Last week, Republican Senator Ron Johnson proposed a bill stating that nothing in Obamacare shall be construed as mandating the cancellation of existing health care plans. When Ted Cruz stated his goal of defunding Obamacare via the budgeting process, Senator Johnson called him “intellectually dishonest”. But we’ll return to that later.

A recent National Review piece by Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru argues that Cruz’s strategy was misguided and damaging to future GOP prospects, and they urged greater prudence going forward. Certainly a reasonable point of view, but in a recent Corner post, Lowry inadvertently highlighted why so many conservatives are tired of being lectured on why Cruz’s plan was reckless and hopeless. And further, why they don’t trust the more cautious Republican factions to know when or how to strike when vote counts are more favorable. Lowry writes:

Democrats have entered a zone of real vulnerability here. The turmoil over Obamacare — the canceled policies, the failed website launch — coupled with the president’s low standing create the possibility of Democrats getting caught in a political stampede and having to accept something like the Johnson bill.

So let me get this straight… the Democrats will be facing a “political stampede”, and Lowry’s goal is to codify in law a sloppy and dishonest Obama campaign promise?  Continue reading →