Deal Update - Diagnosis: Amnesia or gross hypocrisy

Obamacare was central to campaign that Barnes gave maximum contribution

Because of health care rationing sure to come under Obamacare, Democrat Roy Barnes may need to pay out of pocket for treatment of his political amnesia or chronic hypocrisy.

In an AP story here, Democrat Roy Barnes said Obamacare could be “financially devastating” for Georgia and called the partisanship of the bill the “greatest failure, modern failure, of political leadership in my lifetime.”

“President Obama’s promise of universal coverage – which conservatives see as socialism – formed the centerpiece of his campaign in 2008, and Roy Barnes was so excited about Obamacare that year that he gave over the legal limit to the president’s campaign,” said Deal for Governor spokesman Brian Robinson. “Now he’s running for governor and his party’s policies are ‘devastating’? Surely, Roy Barnes isn’t claiming he’s the only person in the United States who didn’t know that Obamacare would crush taxpayers, undermine private insurance and degrade the quality of health care Georgians have come to expect. If he is, he needs to do another apology tour around Georgia for insulting our intelligence.

“Roy Barnes knew good and well what Obamacare would cost. He’s singing a different tune because he’s desperate for power. If it wasn’t Obamacare that got him all excited, what was it? Cap and trade, which would cause energy costs for Georgia’s families to skyrocket?”

Before giving more than the maximum limit to President Obama’s campaign, Roy Barnes served as Georgia co-chair for fellow trial lawyer John Edwards – who ran a campaign to the left of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

“John Edwards managed to make Barack Obama look like a moderate – and he had no bigger supporter than Roy Barnes. Barnes has given thousands and thousands of dollars to U.S. senators who passed Obamacare, including a maximum contribution to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.),” Robinson said. “Barnes also donated big bucks to Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) who were major players in Obamacare and actually expressed concerns that it didn’t go far enough! Since 2004, Barnes has given more than $15,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, headed for most of that time by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Was the glaringly clear agenda of these ultraliberal senators apparent to everybody but Roy Barnes?

“Democrat Roy Barnes has bankrolled the leftist agenda that has so angered Georgia voters. Roy Barnes thinks he’s fooling Georgia voters. He’s actually reminding them of why they fired him in the first place. Independent estimates show that Barnes’ agenda for Georgia is just like President Obama’s – $2.4 billion in more spending and bigger government that Georgia taxpayers can’t afford.”

Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal, in contrast, fought Obamacare as the lead Republican on the Health Subcommittee and voted against it. Deal was the first member of the House to point out that the individual mandate in Obamacare was unconstitutional. Many states, including Georgia, agreed and took the Obama administration to court. Deal supported a less costly alternative that would have allowed small businesses to pool resources for group health care, allowed purchase of insurance over state lines and set limits on medical liability judgments, among other targeted reforms that would have expanded coverage without a government takeover of health care.