With New Jersey governor Chris Christie's announcement that he would accept funds for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, the number of Republican governors accepting Obamacare Medicaid expansion money rises to eight: Jan Brewer (Arizona), Rick Scott (Florida), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Brian Sandoval (Nevada), Susana Martinez (New Mexico), Jack Dalrymple (North Dakota), John Kasich (Ohio), and Christie. Many of these governors rode to power in 2010 on a Tea Party wave and protested vociferously against Obamacare, so their about-face on Obamacare money stokes more than a little ire on the part of some on the right. I am not sure, however, that conservatives should rest content with excommunicating these governors from the Church of True Conservatism and casting them into the darkness of the RINO Establishment. The acceptance of these Obamacare funds—however tentative—drives home the need for Republicans to offer an alternative health care model.
There might be an aspect of political self-interest in these governors' decisions. Many of these governors are from states that President Obama won in 2012. But it would be a mistake to attribute this decision solely to politics. Mitt Romney carried both Arizona and North Dakota handily, and Republican governors who embrace Obamacare funding likely risk a considerable backlash within their own ranks. So politics alone cannot explain this conversion.- See more at: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/absence-conservative-solutions-health-care_704924.html?nopager=1#sthash.Er84eUAB.dpuf
With New Jersey governor Chris Christie's announcement that he would accept funds for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, the number of Republican governors accepting Obamacare Medicaid expansion money rises to eight: Jan Brewer (Arizona), Rick Scott (Florida), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Brian Sandoval (Nevada), Susana Martinez (New Mexico), Jack Dalrymple (North Dakota), John Kasich (Ohio), and Christie. Many of these governors rode to power in 2010 on a Tea Party wave and protested vociferously against Obamacare, so their about-face on Obamacare money stokes more than a little ire on the part of some on the right. I am not sure, however, that conservatives should rest content with excommunicating these governors from the Church of True Conservatism and casting them into the darkness of the RINO Establishment. The acceptance of these Obamacare funds—however tentative—drives home the need for Republicans to offer an alternative health care model.
There might be an aspect of political self-interest in these governors' decisions. Many of these governors are from states that President Obama won in 2012. But it would be a mistake to attribute this decision solely to politics. Mitt Romney carried both Arizona and North Dakota handily, and Republican governors who embrace Obamacare funding likely risk a considerable backlash within their own ranks. So politics alone cannot explain this conversion.- See more at: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/absence-conservative-solutions-health-care_704924.html?nopager=1#sthash.Er84eUAB.dpuf
With New Jersey governor Chris Christie's announcement that he would accept funds for Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, the number of Republican governors accepting Obamacare Medicaid expansion money rises to eight: Jan Brewer (Arizona), Rick Scott (Florida), Rick Snyder (Michigan), Brian Sandoval (Nevada), Susana Martinez (New Mexico), Jack Dalrymple (North Dakota), John Kasich (Ohio), and Christie. Many of these governors rode to power in 2010 on a Tea Party wave and protested vociferously against Obamacare, so their about-face on Obamacare money stokes more than a little ire on the part of some on the right. I am not sure, however, that conservatives should rest content with excommunicating these governors from the Church of True Conservatism and casting them into the darkness of the RINO Establishment. The acceptance of these Obamacare funds—however tentative—drives home the need for Republicans to offer an alternative health care model.
There might be an aspect of political self-interest in these governors' decisions. Many of these governors are from states that President Obama won in 2012. But it would be a mistake to attribute this decision solely to politics. Mitt Romney carried both Arizona and North Dakota handily, and Republican governors who embrace Obamacare funding likely risk a considerable backlash within their own ranks. So politics alone cannot explain this conversion.
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Earlier this week in the National Review, Avik Roy also stressed the need for conservatives to think in a more sustained way about health-care reform.
