Not The Time For GOP To Go Wobbly On Healthcare Repeal

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Posted by Brian
Republicans Need To Stick To Their Guns On Healthcare Repeal
Despite some recent polls which show the gap narrowing between those Americans favoring repeal of health care and those who want to leave it in place, Republicans need to move forward on repeal.  There are several important reasons for bringing a repeal vote to the floor, not the least of which is that repeal was a central message in the last election.  Forget that the polls are skewed by the way the questions are worded and that they are weighted to the left with more Democrats than Republicans questioned. That is typical of a lot of these polls, which is done so that the pollster can get the results they desire. What is important is this: If the GOP were to backtrack on this less than one month after gaining the majority in the House of Representatives, voter backlash would be severe. They will go down in 2012 just as the Democrats did this year.  The GOP said they heard the voters and got the message. This is their first opportunity to prove that.

In the meantime, Democrats are using the Gabrielle Giffords shooting as a call to tone down the rhetoric, set a new tone, and to work together.  This is showing a lot of chutzpah, seeing as how the Democrats were completely uninterested in having the GOP be a part of any meaningful discussions during the health care debate, and a lot of other legislation.  This attitude remained even after the creaming they took on November 2nd, ramming through as much crap as they could during the lameduck session. The Democrats haven't had a change of heart.  They have a change of strategy. Now we need to work together, which in Democrat-speak means: Republicans need to compromise with us.

In past Congresses, that is exactly what a lot of the Republican leadership has done. Who can forget the "Gang of Fourteen", led by John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and some other "moderate" Republicans, reaching across the aisle to work with Democrats to block judges nominated by a sitting Republican President? That, to Democrats, is bipartisan cooperation. Republicans who are willing to screw their own party and principles to get invited to the Sunday Morning talk shows, be on the panel of "Face the Nation", and get invited to Washington cocktail parties.

Already we are seeing John Boehner change terms such as "job-killing" bill to "job-crushing".  My God, man! Stick to your guns! (Note: I take no responsibility for some nut who is set off by the previous sentence). By changing the term, you buy into the narrative of the left that these "incendiary" words are what caused some drugged-out leftist scumbag to shoot 19 people. It is a typical leftist tactic to place collective blame on the country when a tragedy happens.  Boehner and the rest of the GOP leadership need to completely reject these premises floated by the media, face these issues head-on, and articulate to the American public what complete sophistry these media-driven crisis are.

If Republicans backtrack on this, they will almost ensure that a third-Party will rise up, formed by Americans who are already distrustful of both Parties.

Two New Obamacare Polls Have High Numbers of Democrats, Misleading Questions
By Katrina Trinko  January 17, 2011 5:40 P.M.

Two new polls show declining support for fully repealing Obamacare. Does this mean the GOP, on the verge of passing a bill repealing Obamacare in the House, should back down?

Not so, say GOP pollsters, who argue that the poll questions are poorly worded and that the demographic samples include a disproportionate number of Democrats.
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