Can Paul Ryan And Rush Limbaugh Save America From Health Care?

Big Oil's Republican Party congressional point person, Joe "I'm sorry, BP" Barton (TX)-- who's gobbled up $1,480,630 in not-so-thinly-veiled bribes from the oil industry since 1990-- is coming up with ways to guarantee "freedom" for his Big Oil benefactors. Alabama's Wall Street whore Spencer Bachus is sending off letters to bank regulators telling them to cease regulating right now until his committee can pass the legislation necessary to turn back all the reforms passed in the last 2 years-- the $4,450,324 he's scooped up from the financial interests is more than any other member of the House other than 2 of its other most outrageously corrupt players, Charlie Rangel and Eric Cantor, each of whom has also accepted over $4 million from the bankster-types. Meanwhile car thief and Wall Street's great white hope for a future takeover are oozing their way into everyone's hearts on the television brainwashing machine, explaining how the Republican Party mandate they insist they just got includes turning back the hands of time... across the board and for as much as they can get away with.

With Missouri corruption machine Roy Blunt now going off to even greener pasturers in the Senate, it's unclear who specifically will be tasked with dismantling healthcare reform, probably going all the way back to what the GOP saw as a tremendous mistake in 1965 (Medicare). Presumably it'll be done through Ryan in his new role as Budget Committee chair.

Meanwhile it looks like the legend of Texas will just go ahead and do it for itself; the right has the power to there, so why not? And yesterday Miss McConnell was one of the many Republicans on TV yammering about repealing the health care reform bill.

Resurgent Republicans rallied Sunday behind an agenda based on unwavering opposition to the Obama White House and federal spending, laying the groundwork for gridlock until their 2012 goal: a new president, a "better Senate" and ridding the country of that demonized health care law.

Republicans said they were willing to work with President Barack Obama but also signaled it would be only on their terms. With control of the White House and the Senate, Democrats showed no sign they were conceding the final two years of Obama's term to Republican lawmakers who claimed the majority in the House.

"I think this week's election was a historic rejection of American liberalism and the Obama and Pelosi agenda," said Rep. Mike Pence, the Indiana Republican who is stepping down from his post in GOP leadership. "The American people are tired of the borrowing, the spending, the bailouts, the takeovers."

Voters on Tuesday punished Democrats from New Hampshire to California, giving Republicans at least 60 new seats in the House. Republicans picked up 10 governorships; the GOP also gained control of 19 state legislative chambers and now holds the highest level of state legislative seats since 1928.

"It was a very rough week, there's no sugarcoating that," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Democrats who controlled the House, Senate and White House for two years now must work with Republicans, who have not shied from pushing their agenda.

"I don't see any sign of the president retreating from his principles, but I do see his willingness to reach out, and wherever reasonable and in the interests of moving the economy and jobs forward, he's going to work with the Republicans, as are the Democrats," Van Hollen said.

Republicans have made clear they plan to work stridently against what they view as a White House out of control and out of touch.

"The president did say this week he's willing to work with us," said Rep. Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican who is in line to become majority leader. "Now listen, are we willing to work with him? First and foremost, we're not going to be willing to work with him on the expansive liberal agenda he's been about."

First target: Democrats' signature health care law.

"This was a huge, huge issue in the election last Tuesday," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "A vast majority of Americans feel very, very uncomfortable with this new bill. People who supported us, political independents, want it repealed and replaced with something else. I think we owe it to them to try."


But the reality remains that Republicans do not have enough seats to marshal through a full repeal if Democrats remain steadfast in their support. Even if Republicans were able to sway enough Democrats to support their effort, it would face a certain veto from Obama.

"Admittedly, it will be difficult with him in the White House," McConnell said. "But if we can put a full repeal on his desk and replace it with the kind of commonsense forms that we were advocating during the debate to reduce spending, we owe it to the American people to do that."

Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who will take leadership of the House budget committee, said the GOP will reign in the overhaul through oversight hearings and cutting off money to implement the law, "but then again, the president has to sign those bills, so that is a challenge."

"You can't fully repeal and replace this law until you have a new president and a better Senate. And that's probably in 2013, but that's before the law fully kicks in, in 2014," Ryan said.

And while all this is going on in Washington, you've got the Republican propaganda machine revved up and roiled persuading the easily persuadable that health care isn't what they want and even shameful to have. Yesterday Digby shined a light on Republican sex predator and drug addict Rush Limbaugh with his tip of the spear assault on healthcare.

Although it sounds ridiculous, Rush is in the process of making his followers believe that the pre-existing condition provision in the health care reforms is something bad and shameful. The reason he's doing this, of course, is because this is the most popular piece of the bill and the one on which the rest of it hinges. If they can divide people on that, the repeal of the plan will be much easier.

And, by the way, our Stop Paul Ryan site will be a big priority in the coming two years-- even if the DCCC continues a firm policy of ignoring his seat and collaborating in his reelection bids.