They’ll Oppose It Anyway

by digby

There is something wrong with a system that allows this to happen:

It’s interesting to examine the distribution of states’ winner-loser status relative to political alignment. Support for reform has been restricted to Democrats, with only one Republican House member supporting reform and all Senate Republicans opposing. When we examine the seven states most likely to be winners under reform, we see a combined split in their Senate delegations of twelve Republicans versus two Democrats. The three states most likely to lose under health care reform are collectively represented by four Democrats and two Republicans. When we add in the group that would be losers under the income-tax option, the split becomes even stronger, with these states being represented by eighteen Democrats and four Republicans.

The overall pattern therefore shows a curious alignment: States with the most to gain under health care reform are overwhelmingly represented by Republicans, while those states likely to do worse are much more likely to have Democratic senators.

I’m sorry, but that just pisses me off. If I thought that the Republicans actually gave a damn about the people they represent, I might see that as a potential plus for the reforms holding over the long run.  But they don’t.  And for an awful lot of the beneficiaries, I’m afraid that the fact that some of these benefits will be going to the wrong people (if you know what I mean) means they will willingly give up their own benefits just to deny it to them.  It’s an old story.

Via Echidne, posting over at Atrios’ place.