The New Litmus Test

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There’s no question that adopting the most extreme line in opposition to Health Care Reform is the new litmus for Republican presidential contenders — repeal, constitutional challenge, perhaps even first use of nuclear weapons. They really have to sign every dotted line.

My own take on this is that this could be a big problem for them down the road. It’s not clear to me that absolute opposition to Reform is going to be a winning issue in a 2012 general election — since as we’re already seeing, even setting aside support for the bill as a whole, Dems can make this blanket opposition into opposition to all the quite popular individual provisions in the law — no denials for pre-existing conditions, keeping kids on parents’ policies until 26, no lifetime limits etc.

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