How will the Supreme Court's Health Care Reform ruling ...

[Brittain33]

Oh man is Roberts actually turning around into a Souter?

No, he's just not willing to exert the Supreme Court's power so far as to throw out a major legislative initiative where the precedent was clear. Most of the time he's a solid conservative.

[Brittain33]

The Medicaid expansion would have offered health insurance coverage to 16 million people. Now states apparently can make up their own minds whether or not to accept the expansion – and that means if Florida, Texas and other big states knock it back, then there will be millions of Americans who will miss out on the healthcare reforms.

I have to say that forcing a small government state like Texas where 25% of the population is uninsured to vastly expand Medicaid was going to run into political problems anyway...

[Brittain33]

The only good news for Romney is that he can campaign against the mandate acting as a tax.

At which point Obama can point out that this is exactly how it works in Massachusetts.

[Brittain33]

The only good news for Romney is that he can campaign against the mandate acting as a tax.

At which point Obama can point out that this is exactly how it works in Massachusetts.

To which he would reply: I didn't raise taxes in the middle of the worst recession in recent history.

The recession ended in June 2009. Obama signed the bill in March 2010.

Fine, he'll use a term like "economic slowdown". Semantics don't change the differences in circumstances.

When you're explaining, you're losing.

[Brittain33]

I hate that after three wave elections I don't know who so many of these men are.

[Brittain33]

If Obama had lost this case, it would have undoubtedly been bad for him. It would have made him look like a loser who had few accomplishments. There's a reason Republicans were giddy after the oral arguments and today they're somber or even in hiding (see Boehner's delayed press conference.)

With that in mind, it's hard to see him as a loser for having the law upheld.

[Brittain33]

I mean, I don't even know where Lodz is! Is that Poland or the Ukraine? Or am I thinking of Lvov? Or is it Lviv? Was that part of interwar Poland? Wait, I think Lodz is in Poland. Fine, but still, I'm not even entirely certain where Lodz is!

Lodz is west of Warsaw, roughly south of G'dansk.  I thing it either on, or west of, the Vistula.

This is a victory for Obama, based on his signature issue being not being a violation of the Constitution.

The strength of the victory is weakened by his signature issue being a massive tax increase to fund an unpopular program, and with states being able to opt out of it.

Most individual provisions of the ACA (other than the mandate) are in fact quite popular -- like making sure that people can get insurance when they have pre-existing conditions, and allowing people to keep their kids on their insurance until they're 25. I'd expect that, with the Supreme Court out of the picture, the Democrats will return to those issues, and to the interesting question of what the Republican alternative is.

They don't have one.

I think it's tort reform.

[Brittain33]

Ooh, Justice Ginsburg for the win:

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