Hypocrisy, dogma and sabotage: The right’s stepping into an Obamacare trap

Contrary to popular opinion, the GOP's hurting itself when it knocks Obamacare. Here's why its attacks are so risky

R.J. ESKOW

You don’t have to be an unqualified fan of the Affordable Care Act to recognize the lunacy of most Republican objections to it. From “death panels” to “a loss of liberty,” there’s only one consistent through-line to most of their objections: They come from Republicans, they’re directed at a Democratic president, and they’re irrational.

The president’s self-imposed deadline for fixing the website has arrived and, while it’s still far from perfect, the complaints are likely to become broader once again. The Republicans may not realize it, but that way lies danger.

More than once, Democrats have made the mistake of taking victory laps for a plan with very real problems. But the Republicans are setting traps for themselves – traps they may find it difficult to escape, especially if Democrats are shrewd enough to take advantage of them.

This shortsightedness already wounded them once, in the 2012 election, when candidate Mitt Romney was forced to attack a program that was nearly identical to the one that Gov. Mitt Romney implemented in Massachusetts. It looked absurd – because it was. Romney’s campaign was probably always a lost cause, but that didn’t help.

For the Republicans, there’s more where that came from.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/03/hypocrisy_dogma_and_sabotage_the_rights_stepping_into_an_obamacare_trap/