https://www.conservativereview.com/Commentary/2015/09/why-are-we-still-listening-to-karl-roveWhy Are We Still Listening to Karl Rove?
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By: Jeffrey Lord | September 27th, 2015
Karl Rove doesn’t get it.
Actually, that’s not true. Karl Rove gets it exactly. And like clockwork, draws the wrong conclusions.
This time the Rovian mindset—the Establishment mindset—is on display in his latest column in the Wall Street Journal:
Government Shutdown as Self-Promotion
Planned Parenthood ought to be defunded, but trying to do it this way invites disaster.
In another ode to what Ronald Reagan used to disdain as the “pale pastel” nature of the GOP’s “fraternal order” Republicans, Rove writes:
These Republicans’ motive is sound, but the problem is tactics. Some in the GOP say that unless Planned Parenthood is defunded, they’re willing to shut down the federal government—which would be a disaster for the pro-life cause. Pro-life leaders understand that the 2013 government shutdown damaged the Republican Party. The GOP’s favorable rating after the 2012 election stood at 43%, according to Gallup, but dropped during the shutdown to 28%—a record low for either party. Supporters of the 2013 shutdown claim otherwise. After all, they argue, by the 2014 election, the GOP’s Gallup rating had climbed back to 42%, and Republicans won nine additional Senate seats and added 13 House seats. But those victories were despite the shutdown, not because of it. No new senator or representative campaigned by promising more shutdowns. …If right-to-life leaders oppose a government shutdown over Planned Parenthood, why are some Republicans so intent on trying to force one? A few presidential hopefuls seem to want a shutdown to burnish their credentials with primary voters. But they cannot explain how they will get the votes to pass the defunding measure or overcome a presidential veto. Without such a plan, this is simply self-promotion. ….Republicans in Congress who want to risk a shutdown over Planned Parenthood have an obligation to spell out how they would get it done. They can’t. That’s why any Republicans who engineer a shutdown will be unwitting allies of the abortion movement. Life is too important to let the GOP’s suicide caucus damage the cause with such an ill-considered effort.
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