93 Million Miles Out of Touch

The New Year has not brought a new attitude to the Las Vegas Sun. Today the editorial board of the Sun launches into another vitriolic attack against Republicans.

They begin by criticizing GOP plans to repeal the health care reform bill. As is their standard fare in defending ObamaCare they offer little but Democrat talking points.

But Republicans just don’t get it. Americans largely support the health care law’s key provisions, and a repeal would once again give insurance companies the right to exclude people from coverage because of preexisting conditions and would reinstate the so-called “doughnut hole” in Medicare prescription coverage.

Even granting that the law will accomplish what its proponents say it will, there are still a raft of issues with it. For one, those key provisions are not all there is to it. Not even close.

There are tons (about 2000 pages worth) of additional provisions that will regulate every aspect of health care and the means it is delivered. Some of the intended and unintended consequences are prohibiting construction or expansion of physician-owned hospitals, driving hospitals out of businesses, and others.

Also, it was sold disingenuously. Maybe Americans do support some of its key provisions but, as with anything else, there is a limit to what they can afford. However, ObamaCare proponents promised us we could have all of these wonderful new things for free.

Closing the "doughnut hole" costs taxpayers a tremendous amount of money. In fact, the "doughnut hole" was created in the original Medicare Part D legislation as a means to control costs to the taxpayers and that law would never have passed without it; it would have been far too expensive. Forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions costs insurance companies a tremendous amount of money, which has to be recovered by increasing premiums for everyone else.

Despite the fact that the "key provisions" that Americans supposedly support increase costs to taxpayers and raise insurance premiums, proponents of the bill told everyone that it would save taxpayers money and reduce premiums.

The editorial continues,

This is foolish, but the Republican desire to press ahead with repealing the health care law only foreshadows what is to come. They’re playing for the 2012 election, no matter what the public wants, and that will lead to a greater partisan divide and less work done in Washington.

Those wily Republicans! Their devious plan for getting re-elected in 2012 is to defy the wishes of the voters! Evil genius, indeed.

After complaining about the number of days GOP leaders will require representatives to be in Washington, the Sun expressed outrage that Republicans might have a problem with the way the Obama administration has conducted itself.

However, Republicans don’t intend to be totally idle. Cantor said the calendar would have time for “meaningful oversight.” That’s code for “witch hunt.”

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who will be the House’s chief investigator as chairman of the House oversight panel, made that clear. Last weekend he said President Barack Obama’s administration is “one of the most corrupt administrations” in history. Issa, who tried to back off a previous claim that Obama was corrupt, will have the power to subpoena administration officials and documents, and that means he’ll be able to tie up the daily workings of government, delaying progress on important issues like creating jobs and improving the economy.

Just as the Democrats delayed "progress on important issues like creating jobs and improving the economy" as they sidetracked themselves on issues such as ObamaCare and countless other tangents?

There is always the risk in these types of investigations spinning out of control and devolving into the criminalization of political differences. But the Sun didn't seem to have much of a problem with oversight when it was a Democrat-controlled Congress investigating a Republican administration.

The conclusion is classic Sun.

Once again, the Republicans just don’t get it. The message the American people sent in November’s election is that they want government to work. Instead, Republicans plan to deny health care to people, tie up government and take time off.

What a plan.

They display how out of touch they are by repeating their erroneous and self-serving interpretation of the November elections. And no Sun editorial would be complete without demonizing their political opponents.

The Sun proves the accuracy of their name - the space in which they live is 93 million miles from this planet.