Missourians to Obama: What Rhymes With Show Me?

Yesterday Missouri voters, assumed to be mostly Republican, tried to nullify the federal mandate to purchase insurance or pay a tax penalty, as dictated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But the approved state measure, known as Proposition C, is largely seen as an empty Republican nose-thumbing to the Obama presidency and PPACA.* By the time the insurance mandate goes into effect in 2014, courts will have already decided on the constitutionality of the federal law. And federal law usually trumps state law, when the challenge arises.

Voters in 2 other Republican-heavy states, Arizona and Oklahoma, will vote on similar paper tigers this year.

The NYT has a limited story. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Proposition C passed by a margin of 3 to 1 and that the Missouri Hospital Association attempted last-minute opposition.

* Pronounced fondly as puh-PACK-uh.

Seal of the state of Missouri from http://www.sos.mo.gov/symbols/default.asp, where it can be learned that the state fossil is the crinoid.