Before he was defeated by unknown economist Dave Brat, then Minority Whip Eric Cantor led the charge to repeal Obamacare. Day in and day out, the GOP Rep. railed against the disastrous healthcare plan, using the hot button issue as ammo to drum up political support and boost fundraising efforts.
In a stunning admission, Cantor now admits the GOP was never serious about repealing the healthcare bill. It was all a charade.
The Washingtonian reports:
Cantor helped create that perception. Earlier that summer—after many failed attempts over the years to shred the law piecemeal—Cantor promised colleagues that the House would vote on a “full repeal.” But even after it did, the measure was dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Cantor—in Congress 13 years and, fairly or unfairly, once thought to be above electoral reproach—paid the price. His 2014 avenger, now-congressman David Brat, bludgeoned him for being soft on Obamacare, among other things. But the failure to make a dent in the law landed a bigger blow on the party. After seven years of pledging they could dismantle Obamacare, if only they had control of Congress and the White House, Republicans—at last in charge of both—have faced deep divisions over a replacement.
Asked if he feels partly responsible for their current predicament, Cantor is unequivocal. “Oh,” he says, “100 percent.”
He goes further: “To give the impression that if Republicans were in control of the House and Senate, that we could do that when Obama was still in office . . . .” His voice trails off and he shakes his head. “I never believed it.”
He says he wasn’t the only one aware of the charade: “We sort of all got what was going on, that there was this disconnect in terms of communication, because no one wanted to take the time out in the general public to even think about ‘Wait a minute—that can’t happen.’ ” But, he adds, “if you’ve got that anger working for you, you’re gonna let it be.”
It’s a stunning admission from a former member of the party leadership—that the linchpin of GOP electoral strategy for the better part of a decade was a fantasy, a flame continually fanned solely because, when it came to midterm elections, it worked. (Barring, of course, his own.)
Cantor isn’t the only one who believes repealing Obamacare is a charade. The Gateway Pundit reported in the past week, former Speaker Boehner said the prospects of repealing Obamacare were non-existent.
Former House Speaker, John Boehner said the GOP won’t be able to repeal and replace Obamacare at a closed-door tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV Friday.
John Boehner told a private crowd that Obamacare will never be repealed or replaced by the GOP because Americans and state officials are used to it in, a video obtained by The Washington Post.
Boehner also warned that Republicans will get annihilated in 2018 midterm elections if they fail to pass healthcare and tax legislation.
“Here we are, seven months into this year, and yet they’ve not passed this bill. Now, they’re never…they’re not going to repeal and replace Obamacare. It’s been around too long. And the American people have gotten accustomed to it. Governors have gotten accustomed to this Medicaid expansion, and so trying to pull it back is really not going to work.”
Boehner suggested that if the GOP can’t get rid of Obamacare completely, to at least eliminate the mandate and some of the taxes.
