{"id":484333,"date":"2010-03-29T10:54:58","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T14:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/?p=80749"},"modified":"2010-03-29T10:54:58","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T14:54:58","slug":"repeal-pledge-becomes-gop-litmus-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/484333","title":{"rendered":"Repeal Pledge Becomes GOP Litmus Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_80766\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 490px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/crist-mccain-lynch.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-80766\" title=\"Charlie Crist, John McCain and Ed Lynch\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/crist-mccain-lynch-480x303.jpg\" alt=\"GOP candidates Charlie Crist, John McCain and Ed Lynch have all taken a hard stand for health care repeal (ZUMA)\" width=\"480\" height=\"303\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">GOP candidates Charlie Crist, John McCain and Ed Lynch have all taken a hard stand for health care repeal (ZUMA)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.) agreed on one thing in their  <a id=\"t0zf\" title=\"40-minute debate\" href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/cq\/20100328\/pl_cq_politics\/politics3634161\">40-minute debate<\/a> on Fox News  Sunday: Both of the Republican hopefuls for the state&#8217;s open U.S. Senate  seat pledged to repeal the health care bill &#8212; at least, to whatever  extent they could.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What we need to do is go ahead and repeal  this thing,&#8221; said Crist bluntly. &#8220;Let&#8217;s start over.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the  first step is to repeal it,&#8221; said Rubio, &#8220;and we need to win a few  elections before we can get there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_27450\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 140px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-27450\" title=\"elephant\" src=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/elephant.jpg\" alt=\"Image by: Matt Mahurin\" width=\"130\" height=\"130\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by: Matt Mahurin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"floatButtons\">\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/digg.com\/tools\/diggthis.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-bottom: 10px;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"\n\tsrc=\"http:\/\/d.yimg.com\/ds\/badge2.js\"\n\tbadgetype=\"square\">\n\t<?php the_permalink(); ?><\/script><\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left; margin-right: 10px;\">\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\ntweetmeme_source = \"TWI_news\";\ntweetmeme_service = \"bit.ly\";\n<\/script> <script src=\"http:\/\/tweetmeme.com\/i\/scripts\/button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"float: left;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"box_count\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Rubio has surged into a lead  over Crist by promising to &#8220;stand up&#8221; to President Obama in a way the  governor, who&#8217;s built a reputation as a moderate, hasn&#8217;t. Since the  passage of health care reform, however, Crist has recast himself as a  candidate ready to roll back health care reform &#8212; he <a id=\"u-bf\" title=\"immediately endorsed\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.orlandosentinel.com\/news_politics\/2010\/03\/crist-hearts-mccollums-health-care-suit.html\">immediately endorsed<\/a> state  Attorney General Bill McCollum&#8217;s lawsuit against the individual health  insurance mandate. The whole exchange on Sunday revealed something that  more Republican candidates are finding out: The GOP base is clamoring  for its party to repeal health care reform &#8212; indeed, promising anything  but full repeal can prompt a mini-revolt &#8212; but there&#8217;s plenty of  wiggle room as to what exactly repeal would mean.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You&#8217;ve got Rubio  saying &#8216;repeal and start over,&#8217;&#8221; said Michael Connelly, a spokesman for  the Club for Growth, the conservative group whose early support for  Rubio was a factor in his rise. &#8220;You&#8217;ve got Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)  saying &#8216;repeal and replace.&#8217; Some kremlinologists will say there&#8217;s  daylight between those statements, but as far as we&#8217;re concerned it  doesn&#8217;t exist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If any organization can nudge Republicans toward a  &#8220;repeal&#8221; pledge, and keep them honest after they take it, it&#8217;s the Club  for Growth. It launched a one-paragraph <a id=\"wjd2\" title=\"&quot;Repeal It&quot;  petition\" href=\"http:\/\/www.repealit.org\/\">&#8220;Repeal It&#8221; petition<\/a> in February, when many considered  health care reform a dead letter. And since the passage of reform, the  number of signatories who hold or are running for electoral office has  surged past 400. That number includes Senate candidates like New  Hampshire&#8217;s Kelly Ayotte, Kentucky&#8217;s Trey Grayson, Colorado&#8217;s Jane  Norton and Illinois&#8217;s Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who are warily viewed by  Tea Partiers and conservative voters, but who have been able to use the  &#8220;repeal&#8221; message to prove their bona fides.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be  repealed and replaced and it&#8217;s going to be done soon,&#8221; said Sen. John  McCain (R-Ariz.), who is facing a primary challenge from the right, in a  Friday rally with Sarah Palin. &#8220;It will not stand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Republican  members and candidates are reinforced by Republican governors who can  complain about &#8220;ObamaCare&#8221; without tackling it legislatively. All are  backed up by a steady stream of <a id=\"l_cu\" title=\"polls\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rasmussenreports.com\/public_content\/politics\/current_events\/healthcare\/march_2010\/health_care_plan\">polls<\/a> from Rasmussen Reports and others  that seem to validate the wisdom of coming out for repeal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Newt  Gingrich is saying we should &#8216;repeal and replace,&#8217;&#8221; <a id=\"zyj:\" title=\"wrote Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.)\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB20001424052748704896104575139830588195568.html\">wrote Gov. Bobby  Jindal (R-La.)<\/a> in a weekend op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. &#8220;That  works.&#8221; Jindal dealt with the purported impossibility of electing  enough Republicans to repeal the legislation by saying his election in  Louisiana had been unlikely, too. And would President Obama veto a  repeal bill? &#8220;Yes, he sure would. Do it anyway. And do it again after he  is gone. (By the way, President Clinton vetoed welfare reform twice  before he signed it into law.)&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the three ongoing special  elections where Republicans hope to take seats once held by Democrats,  &#8220;repeal&#8221; has become a rallying cry for local activists and national  fundraisers. The next election on the calender will come April 13 in the  19th District of Florida, some of the safest Democratic terrain in the  state. The Obama-Biden ticket won 65 percent of the vote there, while  Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) won re-election with 66 percent. But Ed  Lynch, the businessman running as a Republican to replace Wexler, has  taken to the pages of Andrew Breitbart&#8217;s Big Government to <a id=\"of7n\" title=\"call his race\" href=\"http:\/\/biggovernment.com\/elynch\/2010\/03\/25\/the-first-referendum-on-nationalized-healthcare-is-in-congressional-district-fl-19\/\">call his race<\/a> &#8220;the first referendum  on nationalized health care.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By contributing, 5, 10, or 20  dollars to our campaign,&#8221; wrote Lynch, &#8220;your donation will count towards  a full and unequivocal REPEAL of the most dangerous legislation passed  since this nation\u2019s founding.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with TWI, Lynch  made it clear that he backed full repeal, and wouldn&#8217;t quibble about  parts of the legislation that Republicans have occasionally endorsed,  such as preventing coverage from being denied for pre-existing  conditions. &#8220;This bill is going to kill our seniors,&#8221; said Lynch.  &#8220;Making something less bad doesn&#8217;t mean making it good.&#8221; He would sign  the &#8220;Repeal It&#8221; pledge, he said, and he&#8217;d also co-sponsor legislation  Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has introduced to repeal the Patient  Protections and Affordable Care Act. &#8220;I&#8217;m a big supporter of Michele,&#8221;  he said.<\/p>\n<p>The other candidates who will face voters in the next  two months have come around to the same argument. Tim Burns, a  first-time candidate running for the seat of the late Rep. John Murtha  (R-Pa.), has <a id=\"s8og\" title=\"challenged his Democratic opponent\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyamerican.com\/articles\/2010\/03\/22\/news\/local\/news276.txt\">challenged his  Democratic opponent<\/a> to sign a pledge to repeal health care reform.  Charles Djou, a Honolulu city councilman who&#8217;s running to replace Rep.  Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), has threaded the needle a little  differently, telling voters that he&#8217;d prefer a chance to fix the bill  over outright repeal. He <a id=\"pbvz\" title=\"explained to TWI\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonindependent.com\/80705\/djou-yes-ill-join-gop-effort-to-repeal-health-care-reform\">explained to TWI<\/a> that he favors  that approach because he views repeal as legislatively unlikely.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Repeal  isn\u2019t going to happen unless Republicans capture a two-thirds majority  in both chambers to override an Obama veto,&#8221; said Djou.<\/p>\n<p>Former  congressman Tim Walberg, who&#8217;s running for his old House seat in  Michigan, said that a &#8220;repeal&#8221; message would work best if coupled with  Republican promises to pass a better sort of health reform.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I  don&#8217;t mind the term repeal if that&#8217;s what we have to do,&#8221; Walberg told  TWI. &#8220;But I think there are some elements of the health care bill I  introduced when I was in Congress that we can go back to. Reform is  needed, just not this kind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The only political mistake  Republicans can make on health care, so far, is to signal to the base  that full repeal might not be a priority. Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.)  created an opening for a minor challenger in his U.S. Senate bid by  arguing &#8212; accurately &#8212; that Barack Obama&#8217;s presence in the White House  made repeal of health care reform unlikely until at least 2013. That  was worrying to some Republicans, whose best-case scenario in 2011 is a  Republican Congress that would be unable to override Obama&#8217;s vetos.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I  see where Republicans are with this,&#8221; said one GOP aide in the House,  &#8220;but it drives me insane. What happens if you run, win, and don&#8217;t  repeal?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But for all the rhetoric, that might be where  Republicans are headed. Before the health care vote, on March 9, Sen.  John Cornyn (R-Texas) <a id=\"xojb\" title=\"told\" href=\"http:\/\/tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com\/2010\/03\/cornyn-acknowledges-pledge-to-repeal-health-care-unlikely-to-pan-out.php\">told<\/a> a reporter that Republican voters would  understand if the GOP couldn&#8217;t repeal health care reform right away.  &#8220;Whether you want to call it repeal,&#8221; he said, &#8220;or whether you want to  call it a referendum, I don&#8217;t think makes a dime&#8217;s worth of difference.&#8221;  After the vote, on March 23, Cornyn <a id=\"i_lc\" title=\"appeared to support\" href=\"http:\/\/thinkprogress.org\/2010\/03\/24\/cornyn-flip-repeal-popular\/\">appeared to support<\/a> &#8220;non-controversial stuff&#8221; in the reform package. The blowback from the  conservative base was immediate and immense. If it was a preview of what  Republicans can expect before and after the midterms, it didn&#8217;t look  good for Cornyn.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Make no mistake about it,&#8221; clarified Cornyn. &#8220;I  fully support repealing this Washington takeover of health care.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GOP candidates Charlie Crist, John McCain and Ed Lynch have all taken a hard stand for health care repeal (ZUMA) Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.) agreed on one thing in their 40-minute debate on Fox News Sunday: Both of the Republican hopefuls for the state&#8217;s open U.S. Senate seat pledged to repeal the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4313,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}