The Republicans Are Back In Washington-- And They Voted For The 41st Time To Defund The Affordable Care Act

The vast majority of Americans, when polled, oppose defunding ObamaCare, including people who oppose the law for one reason or another. Even Republican voters oppose defunding it! But that doesn't stop right-wing congressmembers from perpetuating their clown-show.

According to a poll released by the Morning Consult Wednesday, only 6% of Americans want to see the law either defunded or delayed, including only 7% of Republicans. The same poll finds about a third of Americans want to see the law repealed, while nearly two-thirds want it left alone, improved, or expanded.

The plan pushed by some conservative Republicans would shut down the government entirely until the law is defunded and stopped. Cruz urged his fellow Republicans to stick to their guns over this past weekend, celebrating Tuesday when the petition to see the law defunded passed the one-million signature milestone. But mainstream Republicans have strongly opposed it, and critics have pointed out that it almost certainly won’t work.

“The Republican base seems to think that if they shut the government down then therefore there is no money for Obamacare, and I can understand why logically you would believe that,” Huffington Post reporter Ryan Grim explained on Wednesday’s PoliticsNation. “But what they don’t understand is that there’s a difference between mandatory spending and discretionary spending. It’s complicated but this is mandatory spending which means that even if the government shuts down–they can close all the parks, all the federal buildings–the mandatory money for Obamacare keeps flowing.”

The poll, released the day President Bill Clinton made a major speech touting the benefits of the law, found that a majority of young Americans approve of the law, 56% to 38%. Hispanic voters also approve of the law in similar margins.

Yesterday, on the Senate floor, Harry Reid said that "the anarchists have taken over. They’ve taken over the House and now they’ve taken over the Senate. People who don’t believe in government-- and that’s what the Tea Party is all about-- are winning, and that’s a shame.”

So yesterday the House voted, for the 41st time, to defund ObamaCare, Notice that deranged Tennessee corporate whore, Diane Black, the sponsor, tweeted that it was a bipartisan vote. Well, technically, she's correct. Every single Republican voted for her crackpot, pointless bill-- and so did five Blue Dog "Democrats." The six Blue Dogs, all of whom are set on default positions backing Boehner and Cantor rather than be perceived as Democrats, oppose virtually any measure geared towards helping ordinary working families. They are, in all but name, Republicans. These 5:

• John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)

"Former" Blue Dog Steve Israel can be expected to waste as much as $6 million next year trying to keep Barrow, McIntyre and Matheson in their seats (so they can continue creating the illusion the GOP's extreme right bills are "bipartisan"). Last year Israel spent over 4 million on these three congressmen ($2,005,888 on McIntyre, $1,269,713 on Matheson and $1,080,748 on Barrow), none of whom are expected to win in 2014.