Don’t you love it when liberals play with guns?
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, the popular Democrat who is nevertheless in a tough race for the Senate, takes “dead aim” at the “bad parts of ObamaCare” in a TV ad. To make the point, the NRA-endorsed governor shoots his rifle.
Vowing to repeal the “bad parts” isn’t enough, though, Dick Morris writes:
Joe Manchin ran an ad saying he was going to repeal “the bad parts of ObamaCare.” With such sleight-of-hand efforts to blunt the GOP’s best issue, the question needs to be put to all incumbents and their challengers: Are you willing to take the pledge?
The column is headlined “Take the Pledge or Walk the Plank.” In it, Morris provides a link to the Repeal Pledge sponsored by Independent Women’s Voice, our sister organization. This pledge not only asks candidates to pledge to repeal the unpopular act in its entirety but to take intermediate steps such as defunding it. There is no wiggle room. Morris comments:
These are, of course, the 93 words no Democratic incumbent dares to utter. To do so would be risk excommunication from the high church of Obama liberalism.
It is difficult to repeal a piece of legislation-any piece of legislation. But the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has the potential to change our country forever. It alone is the promised transformation of America, even if the current administration never has another achievement. Manchin signals in his ad that he is not going to be an ally in what will be one of the most important battles in our nation’s history. The Congress will very likely have the votes to pass a repeal bill in 2011, but the president will inevitably veto it.
The real battle, Morris writes, will come after the veto, when the federal budget comes up. Congress will insert language defunding the health care bill. The president will no doubt veto this bill, leading to the sort of government shut-down that occurred in 1995-1996. This shut down, though principles, was a disaster for the GOP. The faint of heart will remember this and be tempted to fold. But this time, Morris argues, it won’t be the same:
But the centrality of the healthcare issue in this coming debate assures Republican success. Obama can butt his head against the stone wall of public determination to rid our country of this terrible law. But all he will be doing is to assure that his party loses in 2012 any seats it might have happened to hang on to in 2010, and that he returns to the private sector. …
Ultimately, the Democrats of 2010 are paying the price of their arrogance in ignoring public opinion and substituting their own ideas and opinions for the views of their electorates. When voters have been as well-informed as they were during the healthcare debate, they expect their opinions to be heard and heeded.
Morris believes that only those willing to sign the Repeal Pledge can be counted on as worthy allies in what will be a battle of major import for our future.