Ineffectual Cheerleading
by digby
In case you were wondering what the Republicans have in mind:
On “Meet The Press” this morning, Newt Gingrich praised the Tea Party movement and their response to the push for healthcare reform and told David Gregory, “every Republican in 2010 and 2012 will run on an absolute pledge to repeal this bill. ” (He also added that the GOP cannot be the “Party of No.”)
Gingrich still has serious weight among the conservative base—he was responsible for “Drill Here, Drill Now” and the House Republican response to the first bailout (they proposed cutting capital gains taxes instead of saving the financial system)—and, as the plight of Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist have made clear, the only way out of a Republican primary is to avoid any hint of moderation.
“I’d like to pick up on what Sen. DeMint says about the process. I think the process was very bad. But the process was really caused, in large measure, by the refusal of the Republicans to deal in any way,” said Specter.
“Sen. DeMint is the author of the famous statement that this is going to be President Obama’s ‘Waterloo,’ that this ought to be used to break the president,” said Specter, referring to the political battle over health care. “So that before the ink was dry on the oath of office — and I know this, because I was in the caucus — the Republicans were already plotting ways to beat President Obama in 2012.”
Whether it will work is certainly up for grabs. But they will be running against health care (very possibly calling for its repeal) and if the Democrats are relying on the public seeing through their propaganda and recognizing what a wonderful reform it’s going to be a few years down the road, they’d better come up with a plan B. It is going to be a difficult sell — this country is in a very bad mood and doesn’t want to hear happy talk. The Republicans are going to stoke that bad mood and Democrats are not going to be very effective in combating it if they rely on vacuous cheerleading. If anything, that makes people even angrier.
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