I wonder if this is a bluff:
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said in a press briefing at the Ronald Reagan Republican Center today that his party will offer repeated points of order on the Senate floor challenging the legitimacy of budget reconciliation items in a package of fixes to the Senate-passed health care bill. He said his candidates in competitive races from California to Florida “should and will run on” repealing the legislation.
Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Democrats may want to pass the measure and move on, but the GOP will keep pressing at it to “make sure that health care is the No. 1 issue that the election is won or lost by” in the fall.
I don’t doubt the first part…that the Republicans will make the reconciliation process as painful as possible (provided we even get to that point). But, assuming that the health care reforms pass, will the Republicans actually campaign on repealing them?
I suppose they probably will. After all, they seem to believe their own bullshit half of the time. I think they’ll actually run on a broader message of creeping socialism, going after the bank bailout that Bush originated, and the spending in the stimulus that “didn’t create a single job,” and “government takeover” of General Motors and Chrysler, and the mandate in the health care reforms.
What will the Democrats respond with? That’s the problem.
The issue is much larger:
Which media outlets will give a fair hearing to the Democratic arguments?
It doesn’t matter what the right says when they control nearly the entirely media structure. They know whatever they say will be heard and repeated ad infinitum.
The left has never invested in the media to the same scale, and is forever left trying to find a way to get the message out.
So at this point, I’m less concerned about the message itself, since too few will even hear it.
This is a catch 22 argument. Democrats weep and point fingers at the media and call it “Republican Controlled” as the primary reason that the “Democratic message” is not being broadcast across the public space. Meanwhile the MSM people from their aloof stance, sniffle and point fingers at the Democrats and declare that “the Democrats are simply too lazy to bring their messages, whatever that may be, to us so we can offer them to the people”. Alas, alas, and fret, fret. Who is right between these two? John Q. Public do you know?
The problem here is that there is truth in both complaints, and the modicum of truth results in an almost complete absence of Democratic position and argument messages in the public space. On the other hand the Republican National Propaganda machine continues to flood the MSM with right wing messages ranging from the significant to the silly and all flavors in between. Further all Republican messages are well coated with sensationalism and sprinkled all over with tantalizing controversy. Contrast this with the few Democratic messages which are generally released during some well worn congressional press conference or as part of some repetitious quotes delivered during a staffer’s speech from the Washington Press Club Luncheon. BORING!!
From the point of view of the MSM, controversy attracts eyeballs and eyeballs at attention equals advertising revenue. So what political input do you think that employees of such a competitive industry as the fourth estate will pick? If you said Democrats, you have two more chances to say Republican before you give us the wrong answer.
Not to mention the Republicans usually speak with one voice .. while the Democrats speak with about 53(which is the problem of having so many traitorous Blue Dogs)
But when they do get a chance to speak, what do they say? On health care, the only consistent talking point on the left is “the bill is flawed, but…” Could you ever imagine a conservative framing a signature GOP bill like that? No.
“What will the Democrats respond with? That’s the problem.” That’s ALWAYS the problem.
A bluff???? That would be a NO. He’s serious as a heart attack.
Will they campaign on repealing health care? Yes, haven’t you been watching the teevee? All of America is against it except the DFH’s and the lazy asses who are too sorry to go out and find a job with benefits. You know the ones…. all those millions of people who are enjoying their unemployment so much they don’t give a damn about ever looking for work again.
What will the Democrats respond with? Your guess is as good as mine. I’m tired of even remotely expecting them to respond forcefully and with a clear voice. If I had to guess, the response will be to quiver and quake while drifting a little further to the right every day while the Republican scream machine pounds them over the head with the GOP narrative until their only choice is to scream “UNCLE” to make the noise stop. Then there will only be time enough left for the Democrats to clean out their desk drawers and offices to make way for the newly elected Republican who will take their place.
With the direction that things are currently headed I would say the odds in Vegas are pretty good that this scenario won’t be too far off the mark.
They’ll campaign on it, but they won’t be able to seriously do anything about it. If they had a Republican president in office by 2012, they might actually do it. They need to do w/e they can before the reforms kick in. If they don’t, they’ll have to do a switcheroo like the Tories in Britain.
Yes, they will run on repealing it. They want to kill it before anyone can experience the benefits of healthcare reform. And for all the negatives, there are substantial benefits that take place relatively rapidly.
And Democrats better wise up, get it passed, and run on fixing what the public doesn’t like before the repeal movement gains steam.
It worked on a healthcare bill in the 1990s; they are rolling out the old anti-Clinton playbook.
What will Democrats respond with?
Probably, “How can we change this to make it more acceptable to Republicans?”
If it were me, this is what I would go with:
Within the first year of signing health care reform, thousands of uninsured Americans with preexisting conditions would suddenly be able to purchase health insurance for the very first time in their lives.
This year, your child can stay on your insurance policy until age 26.
This year, insurance companies will be banned forever from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions.
This year, they will be banned from dropping your coverage when you get sick. And they will no longer able to arbitrarily and massively hike your premiums. Those practices will end.
If this reform becomes law, all the new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to customers starting this year. Free checkups so we can catch preventable diseases.
Starting this year, there will be no more lifetime restricive annual limits on the amount of care you can receive from your insurance companies…
It would change fast: Insurance companies would finally be held accountable to the American people
There is so much stuff on the WH blog that would start THIS Year that are favorable. They should have a rebuttal or several actually–I do.