One More Minor Political Observation -- "Three Stooges" Edition

I tend to leave almost all the negative political theatre (and there is plenty of it -- on both sides of the aisle) to one side. But this one deserves mention, since many members of these "stooges'" own party are making public comments about how these three are playing into Mr. Obama's hand, here. Nice.

Reps Rubio, Lee and Cruz are pushing the notion that the full House ought to vote to defund the entire federal government -- cause a government shutdown -- in order to prevent the January 1, 2014 rollout of the next phase of Obamacare.

Brilliant. US House Rep. Rubio would say that our wounded Iraq war vets shouldn't get treatment at VA hospitals, and kids shouldn't receive their Early Head Start lunches, and federal Marshals should stop chasing bad guys. . . all to stop health care reform's rollout. I say -- let them move forward! That (a failed home-grown "terrorist-style" attack on the US social services delivery system) will show plainly just how dysfunctional the Republican Party is, at the moment -- and how divided, within its own ranks it remains. Of course, such a move has zero chance of actually working. But let them make it. And let them own it, at the ballot box -- in the coming mid-term elections. Here's a bit from Bloomberg -- do go read it all:

. . . .About 25 million people who lack health insurance are expected to gain coverage from the Affordable Care Act by 2016, through provisions that include government subsidies and an expansion of state Medicaid programs. The complexity, reach and cost of the bill, which Republicans opposed when it passed Congress in 2010, has spurred efforts to derail or defund the core provisions before they take hold Jan. 1.

Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, said on “Meet the Press” that Cruz’s efforts have held up otherwise bipartisan appropriations bills.

“Senator Cruz is part of the few extreme people in the Senate when it comes to this subject, calling for shutting down the government of the United States, even shutting down the American economy to make his political point,” Durbin said on the program. . . .

On a brighter note, here's another Bloomberg report -- this time on the quants' efforts to get healthy younger people enrolled -- and thus speed the success of real health care delivery reform, in the US. Now, go "be excellent! -- to one another."