffordable Care Act is a monument for the Ages. We already knew through Amtrak, Social Security, Medicaid, Post Office, Solyndra and other “make work Stimulus” projects enriching the Democrat base that government and the bureaucracy cannot do anything efficiently. They had a Billion Dollars and Three years to fall flat on their faces on a project that happens routinely in the private sector. Anyone who has ever worked in IT knows that you can’t keep making changes down to the last minute and not have the time to stress test software and expect it survive the hamfisted public all trying to use it at the same time. Everyone, including many who initially supported it now understand the entire purpose was to extend the long arm of government into a huge piece of the private sector and force responsible people who already had insurance to fund insurance for the irresponsible who would get it for free.

Do ya think that GT will get around to Obama’s deception about keeping one’s health policy? Oh wait, in Liberalland, policies were cancelled because people didn’t REALLY know what a good policy is and it’s the insurance companies’ fault!

The most concise summation of the Obama Wing’s Democratic plan to destroy the US Democracy and replace it with a socialist system. . . Until, of course, it disintegrates into the trash heap that characterized the old Soviet Union.

Obama didn’t spend it; he’s not Congress. It’s been going on since the day Clinton left office. Troll, meet world. I’m sorry, you’d have to get your head out of the sand to do that, so, never mind.

Well said, Kaffekup. LWP, glad to see you back on board these days.

We need a better class of trolls; the ones we have do nothing but endlessly repeat the same RWNJ talking points. But then, if they could think for themselves, they wouldn’t be trolls. They’d be progressives.

At a time when the country is still trying to recover from an economic disaster of the previous 10 years, when we need more public spending rather than less, imagine what we could have done with that $24B.

You seem to be arguing that when someone you agree with wastes money, it’s no big deal.

So, Mr. Trudeau, Are you writing from the “heart,” or have you simply identified a niche market for who you cynically create content? I am appalled to learn of your new show being aired on Amazon. I will never see it and I don’t understand how the person who writes what I love in Doonesbury can collude with one of the principal eviscerators of the American Economy.

Wishful thinking. He’ll never beat W for worst president.

Your statement that WE ( Republicans) passsed O’Bama Care is so O’Bama like. Simply not true. Absolutely no republicans in the house or senate voted for this bill. Making up stuff only diminishes you and what you say.

Software developers and testers are not interchangeable automatons. There are many republicans in IT—a lot more than when the profession was new.

BTW, I’m an IT consultant and I pay for my own health insurance. I get to keep it and it’s not increasing in price.

I applaud your good sense!! I switched from Republican to Democrat when “W” took office.

Hooray! Another convert to sanity

Now you’re blaming him for gas prices? Why don’t blame the weather on him too! :P

And for tomorrow will we get to see Obama trying to keep a straight face telling people they can keep their insurance.

…why do republicans hate people who work for a living?…

@DavidHuieGreen

“We must hope it works well because many of you assure us that dropping it now would wreck the economy and the health delivery system.”

Actually, there will be serious damage done to the economy and the health delivery system. In Missouri, which could not be described as a blue state by any means, their Chamber of Commerce had been begging their Tea Party controlled legislature to accept the ACA and expand their Medicaid programs. Their hospitals stood to lose 4.2 billion in the next 6 years if the state did not participate in the ACA. This is in Missouri alone. True to form, the legislature rejected their pleas and refused to participate in the ACA, despite Missouri being one the states with the highest rate of uninsured residents. This will leave these individuals with no other option but the emergency room, the most costly form of healthcare, which we, the taxpayers, will be paying for. The loss of revenue of this magnitude would certainly have a negative impact on the entire economy of the United States, let alone the costs passed to taxpayers in the form of lost productivity due to illness and the higher cost to treat patients whose conditions are far more advanced due to neglecting their condition for lack of health insurance. We all end up paying higher premiums for health insurance due to this and predatory insurance companies using any excuse to raise premiums and deny payment for services. These are but a few examples, but one can see the logical conclusion.

I find it puzzling that a party whose doctrine includes, among other things, that they should not have to subsidize healthcare for others would be so resistant to a law that would relieve them of paying the extremely high costs of emergency room, not to mention the costs associated with the uninsured chronically ill.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/02/business/economy/why-the-health-care-law-scares-the-gop.html?_r=0

@ Adrian Snare:

Yes indeed, we must not rest. The right-wing has control of the message and we must do everything in our power to counter the misinformation and out-and-out lies that they are spreading, aided and abetted by a compliant MSM and the courtier press. The country cannot stand if the GOPTP achieves their goals.

However, I must disagree that we to compromise more. We have compromised to the point of capitulation with the Republicans and received nothing more than the back of their hand. Mr. Obama’s compromising, time and again, is partly to blame for our current government by crisis and it’s time for this to end. You can’t reason with demagogues and if you try to placate bullies, they will still beat up and take your lunch money. It’s past time for us to take a stand. On the other hand, too many liberals are as bad as conservatives when it comes to one issue voting. That and many misguided liberals choosing to stay home in disgust with what many saw as Obama’s catering to the Republicans to “send a message” in the 2010 midterms is a significant reason we were gifted with the GOPTP’s control of the House. We must work together if we are to rid ourselves of the toxic policies of the right.

I do, however, agree completely with your assessment of Mr. Obama. He has disappointed me many times but, considering the alternative, the choice in 2012 was an easy one for me. :)

I don’t often read the “Comments”, but thought I’d check this one. And what a hoot, reading the ‘comments’ about this particular strip. I first thought there was an error…the ‘dome’ was used instead of the White House. The same dialog would certainly fit there. But as I read it quickly became apparent that many of the followers of Doonesbury continue to be the ‘out of touch’ liberals. I don’t know whether they all watch msnbc, all live in NYC, or only read the NY Times, but it’s obvious they aren’t out in the real world, in the small towns or areas where well over 50% of people are on the dole. Supported by nothing but government programs, many having done so for several generations, they make up a growing segment of our population that wants what education, hard work and perseverance used to achieve. The vocal supporters of the direction our country is heading don’t seem to know what TEA stands for, and obviously aren’t paying the freight for these government programs. And unfortunately, the hard workers trying to become successful will be the ones taxed to support the growing ‘entitlement’ group. The point at which they cry “TEA!” is a matter of conjecture. But those railing against capitalism only have to look back at Russia as it evolved into the Soviet Union. It isn’t a pretty picture, wasn’t a happy time, and of course, was a failure. “Revolution” is being shouted more and more, and the verbal attacks of the left (read many of the previous comments) coupled with so much physical violence (Google ‘knockout game’) could be the harbinger of life in the USA. How sad.

Ah, the Senate, what a bunch of buffoons. Many of them should have used their heads instead of just being sheep and following the WH.

His own party wanted him to fail they helped him win first term then did nothing to help the nation with the slim majority then held. Midterm elections the Rbpublicans took control of the HOR and look at where we are today. Infighting within both parties America looks more and more foolish by the endless fighting instead of truly fighting to fix the issues plaguing the country.