Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

If we look at the upcoming Supreme Court decision on ObamaCare in purely political terms, it sure seems to be a loser for the Republicans. Consider what could happen if the Court overturns the individual mandate...

• 16 million people who now have subsidized private health insurance will be thrown back to ER's for their care. Say goodbye to those votes, mostly the poor and minorities.

• All the college-aged kids who either can't get or can't afford insurance, and are covered under their parents' policies, will suddenly be left in the lurch. Goodbye to the youth vote, as well as the votes of well-meaning and concerned parents.

• Tens of millions of people who have private insurance will see their premiums go up substantially. After seeing their premiums increase by about 40% in the last five years, I think you can kiss lots of votes of angry and suddenly much poorer policy holders goodbye.

• If the CBO is correct in their projections, employers of as many as 4 million employees will lose their company-paid health insurance because the employers can no longer afford to offer the benefit. They won't happily support the candidates who say they wanted to repeal ObamaCare.

• How about all the doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers who will suddenly have to write off their bills for treatment of the newly uninsured in ER's? Oh yeah, they'll enthusiastically line up behind the candidates who wanted this to happen.

• And what about the state's attorneys general who banded together to sue? All of a sudden, their state Medicaid programs will be under water, their local hospitals and doctors won't be paid, and their residents will be voting them out of office too.

If the Court overturns all or even major parts of ObamaCare, there is no GOP candidate who'll be able to get far enough away to escape the shrapnel from the public explosion over lost benefits.

From a political strategy point-of-view, wouldn't it have been better to nick away at the least desirable parts of the bill or add in things that are missing, as opposed to just cratering the whole thing? The critics all say that what we need is a "free market" solution. But ObamaCare already is based heavily on private insurers--the single payer system originally proposed was lost early in the fighting over what will be in the bill.

For those who want to replace President Obama, solidify a majority in the House, and maybe take control of the Senate, this has to be the "losingest" political strategy that I can imagine. I wonder if any of the political geniuses ever thought about that?