Former GOP House leader on health care: 'They can probably force this.'
Mar 15, 2010
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Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey is no fan of President Obama's health care legislation, but the Texas Republican is a veteran of white-knuckle votes, and he says the odds are in favor of Democrats winning the big vote they plan this week.
"They can probably force this through," Armey said at a National Press Club luncheon speech. He says there will be a political price, however. Instead of the Democrats enjoying a bounce in the polls from the vote, he predicted, "they'll be bounced." He argued that the president's plan will "destroy the most creative, innovative health care system in the world."
Armey retired from Congress in 2002 but is enjoying a political resurrection as a guru for the Tea Party movement. FreedomWorks, a think tank he heads, has provided training and support for what Armey terms "the small government movement."
The unabashed Texas chauvinist (Armey showed up at the Press Club in a white Stetson and black cowboy boots) is hard to pigeonhole politically. Some of the highlights of his colorful and high-octane speech, featuring quotes from such philosophers as Friedrich Hayek, Waylon Jennings and the Pointer Sisters:
* Former president George H.W. Bush made himself a one-term president by going back on his "Read my lips: No new taxes" pledge. "You can't say the most memorable thing you have ever said in your life and then go back on it," Armey said.
* The Republican Party is "clinically inept" and has a knack for alienating what should be its core constituencies. "This is a party that was born with the Emancipation Proclamation and can't get a black vote to save its life."
* Republicans need to "get over the goofiness" on immigration. "Now that we've identified the fastest-growing voting group in America, let's go out and alienate them," said Armey, referring to Hispanics. As majority leader, he said, he tried to muzzle his party's leading immigration opponent, Rep. Tom Tancredo.
"Ronald Reagan said 'tear down this wall.' Tom Tancredo said, 'Build this wall,' " said Armey, referring to the Colorado Republican's support for a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. "America is not a nation that builds walls."
(Posted by Kathy Kiely) |
