Remember this gem?

At the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 22, 2009, CNSNews.com asked then-Speaker Pelosi, “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”

Pelosi said: “Are you serious? Are you serious?”

Her spokesman, Nadeam Elshami then told this news agency, “You can put this on the record. That is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.”

Meanwhile Reality posted:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/03/28/toobin_hard_to_imagine_how_things_could_be_going_worse_for_obama_administration.html

 

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She was pretty much right in terms of the mood at the time. No one but a hack website like CNS really thought the constitutionality was a big issue until RWNs lost the legislative battle and decided to try to get it stopped in the courts instead (after bitching about democrats doing the same thing for 30+ years straight).

Not to defend the RWN but if either side were trying to strike down a bill and they lost legislatively going to the supreme court is not a long shot.

Now obviously both sides do it, but to say it's some kind of fault is silly.

I'm just giving the timeline of events. There's obviously a long tradition of running crying to the supreme court when your political opponents pass a bill you don't like.


But the fact is the constitutionality angle wasn't a big deal at the time the bill was being passed. It was all about death panels and government taking over healthcare, not about the constitution.

nonsense...the mandate's constitutionality was questioned from the moment it was mentioned


given enough time i'm sure i could find the outpost debates on it from that time....so if we were derping about it you can guarantee that other people were

 

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This.

There were discussions on many fronts, and the constitutionality of a "mandate to purchase and participate in a private market" was one of the earliest hot buttons for opponents of the bill. And even some supporters.

 

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Yup, it was always an issue. The bill was so nebulous for so long though, people didn't know if it was going to be included or not, but it was always debated as unconstitutional.

 

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Liberals are so crazy. Lost the battle? Heck, there never was a battle. The Democrats had to votes to do whatever they wanted. This is clearly outside of the scope of the Federal Government. It is sad that the so-called leader of the Democrats was shocked to even think there was a limit on her power.

 

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I dont remember exactly but I do think the constitutionality angle did come up during the debate but was not very high on the list of objections coming from the right.


If you turn the clock back to before Obama's inauguration, there were zero visible Republicans or right wing voices who questioned the constitutionality of this type of plan and quite a few openly supported it as their preferred plan.

The people who believe the constitutionality of obamacare wasn't a subject for debate prior to its passage?


Yea - keep reading the quote in the OP until your collective brain fart sinks in

 

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