The Presidential Switcheroo

With all the yammering and whining one hears about the Affordable Care Act (known as "Obamacare" by the mild minded), one would think its a new idea, and that its a liberal conspiracy at that.
It is especially strange that so called conservative representatives of districts most in need of the benefits of the act seem to be most venomous in their objections to it.
In fact the bulk of the AFA (that's Affordable Care Act) is modeled after ideas initially put forth by the Heritage Foundation years ago. Not known for its liberalism, the Foundation's idea sparked then governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to initiate what was then known as "Romneycare.". Most all of the objections we hear today about Obama's efforts were proven wrong back then. Despite his Power Point presentations of his presidential campaign to the contrary, much of "Obamacare" is copied from "Romneycare."
So what's really going on here? How is it that the republican party forgot itself and decided to go against one of it's very rare rational ideas? And this one actually worked!
What we now call conservatives are in too many cases merely sets of lips that flap whichever way gets them away from the lousy places they lived in before the got to Washington. They know and care very little about their party's history or their country. In their frenzy to cater to folks too stupid to vote their own interests, they squandered the best political opportunity in a generation.
Or perhaps they feel like grad students that do all sorts of research work so that a professor they don't like gets a Nobel prize.