Maybe "Hope springs eternal" isn't the ideal mindset for dealing with Republicans, or right-wingers generally -- a cautionary tale

Maybe the problem was that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), at right, was subjected to threatening visitations by hideous, monstrous creatures like the vaguely human-looking, er, thing at left. Oh, the horror!

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed:
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come."

– Alexander Pope, in "An Essay on Man"

by Ken

Myself, I have no trouble getting behind this business of hope sprining eternal in the human breast. I mean, we have to keep going, don't we? Despite all the contrary indications.

But there are limits. Although this story dates all the way back to Monday (I'm coming to it via one of Daily Kos's invaluable "Daily Kos Recommends" e-mails, and probably one from earlier in the week which I'm just catching up with amid the e-mail pile-up), I think the lesson it teaches will remain good for many Mondays come. It has to do with a post called "Top House Republican utters the 'R' word about Obamacare, and it's not 'repeal' nor is it 'replace'," which Daily Kos's estimable Jed Lewison put up Monday morning at 8:50am and updated a few hours later.

ON THE ONE HAND -- Monday morning, 8:50am

Here's Jed's original post:

For four years now, one word has defined the Republican position on Obamacare: Repeal. Sure, sometimes when they want to appear a little less wild eyed and crazy, they talk—disingenuously—about "repealing and replacing" Obamacare, but even though they have no prospects of doing the former and no interest in doing the latter, it has never been acceptable among Republicans to talk about leaving Obamacare in place.

But now a top Republican, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, is doing just that:

With the news this week that more than 600,000 Washington residents have acquired new health care plans through the state exchange, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said it’s unlikely the Affordable Care Act will be repealed.

“We need to look at reforming the exchanges,” the Eastern Washington Republican said Thursday.

Notice that new R-word? Not repeal, not replace ... but reform.

As Steve Benen writes, the game is over: Republicans will still give some lip service to repeal, but comments like these make it clear that GOP leadership understands that Obamacare repeal is a dead issue. The only question at this point is whether the GOP base lets them acknowledge it the way McMorris Rodgers did or if they will still spend waste their time paying rhetorical tribute to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and the cult of repeal.

ON THE OTHER HAND -- Monday afternoon, 1:34pm

Then this was added:

1:34 PM PT: McMorris Rodgers now denies believing it's unlikely that Obamacare will be repealed. But she's not disputing using "reform," and the last time I looked in the dictionary, you don't reform something by repealing it.

I THINK WE CAN ALL IDENTIFY WITH . . .

. . . and admire the generous frame of mind in which Jed had written as of 8:50am. But you have to remember who and what you're dealing with, and reality can be a cruel mistress when it's people who don't believe in reality.

#