The CNN website initially incorrectly reported the Supreme Court's decision
The Supreme Court's ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act is being hailed as a major victory for President Obama.
But from politics to the media to the Supreme Court itself, the battle over Obamacare also left us with some more surprising winners ... and losers. Let's take a look:
WINNERS
Millenials, seniors, and those with pre-existing conditions, as well as millions of other Americans for whom health care will become affordable.
Chief Justice John Roberts. By departing from his conservative colleagues, Roberts ensured that the ruling would be broadly seen as legitimate—and in the eyes of many analysts, burnished his reputation as the neutral "umpire" he'd claimed to be in his confirmation hearings.
The late Sen. Ted Kennedy. The Massachusettts lawmaker, who died in 2009, worked for increased access to helath care almost his entire career. As Nancy Pelosi said, Kennedy "can now rest in peace."
Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. When he made his case for the Obama administration's health care law, many said it wasn't his finest hour, arguing that he was unconvincing and disorganized. Now, Verrilli won't go down in history as the Bill Buckner of Obamacare.
Laurence Tribe and Robert Reich: Both correctly predicted that the Court would uphold the law.
SCOTUSblog. The little-website-that-could has built a reputation in recent years for fast, smart, reliable coverage of Supreme Court decisions. Today, its twitter feed and live blog were the go-to destinations for seemingly every member of the media to get the news first. Not only that, but publisher and co-founder Tom Goldstein predicted on the morning of the ruling that the court would uphold the law.
Big broccoli. Now we know Americans can be forced to buy it.
LOSERS
Mitt Romney. His base won't let him offer specifics about what he wants to replace Obamacare with, but if he doesn't, independent voters could be turned off.
CNN and Fox. Both initially misreported that the Supreme Court had struck down the individual mandate. Word is the president was watching these networks on mute at the time.
Justice Antonin Scalia. It had to hurt Scalia to be in the minority in so many cases this week (see immigration), and to see his usual ideological ally, Roberts, side with the other team.
Jeffrey Toobin. The influential CNN legal analyst is good-naturedly eating crow for predicting SCOTUS would shoot down the law.
Randy Barnett. The intellectual architect of the Obamacare challenge. Though citing the Court's limiting of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause, Barnett managed to claim victory anyway.
Snooki, New Jersey's tan mom, and Speaker Boehner. These orange-hued Americans lose out, because the health care law has imposed an extra 10% tax on tanning.
Death panels. May they die a timely, peaceful death at long last.
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if you've ever had cancer or been very ill & your insurance dumped you, you will never compare broccoli to health care. I know the court started that joke. But you don't have to continue it. It is a wicked joke, in fact, many don't see it as a joke. They saw it as an insult.
The smart people were able to predict the ruling correctly because the court has no right to strike down a law that is constitutional because they have 5 right-wingers. It would have gone down in history as the first. No matter how crazy the court is right is right & they cannot come out & tell us the world is flat. As, much as they hate it. A legitimate law must be upheld & all constitutional layers know it. I predicted it correctly.
I hate what GOP is doing to the President. But they cannot pull him down. He must continue to fight for the people. We elected a constitutional attorney, a law professor, a very diplomatic personality. Don't forget he taught constitutional law, so all the things he put out are constitutional, but Rep are not ready for it yet, they may never be. Obama knows what he is doing but GOP are standing in the way of progress for this nation. Unfortunately, GOP have the right-wing supreme court. I have great confidence in our President. His diplomatic conflict resolution skill remains me of my grandfather. If you have never known somebody like him you will not understand him. He was one of the greatest minds ever to have walked the face of this earth.
Unlike Obama, Romney said he will never raise his own tax. He will not scarifies anything, to give the country what it needs to survive. Not only Romney, look at the Rep lineup for future Presidential candidates. Its scaring, very selfish bunch, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Trump, Palin, Boehner & many more. Even the strongest among them is a wimp in today's world of global politics. But let's focus on domestic. Who among them will put a dent his political career to give you fair healthcare, fair tax, jobs, fair pay, end wars instead of stating it(very difficult to end war than to start), fight for women/LGBT/immigration issues, work actively with businesses to reopen factories. These are things he has already done & continues to do. With his many accomplishments in just 3yrs, image what he will achieve in 8yrs. It scares GOP & they want to stop him by all means. Reps are suing him, embracing him & his attorney general, maltreating him, and lying against him to caricature him. However, the difference is Obama did not come into politics for himself. He was a community organizer. He came into politics to save communities, to save this country, to help everyone achieve their dream, not only the very few. He already looked at the Rep line up for future candidates (even dem candidates) & realizes that if he doesn't fight for the people nobody else will for maybe another 100yrs.. He refuses to let us wait (another 50 or 100yrs) for trickle down that will never happen, anyway. The money will never trickle than to the poor, no matter how long you wait. At this moment in history, Obama is the only person who has the balls, the audacity, the intelligence, & the selflessness to help all Americans. Politically, it is costing him a lot but his priority is protecting the people. He alone can put in place the security blanket we need to move forward, that's what he is doing. They hate the way he keeps his cool, & refuses to be distracted. He cannot be distracted by GOP weekly circus. His focus is on his main goal to strengthen the middleclass (& other striving to get in) for many decades to come. Americans will ripe the reward & dems will get the credit for decades, which is precisely why GOP want to stop him by all means.
Romney has never performed any unselfish act in his life. I know the dude. You are not missing anything, to know him is to dislike him. He donates heavily to the Mormon church because he believes that he alone is the symbol of the Mormon church. People are shocked about his lies. Don't you know that pathological liars are also delusional? It's why he lies so carelessly with a straight face whenever his lips are moving. We've never had a candidate like him in history. Media can't stop it, that is who he is, but they should still call him on it every time, no matter how embarrassing or difficult it maybe for them. A pathological liar never gets embarrassed; no matter how many times his lie is exposed. If he ever makes it to the oval office, you will see his true color.
World leaders like Obama. He understands that today's world calls for civility & togetherness, resolving programs together. Some nicknamed him 'uniter.' When reps heard that they tried to turn his strength into weakness by telling you that he is a divider, who apologizes for America. He is neither. Read your history, reps are terrible at governing, dems always clean up rep mess; history hasn't changed.
It matters who wins for these reasons, what a rep win will mean for the country in today's world:
1.$billions in politic (citizens united) will continue
2.They will wedge wars both foreign & domestic
3.They will have money to continue to wedge their wars against every demographic group in the country (women, single family, elderly, blacks, Hispanics, LGBTs, non-legal status, union members, middleclass, the poor including poor white children). In short, only 'Romney family' look-alikes will be at peace.
4.Dems will not be able to protect us & who will blame them. They will say, the people we are fighting for did not vote for us anyway, so we better follow Reps & go with the wealthy & at least get campaign donation. This will be a very different country. Money will speak much louder than ever before. Poor/middleclass will be powerless to stop it. There will be unrest. Many, including me, will move overseas for some peace & quiet. Make no mistake, billionaires are spending because their return will be infinite. Imagine controlling both political parties for the first time ever, same thing our founding fathers worked so hard to prevent.
5.No wall street reform, banks will gamble with your money, yet you will bail them out
6.Economic recovery will cease due to more uncertainty
7.Healthcare, immigration, LGBT issues, women issues, fair pay issues, trade reform with China & other countries under Obama will be repealed, all achieved by Dems will be over turned
8.Companies shipping jobs overseas with be rewarded with tax breaks instead of rewarding those bringing jobs back as Obama proposes
9.Recovery in the housing market will be rolled back, buyers coming out now will disappear due to uncertainty, the wealthy will be the only people still standing, so they will price your home for $1
10.Deficit will raise more due to increase spending in welfare for the wealthy which reps advocate (subsides, tax breaks, business grant), while they tell you welfare for the poor is bad
11.Poor & middleclass programs will be severely cut to pay for programs for the wealthy
12.No more Medicare as we know it, no more food stamps for hungry kids, no more grants for education, no more funding for women programs
13.They will also dig into areas which now has surplus (social security/post office) & drain that surplus to shift more wealth to the wealthy, the wealthy will never be satisfied; it's called greed & Reps are their puppets. Yes, Reps don't want you to know that post office has surplus because they've been planning on how to drain it. But to succeed they must first demonize post office to the public, as they started to do. Why do you think post office & the media are protected in our founding documents?
Romney is still making money from Bain today. Still shipping jobs overseas as we speak, google it, while lying to us. He made $13million in 2010 & 2011 alone, in addition to one $billion coming from his 33 billionaires.
GOP are using a dead agent & a grieving family for political football just as they did with Iraq, where thousands of our men & women were killed under this same GOP group. All this is to block Holders investigation about the death not the other way around.
..Romney has been sending our jobs oversea for decades? Even as governor he was sending jobs overseas. Romney's record is horrible; there are plenty that the media doesn't know. He will never run on his record. Same reason FOX & GOP tried to pressure Obama not to run on his record. But Obama knew what they were up to. Obama has the best record of all recent Presidents before him & they know it. Who among them accomplished all that he has accomplished in only 3 yrs, nobody. Not even Reagan. Don't forget Reagan began Reaganomics, & Bush complete it (shift more wealth to the rich & it will trickle down). But Bush didn't start it, Reagan did. The shut up economists who tried to warn us, even killed some, same thing they are doing to scientist (due to global warming) & doctors (due to abortion). GOP tactic continues.
If Dems loose this election, the big money in politics for Reps will remain & dems won't win elections again. This country will no longer be the same. Dems have had only 8 presidents since 1861 and Reps tried to destroy each of them. Two were killed in office during their term & the other 6 were never the same after their service to the nation because of Rep hate machine they battled up close & personal. Look at what they are doing to our President & our AG. Dems must stand together & speak in one voice & learn more strategies on how to win elections.
Somebody needs to wake some dems up from their coma to realize that this is not business as usual. This is why Reps won in 2010 because the dem candidates were running away from the president & the healthcare bill, so most dems didn't come out to vote for them. In 2010, the public were angry with dems for allowing the president & the country to be treated this way by GOP. Current GOP stands for hate & destruction & protecting the rich & the dems know it but they are too chicken to fight & I am sick of it. Why is the president the only one fighting for the people? Where are the rest of them? Is funning how they come out & take credit after Obama & his campaign do all the work as in 2008. They should know the people are watching, we elected this president for the people by the people and we will do it again. They should stop listening to GOP & help the president & the multitude of people who elected him & still love him. This time the cloud will even be larger. We will show Reps that love trumps hate. The media should hold GOP accountable as well.
I blame the media. Why are they not holding Romney accountable for his lying. As usual, he has mastered how to use the media as a puppet, telling you to wait that the answers are coming. He is a pathological liar. He has no plans to repeat his answers again. Repeating them will cost him votes. He already answered all your questions during the primary. Why is the media not reporting all those answers. The media has all the answers they seek from Romney on tape but they are the ones choosing to be silent. Media, it may not be the answers you want or you may call it yesterday's news but it doesn't change the fact that he already gave you all his answered on tape & his answers will not change even after Nov. Yet! you accuse him of being evasive. If you are in his position, won't you rather not answer those questions again, if it will cost you votes. You have all the answers you seek but you are not reporting it, why? He has nothing new to say to you, so report what you have. Just play it over & over. You owe it to millions of people who did not watch the primary election. If Romney doesn't like it; then he will speak. Playing his answers to the people is the only way you will ever get him to talk. Otherwise, he feels that he doesn't have to answer any more questions or tell us his plan for the country or say anything till Nov. It's his tactic. He is silent now for a good reason. Why should he repeat his answers? He already said it once too many. Most people did not watch the primary, so they are waiting for Romney's answers on the issues and you owe it to then to play his answer. Hold him accountable for once.
I agree that threre's something psychologically with Mitt Rommey his lying makes me sick!.........