GOP Memo: Blocking Dems’ Health Care Reform Proposal Is Good Politics
In another sign of just how much Republicans are staking on standing in the way of the health care reform proposal, the chief of the GOP’s efforts to win Senate seats is distributing a memo on Capitol Hill and among candidates making the case that united obstruction of the Dems’ plan is good politics for the GOP.
The memo, from NRSC chief John Cornyn, was sent over by a source and has been sent to Senators and Senate candidates around the country. It marshalls poll data to argue that Dems will pay a price in the 2010 midterm elections for trying to push an unpopular health care bill through.
The memo cites Bill Clinton’s health care plan as a precedent, arguing that it “played a major role in the Republican sweep of the 1994 elections, and it is reasonable to conclude that history could repeat itself in 2010.” Some analysts think that it was the failure to get a bill through that led to catastrophe for Dems in 1994.
Though this is understandable coming from a political committee working for the minority, the memo offers only the vaguest suggestion that the GOP’s approach on health care would be a net positive for the party, and instead focuses wholly on the policy and political benefits of opposing the Dem proposal:
As the calendar turns to 2010, we find ourselves running in a markedly improved political environment from the difficult 2006 and 2008 election cycles. Americans are alarmed at the overreach of the Democrat-controlled government, and its massive price tag that has driven our national debt to an all-time high. While Senate Democrats push forward with their costly health care legislation, they are rapidly losing the support of the American public. The Democrats’ massive health care bill, coupled with their support for out-of-control government spending, are quickly developing into potent political issues for us…
The good news is the American people agree with our step-by-step approach of reforming health care by bringing down costs without a government-takeover. We have the American people on our side. If we continue to stand together in opposition to the Democrats’ bill, we can then start the process of enacting the meaningful and sensible health care reform our country needs.
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/gop-memo-blocking-dems-health-care-reform-proposal-is-good-politics/