The long game to defeat Obamacare

Kurt Schlichter:

I have to admit that the Congressional GOP’s Obamacare defunding strategy has me a little nervous – mostly because it just might work. When the GOP does something clever, I start looking for the other three horsemen of the apocalypse.

Designing a strategy starts with understanding the ends you seek. Sure, the memo has gone out about the GOP’s “civil war” and how the GOP is “crazy,” but it seems that the party has a realistic end state in mind. It’s not to stop Obamacare today, or even next year, but in 2017 when we can actually drive a stake through the heart of this neo-socialist abomination.

Ted Cruz and his merry band of insurgents know they can’t repeal Obamacare with Obama in office. They are instead setting the foundation to repeal it by drawing attention to the bureaucratic crazy train that is coming down the tracks straight at every American – including the mouth-breathing, low information voters who make up the Democrats’ core constituency.

This defunding fight, in military parlance, is an information operation. The goal is to reinforce the existing perception among voters that Obamacare is a disaster while tricking Obama into doubling-down as its owner. They want Obama to beCreepy Uncle Sam in the minds of every American, embodying Obamacare’s intrusive, fascist failure. Unbelievably, the GOP seems to be maneuvering Obama into doing just that.

Sure, this unexpected display of competence on the part of the GOP leadership has me worried. We can only assume that having given failure so many good old college tries it decided to give success a whirl. They aren’t happy about it – only when they figured out that real Republicans wanted to fight did they decide to go along with Ted Cruz and the Testosterone Caucus.

There was plenty of grumbling among the GOP’s Meet the Press Caucus, the pompous losers who have nothing but contempt for the conservative voters who elected them. Townhall’s Hugh Hewitt was scathing in taking on Senator Bob Corker – whoever he is – after Corky trashed Ted Cruz. Senator Cruz’s sin, the reason he is detested by the GOP establishment even more than by the liberal establishment, is that he is both conservative and effective.
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Many in the GOP establishment are angry with Ted Cruz for exposing their strategy of just going through the motions without making a serious attempt to kill the law.  What Cruz has done is stir up the base and forced many in the GOP to take a stand they hoped to finesse.   Cruz has been going after the law on the merits and his opponents have responded with insults.  Eventually he should win that debate.