Aug 10 2009
Former Bush Strategist Matthew Dowd gives a warning the G.O.P. should heed
Former George W. Bush Strategist Matthew Dowd (shown above on the right with Karl Rove), a moderate conservative who has shown that he is willing to break the party line before, offered some wise words of advice to the republican party on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I think the Republicans soon have to be careful of something,” Dowd said. “I know Republicans are all patting themselves on the back and saying, “We’ve got the Democrats on the run, Obama on the run.’ I don’t think it’s necessarily a good political place to be in by November if you’ve defeated any health care reform.”
I have to agree with Dowd. How is it going to attract new voters by being the party that kept the health-insurance monopoly intact? How is denying American citizens quality health-care going to help the republicans put up a better showing in the next election cycle? The answer is it won’t.
The republican party needs to ask itself a question — is it really worth it to be the party that stopped health-care reform just to stop Obama?
It’s a good question to think about. With minorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives the G.O.P. has been unable (not due to a lack of effort) to stop Obama yet, although they have managed to slow him down considerably. While a victory against Obama-care would be a great rallying cry for the conservative base, it might not play out so nicely with the rest of the country. Let’s face it too, the conservative base will always find something to rally around, that’s why they are the base. Those guys will vote republican until the day they die.
An internal poll conducted by the R.N.C. revealed that 70% of republicans believe the health-care system is badly in need of reform. If you ask me the G.O.P. would be wise to listen to their constituents in this case rather than just appeasing the base.
Very good article skw.
I have to agree this is one issue that they may end up hurting themselves by keeping the status quo. I would like to see all who prevent health care reform loose their re-election but I am under the impression that all of our elections are rigged. But then again after watching some of the you tube videos of these idiots protesting town hall meetings perhaps Americans really are that stupid.
http://timeforchangeamerica.today.com/2009/08/09/who-will-replace-the-republican-party/#comment-78