I was continually shocked this election season by how often the Rs said outrageous things and never walked them back. I kept thinking, "You have every right to think those things, but do you realise you're saying them out loud?" It became OK to say the most extreme things, and the mainstream media barely challenged them. I presume the Dems decided that they couldn't spend all their time saying, "That's not true" to everything, and I wondered if that was Republican policy, to try to get the Dems to waste their time arguing straw men. The Dems refused to do it.

I always thought the term "Obamacare" was used as a slur for what was The Healthcare Reform Act. Attach Obama's name and "you know who" gets their panties in a bunch.

Please, just let them go on believing such things so they continue to lose elections.

What is up with your obsession with the Times? We all hate the Times, we don't want to read it and we don't come here to have it shoved in our faces.

What I've noticed people have the most problem with is that healthcare premiums have gone up a few thousand dollars. That's what people have a problem with, not the law itself. Get those premiums to go down, and they'll have no problem with it.

Let's try to pretend that people are at least somewhat aware of the affect that this program is having on their lives. A few thousand dollars is not an inconsiderable concern for many people.

Oddly, Westneat's column has all but disappeared from the Times web site. No active links unless you do a search.

@6 Actually, a lot of people have started seeing their premiums go down, while others have actually gotten refunds.

I can't fault Westneat for the facts he recites. Yes, voters in deep blue Washington approved yet another Eyman initiative. And I'm not surprised that, when asked, Washington voters say government does too much, and they say they're not happy with the Affordable Care Act. In a terrific NY Mag piece a few weeks ago, The Tea Party Will Win in the End, Frank Rich cites much the same statistics about American voter sentiments.

What I have to fault Westneat for is his willingness to accept the present-day GOP's framing of all these issues. Locally, Republicans ran a strong (with a few exceptions), mostly moderate slate of candidates.

When you actually get to the substance, there was nothing moderate about the GOP's flagship candidate in this state, Rob McKenna. Against the wishes of the current governor, he sued to have the Affordable Care Act repealed, even though it took some legal contortions to make any case it was unconstitutional. Against the will of the voters and despite the economic benefits, he has repeatedly tried to sabotage light rail in this region.

Well, Westneat goes on to acknowledge that McKenna wasn't so moderate after all, contradicting himself in the process. In this respect, maybe I shouldn't fault him so much. By contradicting himself, he's a lot like the American voter.

"Except they botched it, big time. By spending much of the year suicidally insulting huge swaths of the voting public."

WHY did they keep insulting people?
Is it because they BELIEVE those insults were appropriate?

"That Washington state finally has become a proper extension of the People's Republic of Seattle."

Wait for it.

"When what people wanted was some adults in the room."

Nice.
So you talk about how the "people" wanted "adults".
Then you shift to an insult.
And then you shift AGAIN to how Republicans kept insulting people and how this hurt their elections.

"Soviet of Washington"

Affordable Care Act. My error.

If you create a society of the 1% and have a democracy based on majority rule, eventually it catches up to you.

(Well, unless you can hypnotize everyone...)

Also, George W. Bush. (Never forget).

The Westneat article cites Esser, McKenna, Finkbeiner and Dino Rossi as Moderates!! Yikes! Maybe Dan Evans was a moderate, but not those 4! I'd like to see a citation for the "53% of WA voters would scrap Affordable Healthcare Act". That seems doubtful in a state that was a given for Obama. (Note: my auto-correct changed Dino Rossi to dump tissue-I kid you not-and that sums it up for the current GOP!)

What exactly does he mean by "voters told exit pollsters" when talking about WA state? Was I supposed to talk to an exit pollster on my way to the mail box?

OK, 53%, but a large portion of those folks want something MORE socialist: Single-Payer, National Health.

There is an opinion on the ACA that's to the LEFT of the Democratic Party, Westneat.

JonnyH,

Yes, we had exit polls. Not even all such polls were literally conducted outside polling places when we voted in person. The term simply refers to polling of those who voted - not to the physical means of voting. Sheesh.

@ 18,

That's exactly what I was thinking. How does a vote by mail state have exit polls?

Maybe Westneat polled the Seattle Slimes' editorial staff as they were exiting a Conspiracy to Declare Rob McKKKenna Dictator for Life meeting.

@ Goldy,

Some people's premiums went down?? My Group Health premiums shot up 15% just in July. The premiums have more than doubled since I signed up a few years ago, and now I'm required by law to pay them. That's the reason the "Affordable" Care Act makes me apoplectic.

I'd have preferred for Congress to drop the age restrictions on Medicare and increase Medicare taxes, or alternatively allowed us to buy into the system. But President Obama conspired with the greed-crazed, blood-sucking, private insurance industry to keep those choices off-the-table. It's just another scheme to siphon off dollars from the (former) middle class to the wealthy.

SINGLE PAYER NOW GAWDAMMIT!1!

I thought that this Westneat column was one of the weakest he's ever done--poorly argued, not well written and just kind of weird. Perhaps he was trying to make the point that Washington isn't as deep blue as some may now be assuming - but if that's his argument he did a crappy job of it

@9 You're probably right. But many people have had their health insurance costs go up. If I'm voting with my wallet, I'm taking those cost changes into account.

@10, @17, the exact problem with today's Republican party is that these people (from what I know of Washington politics, mostly from reading Slog) ARE the moderates. Sure, twenty or thirty years ago, they'd have been the lunatic fringe, but that GOP is dead and gone (except for Susan Collins).

Hell, a couple weeks ago, Sam fucking Brownback, who aside from being the theocrat par excellence, has led Kansas into a fiscal disaster through tax cuts that have utterly failed to produce the economic recovery promised by the Norquist wing and bankrupted the state (I'm sure it's all Obama's fault), was called a moderate by one of the otherwise more thoughtful conservative writers I read. That's how far the GOP has lurched to the right. The actual moderates have been almost entirely purged from the party.

I agree with Westneat.

Yes, Obama ran a great campaign, and Westneat should have pointed that out, but the nature of the Republican primaries doomed any Republican candidate from the start, since they were forced to verbalize policies that are too extreme for the public at large but indeed are part of the Republican platform. (E.g., no abortions, period, no exception for rape, incest, or the mother's/child's viability; no amnesty or path to citizenship for any immigrant here illegally. Etc.)

And from the "Romney wan't conservative enough" drumbeat over at RedState, it sounds like they'll put up an even worse candidate next time around.