The nation has moved on, but Ted Cruz has pulled his fellow Republicans in Washington right back into 2010.
Three years ago next week, the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — became law. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld the legislation in an opinion written by the conservative chief justice, John Roberts.
Republicans campaigned for repeal in 2012, but President Obama was reelected, and Democrats gained seats in the Senate and the House and won the popular vote. Since the election, Republican governors have begun to embrace the law.
Here in Washington, though, it is as if tea party activists are still marching on the Capitol. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans supported legislation proposed by the freshman Cruz to defund Obamacare — the 35th attempt, give or take, to abolish the program.
This one failed, like all the others.
Doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result, it has been said, defines insanity. But among Senate Republicans, the lunatics are running the asylum. A few of the most junior members, with support from conservative activists, are calling the shots, while the caucus’s nominal leaders, intimidated by the newcomers’ power, have become followers.
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