by kos
Health care reform does have
bipartisan support.
Bob Dole supports health care reform.
"This is one of the most important measures members of Congress will vote on in their lifetimes," the former Republican Senate majority leader and presidential candidate told an audience in Kansas City today. "If we don't do it this year I don't know when we're gonna do it.
Dole and two other former Senate leaders, Republican Howard Baker and Democrat Tom Daschle, are preparing to release a statement urging Congress to move on health care.
"We're already hearing from some high-ranking Republicans that we shouldn't do that. That's helping the president," he said.
Later, he repeated that news, and elaborated on one "very prominent Republican, who happens to be the Republican leader of the Senate."
That would be Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
Dole, to his credit, is having none of it. "I want this to pass," he said. "I don't agree with everything Obama is presenting, but we've got to do something."
He added: "I don't want the Republicans putting up a 'no' sign and saying, 'we're not open for business.'"
The kitten killer Bill Frist had also announced his support for health care reform, saying he would "take heat for it" to make it happen, until he walked that back a day later, likely under threats from the Rush Limbaughs in his party. But even without him, that's two former Senate Republican leaders, including a former Republican nominee for president, who stand with the Democrats trying to fix a broken system.
The Beltway obsesses over "bipartisanship" as if it only means the votes of Republican members of Congress. In reality, the question should be whether something has broad popular support around the nation. Polls have consistently shown that a quarter of Republicans support the public option. If they were properly represented in Congress, that would mean 10 Republican Senators and 44-45 House Republicans would join Democrats in reforming the system, but alas, they aren't represented. It's Rush Limbaugh's party (even if Glenn Beck is nosing in on his territory).
In addition to that 25% of Republicans nationwide, a growing list of prominent Republicans are jumping aboard -- Dole, Baker, Frist (despite chickening out a day later), Michael Bloomberg, former HHS secretary and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, to name a few.
Republicans on the Hill have zero interest in bipartisanship. Never did. So Obama and the Democrats should continue searching for patriot Republicans willing to put their country first, rather than rank partisan concerns, in order to fix one of the nation's most pressing concerns.
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