Ruling By Roberts Enrages, And Re-energizes, Oklahoma Republicans

Whatever else results from the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the controversial Affordable Care Act– deemed “ObamaCare,” first by critics and then even by President Barack Obama himself – the deeply divided 5-4 ruling has united Oklahoma Republicans dramatically.

Coming just after a divisive primary campaign that saw Republican incumbents easily turn back all but two “Tea Party” challenges, the Grand Old Party’s leaders might even welcome the change of focus.

State Sen. Dan Newberry of Tulsa, who calls himself a Tea Party conservative but who had to rebuff a Tea Party challenge, sent CapitolBeatOK a statement characterizing the decision controlled by Chief Justice John Roberts as “an extraordinary disappointment.”

Nonetheless, he said, “it provides the public with valuable information about Obamacare. Today’s ruling lays bare the deception of the Obama administration in assuring the public that the Affordable Health Care Act was not a massive tax increase.  This is an extraordinary fraud — if presented to the American people as the huge tax increase it really is, the proposal would have been overwhelmingly rejected.”