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GOP Wary of Campaign to Repeal Health Law
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| Contributor | Brandonius Maximus |
| Last Edited | Brandonius Maximus Mar 31, 2010 10:15am |
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| Category | General |
| Media | TV News - Columbia Broadcasting System CBS News |
| News Date | Wednesday, March 31, 2010 04:15:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | (AP) Top Republicans are increasingly worried that GOP candidates this fall might be burned by a fire that's roaring through the conservative base: demand for the repeal of President Barack Obama's new health care law.
It's fine to criticize the health law and the way Democrats pushed it through Congress without a single GOP vote, these party leaders say. But focusing on its outright repeal carries two big risks.
Repeal is politically and legally unlikely, and grass-roots activists may feel disillusioned by a failed crusade. More important, say strategists from both parties, a fierce "repeal the bill" stance might prove far less popular in a general election than in a conservative-dominated GOP primary, especially in states such as Illinois and California.
Democrats are counting on that scenario. They say more Americans will learn of the new law's benefits over time and anger over its messy legislative pedigree will fade. For months, Democrats have eagerly catalogued Republican Congressional candidates who pledge to repeal the health care law, vowing to make them pay in November.
Republican leaders are stepping cautiously, wary of angering staunchly conservative voters bent on repealing the new law. In recent public comments, they have quietly played down the notion of repealing the law while emphasizing claims that it will hurt jobs, the economy and the deficit.
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who chairs the committee responsible for electing GOP senators this fall, said in an interview, "The focus really should be on the misplaced priorities of the administration" and Congress' Democratic leaders.
"The No. 1 concern of the public is jobs and people losing their homes," he said. "The administration has been obsessing on this health care bill." |
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