The best technique for executing a political flip-flop is to perform it so slowly that no single movement is particularly significant or dramatic. A series of barely perceptible shifts is usually enough to buffalo reporters and sneak it by distracted voters.
That’s exactly what Republicans leaders are doing right now on health care reform. Faced with the real possibility of the Supreme Court striking down the ACA within weeks and of taking back the White House and/or Senate this fall, Republicans are having to face the prospect of owning an unreformed health care mess and all that goes with it.
Suddenly they’re having to rethink the repeal strategy — or at least grapple with, what then? As one GOP aide with a health care portfolio told us, “I do think some Republicans are finally starting to realize they could be the dog that caught the car.”
They’re not sneaking this shift by our Sahil Kapur, who has been following it very closely over the past couple of weeks. Here’s his latest report.
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.