This article was written by Bob Ellis in July of 2013….
It’s a clear history of the Mike Rounds record of support for ObamaCare.
I see we have an ObamaCare surrender monkey here in South Dakota: Former governor and U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rounds.
From the Argus Leader:
On the subject of defunding the Affordable Care Act, and possibly risking a government shutdown, Rounds said he didn’t know the exact details of the proposal.
“If there was a way to get the Obamacare off the backs of the American public, it would be a fight worth having,” Rounds said. “I would want to assess whether or not there was any possibility of success in getting it done, or if there was any possibility of coming up with the votes to have an impact.”
Rounds’ cautious approach on those issues rankles some conservative activists.
There was a good way to strike a blow against ObamaCare three years ago while Mike Rounds was governor. Instead, he chose to play the coward (I’m being generous, here) and sent his goons to the legislature with orders to kill the proposed Health Care Freedom Act. Interestingly, I heard virtually all Republican legislatures during this time railing about how bad ObamaCare was going to be (now that it’s been passed for three years, we know what’s in it and how bad it is)…yet not a majority in the “Republican” supermajority was willing to go on record to fight against it.
This was a critical time for the states to go on record stating “not here,” and some states did…but not South Dakota. Many of us recognized back then that, despite the noble claims that our court system is above politics, the courts would be affected by political leanings and pressure–and now we have seen that play out in the bizzare ruling of the John Roberts-led Supreme Court upholding this abomination that clearly violates the Constitution in multiple ways. Leading up to this sellout of the American people. Obama and Co. were engaged in a full court press to badger, intimidate, smear and cajole the SCOTUS into ruling in their favor; the salvos from the Right were…not really there, from the states or Republicans in the federal government. It’s obvious from this oddly-written and constitutionally-baseless decision which side of the aisle John Roberts listened to.
It wasn’t too big of a surprise that many “Republicans” in South Dakota played the surrender monkey to ObamaCare–a disappointment, yes, but not a huge surprise. After all, “Republicans” in South Dakota have had a twinkle in their eye for government health care for some time, going back to the Zaniya Project and a time when, thanks to RINO Mitt Romney, gave cover to big government bureaucrats within the GOP with his “RomneyCare” prototype of ObamaCare. He pushed that crap on the people of Massachusetts, and before the higher costs, waiting lists, and diminished access to health care were known, a number of “Republicans around the country and here in South Dakota were all smiles to push it on their people, too.
Some have still remained committed to seeing it forced on the people, even in the wake of ObamaCare and even as they hypocritically complain about ObamaCare out of the other side of their mouth. Given the behavior Mike Rounds and Dennis Daugaard, which runs counter to their words, no doubt Rounds would be worthless in any future attempts to get rid of ObamaCare. He’s the same kind of worthless “go along to get along” surrender monkey we have too many of already in Washington D.C.
Obviously I’m not the only one who realizes this. From the Argus article:
“What has surprised me most about the South Dakota race … is the fact that there is so much lingering opposition to a successful two-term Republican governor,” said Larry Sabato, a political analyst and president of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “In a lot of other states, someone like Rounds would waltz into the nomination. Clearly he upset the tea party apple cart and made a lot of enemies on the right. They think he’s a squish. They think he’s a RINO (Republican In Name Only.)”
We don’t think. We know. Observing actions instead of falling for nice-sounding words will do that for you.
Rounds pretty much assured his position as a surrender monkey with a Tweet cited in the Political Smokeout blog:
Obamacare is bad for the country and I have always opposed it. Symbolic votes are nice, but GOP needs a workable strategy to eliminate it.
Blah blah blah. “Symbolic votes” could have gone a long way in 2010 to send a message to SCOTUS that this garbage was not going to stand among a free people. ”Symbolic votes” could now go a long way to reassure the American people who are about to completely lose all faith in the GOP as a paty willing to go the mat to protect the American people’s rights, and do more than mouth stuff Republicans want to hear while doing nothing to advance those goals.
Mike Rounds in Washington D.C. would just be one more nail in the lid of the GOP. We need someone who is committed to fighting tooth and nail for Republican positions, not someone who sees doing so as just “symbolic.”
*** Bob Ellis *** commentary can be seen daily on the American Clarion
