Krugman: GOP Created Monster Base

Paul Krugman notes in The New York Times that GOP Congressmen must deal with a dilemma of their own making on health care reform.

Recent political reporting suggests that Republican leaders are in a state of high anxiety, trapped between an angry base that still views Obamacare as the moral equivalent of slavery and the reality that health reform is the law of the land and is going to happen. But those leaders don’t deserve any sympathy. For one thing, that irrational base is a Frankenstein monster of their own creation. Beyond that, everything I’ve seen indicates that members of the Republican elite still don’t get the basics of health reform — and that this lack of understanding is in the process of turning into a major political liability.

On the unstoppability of Obamacare: We have this system in which Congress passes laws, the president signs them, and then they go into effect. The Affordable Care Act went through this process, and there is no legitimate way for Republicans to stop it. Is there an illegitimate way? Well, the G.O.P. can try blackmail, either by threatening to shut down the government or, an even more extreme tactic, threatening not to raise the debt limit, which would force the United States government into default and risk financial chaos.

Republican politicians absolutely had a hand in creating this expectation in their base.  They repeatedly called the Affordable Care Act a "government takeover of health care." This false claim was Politifact.com's "lie of the year" for 2010. However, egged on by right-wing media, the Republican base believes this lie is fact and fully expects its Representatives to make good on their promise of repeal. So, as Krugman points out, the GOP has made its bed on this issue.