Are These People Cried Out Yet?

Teh Sadlies are kicking around Mark Steyn, writer for the National Review Online (no link - hang 'em), and his column Constitutional Contortions. Yet another exercise in right-wing victimology, I won't touch much upon Cerberus's thorough dismantling of the steaming pile of mushroom food. But I do want to repeat and expand a bit on a comment* I made there in response to her speculation

Not to mention that for as much of a political victory this was, I imagine in a purely cold political calculation, running against the fuckers gleefully celebrating denying people health care would have been the easiest fucking campaign in the world and possibly one even Democrats couldn’t have fucked up.

"Cerb, yer brilliant, and I’ve started a couple religions for you, but I gots to quibble. First off, I think the Democratic party could fuck up scrambled eggs given a chicken and a 90 foot cliff. Second, I don’t see that political calculation. I don’t believe there are many ‘undecideds’ in this years politickling, at least undecideds who typically/plan to vote. Each side will be able to pick up a few low info voters, maybe, but I think that very few likely voters were going to have their opinions swayed by this ruling alone.

Lotta anger – I myself have been trying to approach things with a bit of a sense of humor, as, for example, it does no one’s career any good to argue with coworkers, nor family relationships. These are very easy tangles for me to get into as I am known to be somewhere’s to the left of, well, everybody on earth, but after the mindboggling hissy-fits yesterday (“this is the last Independence Day in US history” “Google picked a commie anthem for an avatar on July 4″ “Health care is doublegestaposeptembereleventhedaythemusicdied”) I have lost my cherub-like demeanor."

Those statements, while not specific quotes attributable to actual sociopaths, are accurate. And hell, those are not even the choice cuts from the Wingnut Family Barbecue And Annual Teabagging Festival. Aspiring NY congressman - Health Care Reform is not needed because people don't die of cancer anymore. Another National Reviewer, "most of the world worked better in colonial times". 

I am good and damn sick of having my patriotism questioned, mine and that of those whose opinions I share, those who I am influenced by, and those who I influence, by complete goddam lunatics. To quote Ed Kilgore (please read this now):

But I’m no longer going to quietly accept lectures on patriotism from people who hate my country because they don’t rule it and my vote is equal to theirs.

Another point I want to make. IMPORTANT - IANAL, take this with a large a grain of salt as you wish. Like most politically aware folks, I have followed the health care decision closely as well as the followup reporting not done by Fox of CNN, including legal analysis. An Iowa pundit, Jeff Stein, doing his weekly report on Matt McNeil, our local station (AM950) morning host, said something I had not heard before, about the burden of the Supreme Court. 

Paraphrasing, if  a law comes through the congress and ends up for review before the USSC, they are to make the presumption that it is constitutional, and then apply the legal test to any reasons that may void that presumption. Which is, what it seems, Justice Roberts did. And it is not a full win - by ruling the PPACA a tax, it opens up whole new worlds of potential congressional abuse, not to mention that it makes the Act itself easier to repeal if the government changes hands. Does not change the fact that Roberts is an evil bastard, but it seems he did his job correctly. 

The other 4 conservative justices (and can we stop with the fiction that Kennedy is a swing vote? Maybe on one or two privacy issues, but even then no.) were in it to gut the Act entirely, and their opinion just window dressing, because it might look political if their joint issued opinion was 4 words - "No. Go pound sand.", or "Die Quick And Poor."

*Edited here somewhat for narrative cohesion.