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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWashington Post :Republicans running away from House GOP
Its often observed that the House GOPs lurch to the right on policy and periodic outbreaks of reckless brinksmanship have made life difficult for statewide GOP candidates who are trying to appeal to a more diverse electorate than that found in many House GOP districts.
Case in point: Thom Tillis, who is running for Senate in North Carolina. In a remarkable interview with Byron York, Tillis neatly illustrates that broader dynamic:
On Obamacare, Tillis, like nearly every other Republican running for federal office, said, I think we have to repeal it. The new system hurts far more people than it benefits and is unsustainable in the long run, he said. Still, Tillis is concerned that Capitol Hill Republicans havent united behind an Obamacare alternative. Republicans have to have an answer to the when-you-repeal-it-what-are-you-replacing-it-with question, he said. We owe the American people a solution to the problem.
Tillis is under no illusions that the GOP, even if it controlled the House and Senate, could actually repeal Obamacare with its namesake still in the White House. And even after, given the structure of exchanges and subsidies that now exists, repeal cant be done in one fell swoop. I think youre going to have to ramp it down, Tillis said. Any repeal measure needs to be married with how do you provide a landing, or a transition, to some of those who are on Obamacare.
On immigration, Tillis called the Republicans who voted last year for the Gang of Eight bipartisan reform bill well intentioned. But he said the reform process meandered and started expanding to a point where they lost sight of what needs to be done first that is, securing the border. Tillis said he would have voted no on the bill.
On last years government shutdown, Tillis tried to make clear that he would not have supported it, but he took care not to demean the motives of the Republicans who did. I think what some of the members did was well-intentioned, he said, but youve got to fund government operations.
So Tillis attacks House Republicans for failing to produce an alternative to Obamacare. (He is running for Senate; is there anything stopping him from offering one?) He suggests a transition for those currently on Obamacare, effectively adopting the Scott Brown position that we should repeal Obamacare, but maybe not immediately for those who are benefiting from it. This again suggests that Tillis who has vaguely suggested we should keep the good things in the law, without saying how knows that repeal alone, and the House GOPs endless repeal votes without offering any alternative, arent a political winner.
Tillis also seems to come out against the House GOP government shutdown. But as Democrats were quick to point out, Tillis supported the shutdown last fall, when he was locked in a primary, another indication of how House GOP antics have pulled candidates to the right.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/08/11/morning-plum-republicans-running-away-from-house-gop/?hpid=z3