<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Vandals And Saboteurs,&nbsp;Ctd]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/25/us-usa-healthcare-republicans-idUSBRE96O0EJ20130725">reports</a> that, in response to the Obama administration&#8217;s &#8220;public education campaign on healthcare reform, Republicans and their allies are mobilizing a counter-offensive including town hall meetings, protests and media promotions to dissuade uninsured Americans from obtaining health coverage.&#8221; Beutler <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/07/undeniable_sabotage.php">fumes</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>It’s bad enough to just not care all that much if the U.S. has a large uninsured population. But if there’s an excuse for encouraging people who have the means to remain uninsured, I can’t fathom it.</p>
<p>It almost goes without saying that this effort is being undertaken to keep younger, healthier people out of the exchanges, and send the individual insurance market into an adverse-selection “death spiral.” That would ruin the system for people who <em>want</em> the help Obamacare offers them. And so the campaign effectively amounts to asking people to continue putting their well-being and livelihoods at risk for the good of the cause of keeping health care for sick people unaffordable.</p></blockquote>
<p>Drum <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/07/freedomworks-plans-push-persuade-people-not-get-health-insurance">can hardly believe</a> that &#8220;they&#8217;re literally going to be encouraging people <em>not to buy health insurance&#8221;</em>:<!--tpmore --></p>
<blockquote><p>What&#8217;s next? A campaign to get people to skip wearing seat belts? To skip using baby seats in cars? To skip vaccinations for their kids? It&#8217;s times like this that words fail those of us with a few remaining vestiges of human decency.</p></blockquote>
<p>Cohn <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114028/obamacare-sabotage-watch-conservative-campaign-gets-real">notes</a> how unusual this kind of obstruction is:</p>
<blockquote><p>If you’re among those people who agrees about the inherent malevolence of Obamacare, then this might all seem very reasonable. (Hey, they burned draft cards to protest the Vietnam War—and Obamacare is <em>just</em> as awful!) But if you don’t see things that way, you might be wondering if this is the way opposition parties and movements typically act when a law they don’t like is about to take effect. The answer is no.</p></blockquote>
<p>And Sarah Kliff <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/25/watch-out-republicans-youre-helping-obamacare-succeed/">thinks</a> that Republicans may unintentionally be helping Obamacare succeed:</p>
<blockquote><p>Republicans have set Obamacare expectations so incredibly low that, if Godzilla doesn’t march in on Oct. 1 and gobble up our health insurance coverage and legions of IRS agents fail to microchip the masses, that could plausibly look like a success.</p></blockquote>
<p>Earlier Dish on Republicans&#8217; attempts to sabotage Obamacare <a href="http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/07/25/vandals-and-saboteurs-ctd-2/">here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
]]></html></oembed>