The New York Times: Missouri voters on Tuesday easily approved a measure aimed at nullifying the new federal health care law, becoming the first state in the nation where ordinary people made known their dismay over the issue at the ballot box.
The measure was intended to invalidate a crucial element of President Obama’s health care law — namely, that most people be required to get health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Supporters of the measure said it would send a firm signal to Washington about how this state, often a bellwether in presidential elections, felt about such a law.
Granted this is referendum will not stand up in court, however what it does do is send a clear and undeniable message that Washington has crossed the line. Some on the left maybe tempted to say that these numbers merely represent Republicans coming out in mass for a Republican primary. Well, left wing blog No More Mister Nice Blog dispels that notion.
That's from The New York Times, which arrives at an odd conclusion about the results:
In the end, though, the referendum seemed not to capture the general population's attention. Instead, Republican primary voters (who had the most competitive races on Tuesday) appeared to play a crucial role in the vote's fate.
Really? I'm looking at election results here and I can't help noticing that there were more "Yes" voters -- voters rejecting the health care mandate -- than there were voters for all the candidates in the top-of-the-ballot GOP race, the primary for a candidate to succeed Kit Bond in the U.S. Senate.
The referendum vote was:
Yes: 667,680
No: 271,102
The total number of votes cast for the nine candidates in the Republican Senate primary (which Roy Blunt easily won) was 577,612 -- 90,000 votes fewer than were cast against health care reform. Which suggests that anti-HCR voters were more motivated to vote in the referendum than to vote in the primary, that virtually all Republicans voted with the anti-HCR majority, and quite possibly that a fair number of Democratic primary voters joined them.
The referendum gathered 90,000 more votes than the combined votes of the 9 Republicans running in the primary. Now that is better bipartisan support than you find in Washington today.
I noticed a few polls last week that were trying to show that support for ObamaCare was growing. If Missouri is any indication of how the actual voting public feels about ObamaCare, then I say those polls are pretty much meaningless. If Republicans are smart they should make repeal of ObamaCare the cornerstone of their 2010 and 2012 elections. Clearly, repeal will resonate with the folks who actually turn out at the polls.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The New York Times
Via: Hot Air
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2 comments:
Hmm, I would say that McCaskill should be glad she is not on the ballot this year.
You note that it won't stand up in court. I don't think it will either and for the simple reason that most the fed courts don't seem to care about the will of people.
But that creates quite a concern in my mind for the future our our nation when we have courts in opposition like this.
I'm not sure what the answer is.
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