Congressional Democrats have Republicans right where they — and the White House — want them when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.
In the month when it’s possible the United States Supreme Court could rule that ACA subsidies can’t be given to people who enroll on the federal site, 7 to 9 million could lose their mostly government funded health insurance.
Never mind the “mostly government funded” part or that some of them weren’t able to keep the good insurance they had before the ACA.
What the Democrats, the White House and Big Media already have started doing is setting up Republicans to take the blame. So Republicans, who were not consulted in the writing of the bill and could only watch as Democrats used late-night budget shenanigans to get it passed, have hinted that they might support a temporary extension of the subsidies if the Supreme Court rules against them.
What’s at stake, both Democrats and Republicans believe, is the 2016 presidential election. Republicans, should they coalesce around a candidate who can appeal to both moderates and conservatives, have an excellent shot at winning the White House. They’re likely to face, after all, the worst Democratic candidate since, well, Barack Obama.