Former Bush speechwriter David Frum says health care reform passage is a disaster for the GOP, and great business for Rush Limbaugh and Fox

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum says it’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the GOP disaster. And he blames this “most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s” on conservatives and Republicans themselves, as he unmistakably points out his most recent blog post on health care reform.

Frum said at the beginning of this process Republicans made a strategic decision. They would make no deal with the Obama administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. The Republicans were going for it all. To use South Carolina Republican Senator DeMint’s term this would be Obama’s Waterloo, just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners ignored some important facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The progressive block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

Mr. Frum says this time, when the Republicans went for all the marbles, they ended with none. He pointed out that conservative commentators have a huge incentive for the health care reforms to fail, regardless that these reforms will likely help middle and lower class Americans to secure quality affordable health care.

Frum noted that when Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was cleverly explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed, if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises, then Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads from his advertisers.

Frum concluded that the supposed defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For the conservative entertainment industry it is mission accomplished.

Read David Frum’s whole post here: http://www.truthout.org/david-frum-waterloo57875