Incensed that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) are reportedly abandoning the effort to defund or delay the Affordable Care Act, RedState.com editor Erick Erickson predicted Thursday that Republican leadership is providing fertile ground for the rise of a “real third party movement” that will split the GOP.
“This comes at the same time the Obama administration admits it will be months before their Obamacare website will be fixed and Kathleen Sebelius is saying if people want out of the mandate they can pay a fine,” Erickson wrote. “Nonetheless, Cantor, Boehner, and with them Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn are expected to cave in and fully fund, unimpeded, Obamacare.”
Erickson wrote that those leaders “will ensure that Obamacare is fully funded and give the American public no delay like businesses have.”
“In doing so, they will sow the seeds of a real third party movement that will fully divide the Republican Party,” he added.
Erickson has been one of the most vociferous advocates of the campaign to gut the health care law, urging Republicans to stand firm even as the government remains shuttered and a potential debt crisis looms.
And despite polling that consistently shows Republicans are paying a political price for the shutdown, Erickson insisted earlier this week that the “GOP is winning” the public opinion battle.
