Kristol Tells Republicans to Go for the Kill on Obama Healthcare Reform Plan
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Apparently trying to relive his glory days, Bill Kristol this morning exhorted Republicans to try to finish off the Obama healthcare reform plan:
With Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible. There will be a tendency to want to let the Democrats' plans sink of their own weight, to emphasize that the critics have been pushing sound reform ideas all along and suggest it's not too late for a bipartisan compromise over the next couple of weeks or months.
My advice, for what it's worth: Resist the temptation. This is no time to pull punches. Go for the kill.
Who can disagree? Surely the last thing the GOP should try to do now is "appear constructive, or at least responsible." Of course Kristol is singing off of his greatest hits list here--his signature moment came in 1994 when he delivered a similar message regarding the Clinton healthcare plan--but what he doesn't seem to get is that circumstances change.
But that was then. The conservative tide was still flowing strong. It's ebbing now, although many Congressional Democrats haven't figured that out yet.
Indeed. There are a couple of interpretations of the 2008 election that can be reasonably argued, and neither of them lends itself to Kristol's let's all froth at the mouth advice. You could say that voters actually listened to Obama's progressive agenda and endorsed it; or you could say that they embraced a more generic view of change in voting for him, one along the lines of we're tired of Washington negativity and combativeness. Kristol could have made much the same argument without arguing against appearing constructive or responsible. But explicitly exhorting destructive irresponsibility is the sort of nutty partisanship that invites a backlash. So please Bill, keep blogging.
Klein and WashPo's Exra Klein both make another important point about Democrats in this debate as well. Ezra writes:
But the question isn't whether Republicans understand the power of successful opposition. It's whether Democrats understand the dangers of failure. And that's most true for the Democrats who are most likely to weaken the effort: The Democrats who are cool to health-care reform because they fear the conservative tilt of their state are the Democrats who will lose their seats if Obama loses his momentum and the Democratic majority begins to lose on its major initiatives. Legislative defeats will not threaten Henry Waxman's seat. But it will imperil Mary Landrieu's. And Ben Nelson's.
I'm in-klein-ed to agree with both of them.
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Tags: healthcare | William Kristol
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Reader Comments
we need healthcare reform now dammit!!
the more i see the republicans true motives which seem to be creating a system of super-capitolism with no social safety programs or regulations in any industry to protect consumers in variuos markets and endeavors, the more i hate and despise the republican party.however some of the democrats are just as bad regarding the issue of healthcare reform obstruction.it seems great numbers of the so-called representatives from both parties only truly serve the oligarchy that owns many of these people on both sides of the aisle!! our nation needs healthcare reform now!! leaving big insurance and pharma pirates in control, with no reforms should bring the question;do the people that we elect to represent us for the advancement of the common good really intend to do us any good???!!ordo they all just work for the oligarchs and no one else!!??! we elected you you better damned well do your jobs and bring the voters the reforms we need,or you,ll all join the ranks of the unemployed!!
here's an idea...
How about using all the BILLIONS of dollars the U.S. gives out in financial aid to other nations every year (because we are The Charity Capitol of the World it seems) and use it to pay for health care...charity begins at home. The amount of money we give away every year is staggering. Stop giving our tax dollars away to other nations and use it for our own people.
Republican Heath care
The reason that Republicans attack government sponsored health care is that rich Republicans never had a desire to help the average American with reasonable health care. The reason for that is that the Republican Party represents the very rich, the wanna be rich, and corporate interests. The Republican party get its funding from these folks and does care about anything else. As long as the party is made up of the rich, and wanna be rich, Republicans will always have money and never have to worry about health care for themselves.
Attacking the people who are interested in helping the rest of the nation to get reasonable heath care is easier than working to help the nation to get reasonable health care. While the Republicans blindly supported billions of dollars that went to Iraq, with no possibility of return on investment, they have not raise a hand to help the folks who, by the way, do pay the tax bills.
After defeating the Democrats attempt to find health care reform during the Clinton administration, the Republican party had eight years of spending taxpayer dollars to invade Iraq, in the name of protecting the nation, it seems to me that complaining about the cost of a health care bill, which would benefit Americans, is very ingenuous.
Rich Republicans do not want taxpayers to have reasonable health car. This is because getting reasonable health care might not benefit the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and inept hospital administrations that rich Republicans are invested in. Why? Because the rich Republicans and the corporations they represent, do not pay taxes, and the insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and inept hospital administrators are some of the Republican party's key supporters.
I would not vote for a Republican dog catcher (by the way Abraham Lincoln is my lifelong hero)for fear that a Republican dog catcher might grind up the dogs and sell the meet for hot dogs.
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