As regular readers of this blog know, I've had a lot of fun with former WWE CEO/Diva Linda McMahon's efforts to buy the Connecticut Senate seat up for election this year. However, I admit that her background in WWE fakery will do her well if she is able to complete that purchase in November.

An extreme example of this GOP faking is in its mock opposition to the wealthcare bill for the HMOs and health insurers. Let's look at why the Goppers love, love, love the legislation.

The Wealthcare Bill Is Epitome GOP Policy Goals
Think about what this legislation does. It takes medical care and money away from the poor and much of the middle class in order to give a ton of money to big corporations, their executives, and their shareholders. Reverse Robin Hood economics has been the main policy priority of the Republican Party for generations.

The Legislation Screws Over Core Democratic Constituencies
Think of who this legislation screws over: the poor, the middle class, the elderly, union members, liberals, moderates, progressives, and women. The GOP hates all those groups of people, and usually has to rip those people off itself. Even better from the perspective of the rogue elephants, passage of this legislation will lower turnout of all those constituencies, producing an electorate that is skewed in their favor.

This Will Hurt the Democrats Repeatedly
Passage of this legislation won't be a one time hit against the Democrats. It will bite them in the butt so often. The series of betrayals during the legislative process has hurt the party of the corrupt jackass by alienating liberals and grassroots activists. The next step will be when Democratic voters find out the predicted levels of premiums they will have to pay in order to avoid heavy fines, not that they will be able to afford the fines either. That will be a huge hit.

When union members' contracts expire, they will be zapped next with much higher premiums and copays and much less care. That will alienate people who belong to unions but who have not followed the issue very closely.

Then, there is the big hit that happens when the mandates actually go into effect. Using government coercion to force people to subsidize the HMOs and health insurers will make it possible for them to jack already astronomical premiums much higher. If the government tries to enforce the weak restrictions on increases in the wealthcare bill, the corporations will concoct a phony "insurance crisis," and those restrictions will be repealed. (This is precisely what happened when auto insurance was made mandatory in California.) It will be corporate profits galore and much more suffering for most people in our country. This is electoral and policy bliss for the Goppers.

The Charade Goes On
This is why the Goppers are making the weakest and weirdest arguments against the bill instead of focusing on the mandates. If they made the mandates the issue, they would have created so much public rage that this bill would have died its well deserved death months ago.

Instead, it's fake punches and a lot of noise from the Goppers. This is the strategy of a party that wants legislation to pass, but wants its opponents to pay for it politically.

But, if you really so partisan that you refuse to engage your critical thinking skills, go ahead and buy the metaphorical bodies going through pre sawed tables routine. If you buy the GOP's antics, you are just as naive and silly as somebody who says that the WWE isn't fake.

Photo: LINXBAS