I confess. I have a bit of a crush on Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear after hearing him talk about Obamacare and why he sees it as a game-changer for the people of Kentucky. It might be the way he says things, but I'm pretty sure it's what he says that grabs me. When he speaks, he speaks for people. There's empathy there, and you really are left with the sense that in his heart of hearts, he does work for the best interests of the people in his state.
Contrast that with Ohio State Rep. Matt Lynch, who has joined with several other conservatives to sue Governor John Kasich for expanding Medicare. Chris Hayes had to push very hard to get past all of Lynch's process excuses and dig down to why he opposes the policy. Exasperated, Hayes asked Lynch why it was that he opposed freeing people from the "terror and uncertainty" of not having health insurance.
With classic Republican cold-hearted emptiness Lynch replied, "I drove from Dayton to Columbus last night and I didn't see anyone terrorized by lack of health insurance, or health care for that matter."
As if people stand on the side of the road wearing sackcloth and ashes or something. What a fool. Lynch went on to assert that those people who would be covered by Medicaid would be "locked into the system" because they would choose not to make more money in order to keep their Medicaid coverage. Again, the fool forgets that they're absolutely not locked into the system because they can either purchase subsidized insurance on the exchanges or get employer-provided health insurance if they earn more than the Medicaid baseline.
That was the point of doing all of this, Rep. Lynch. Get a clue.
Governor Beshear, on the other hand, views the ACA as a transformational policy that will fundamentally improve the lives of Kentuckians. He also dealt head on with the personal animus that surrounds opposition to the ACA, saying "You don't have to like the President, you don't have to like me. This is not about us, it's about you. It's about your family, it's about your children."
Beshear also destroyed the ideologues like Lynch, characterizing them as people who just spew talking points over and over in the face of different facts.
If there is a clearer illustration of the differences between today's Republican party and Democrats, I'm not sure what it is. It transcends politics. For Republicans, people don't matter. For Democrats, they do.
