Someone Needs To Update Mike Castle’s Talking Points

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly reports on a health care forum held by Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Bobby Scott in Virginia:

Cantor was pressed, however, on a couple areas of interest.

Richmond resident Ben Ragsdale demanded to know how Republicans were going to expand access to healthcare if they have only a four-page list of bullet-points as their plan.

“What is your substantive proposal to meet these real everyday problems that people have? Where’s the beef?” Ragsdale asked, triggering applause from the crowd.

The telegenic GOP lawmaker said Republicans and Democrats agree on 80 percent of fixing the nation’s healthcare system, but could not show the crowd a detailed plan that has been endorsed by House Republicans.

Cantor earlier this year said House Republican leaders would release an alternative healthcare plan, but have not done so yet.

Those are some great points by the questioner – stop just saying no and tell us what you want to do. The Republicans have no plan and I doubt they’ll release one. However, Benen points out that Rep. Boustany also used the 80% support line and that this undercuts their other talking point:

The standard Republican talking point is that Democrats need to scrap all of their work, start over, and make GOP lawmakers happy from now on. But the next question remains obvious: if Republicans are already on board with four-fifths of what Democrats have in mind, and four-fifths of the congressional committees have already approved reform measures, why in the world should Democratic policymakers “start from scratch” or “hit the reset button”?

Mike Castle was pushing the exact same talking point at the town hall that I attended – that there’s no rush and we need to slow down. I wonder what the new GOP talking point will be now, that we need to continue arguing about the other 20%? Despite what the GOP has pushed all summer, most everyone recognizes the need for reform and the GOP has fallen into the trap that Frank Luntz warned them about – to be careful to be pro-reform and not just pro-status quo.

(9) Americans will expect the government to look out for those who truly can’t afford healthcare. Here is the perfect sentence for addressing cost and the limited role for government that wins you allies rather than enemies: “A balanced, common sense approach that provides assistance to those who truly need it and keeps healthcare patient-centered rather than government-centered for everyone.”

(10) It’s not enough to just say what you’re against. You have to tell them what you’re for. It’s okay (and even necessary) for your campaign to center around why this healthcare plan is bad for America. But if you offer no vision for what’s better for America, you’ll be relegated to insignificance at best and labeled obstructionist at worst. What Americans are looking for in healthcare that your “solution” will provide is, in a word, more: “more access to more treatments and more doctors…with less interference from insurance companies and Washington politicians and special interests.”