David M. King, the "King" in King v. Burwell, seems nice. A real peach. He gave an interview to the New York Times, specifically to shove his middle finger in the faces of all of the people facing the loss of their ACA subsidies. You should all hear how he feels about you.
In a nutshell, it's the classic "Screw you, I've got mine" attitude.
“We have a good chance of winning,” he said in an interview at his home here.
Mr. King and three other Virginia residents are challenging the payment of subsidies in states like Virginia that depend on the federal insurance marketplace. They contend that the 2010 health care law allows subsidies only in states that establish their own marketplaces.
But Mr. King said that he was not really worried about the outcome of the case, King v. Burwell, because as a Vietnam veteran, he has access to medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
I can see that big middle finger just as clear as day. I know! Let's start piling bodies on his sidewalk if he prevails.
But he was hardly finished. This is a grumpy, hateful old dude with a big chip on his shoulder.
If he wins, Mr. King said, “the left will blow it out of proportion and claim that eight million people will lose their health insurance.” But he said lawyers had assured him that “things are in play to take care of the problem.”
I refer you, once again, to the Lucy and the football analogy. Besides, lawyers are paid to make sure their plaintiffs are "assured."
Mr. King, a gruff but friendly man who likes to guard his privacy, expressed a generalized sense of grievance over the health care law and the way the administration had carried it out.
The name often used for the program, Obamacare, is enough to upset anyone, Mr. King said, and suggests that the president is “a narcissist.” (The term was actually coined by opponents of the law, though Mr. Obama has sometimes used it.)
Mr. King said that although he did not attend the arguments on the case in early March, he had listened to the audio. “A lot of the Supreme Court seemed to be in our favor,” he said, and he offered contrasting impressions of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“I thought Roberts was supportive,” Mr. King said. “Ginsburg was not. She is far left.”
Oh, do I detect a tinge of bitterness toward the black guy?
Mr. King isn't worried about being a liar before the Supreme Court, either.
When he sued the government in September 2013, Mr. King filed a declaration stating that he was not eligible for health insurance from the government or any employer. But in the last few months, he said in the interview, he went to an outpatient clinic for veterans in Fredericksburg and received a veteran identification card so he could qualify for discounts at Lowe’s stores.
Lowe’s, the home improvement company, offers discounts to honor the service of veterans.
At the clinic, Mr. King said, he also received a physical examination. “I’m eligible for V.A. care,” he said.During the arguments, Justice Ginsburg asked whether the plaintiffs had established that they had standing to sue: “a concrete stake” in the outcome, not just an ideological interest.
Mr. King said he was aware of the legal issue, but he played down its significance. Regardless of whether he has standing, he said, other plaintiffs do.
Maybe they do, maybe they don't. But again, that's another case of "screw you, world, because I'm a hater and I have mine."
“This case is not about destroying health care,” Mr. King said. “It’s about the law, the rule of law. You can’t have a pen and a phone and decide to change the world.”
Mr. Obama has cited his pen and his phone as symbols of his power to advance his agenda through executive actions, despite resistance by Republicans in Congress.
Mr. King said that he was growing weary of all the chatter about his case on social media and cable television, and that he deserved more credit for challenging the law.
“I listen to everybody bitch and moan and cry about Obamacare,” Mr. King said. “We did something about it.”
Yeah, you're a real hero, Mr. King. F*ck you and the high horse you ride around on.