Mark Amodei, former state Republican Party chairman and the flawed nominee for the U.S. House in the NV-02 special election coming up September 13th, flip-flopped on his support for “The Path to Prosperity” legislation proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., during a debate taped Monday evening.
Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston, who moderated the debate, has a write-up on Amodei’s comments:
Amodei might think this flip-flop makes good politics because senior citizens could swing this special election. After all, the election will likely have very low turnout, given reports that “most people don’t even know that there is an election coming up.” Quite apart from the distastefulness of flip-flopping, Amodei has made the wrong tactical move – to a certain extent, he has repeated mistakes that led to the failure of two other Republican candidates.
Example One: Newt Gingrich attacked Paul Ryan’s budget, which includes entitlement reform, as “right-wing social engineering.” The phrase effectively ended Gingrich’s chance at the White House, as Republican primary voters turned on him immediately. By repudiating “The Path to Prosperity” instead of asking voters to send him to Congress to support Ryan, Amodei gives away an opportunity to excite the major Republican base in that district – a costly mistake given the expected low-turnout.
Example Two: Republicans lost a special election House race earlier this year in NY-26 because the Republican nominee could not adequately defend Paul Ryan’s plan, which she had gone on record supporting, in the face of her Democratic opponents “Mediscare” tactics. Rather than change his mind during a high-profile debate, Amodei should double-down on his defense of Ryan’s plan as a necessary reform to protect Medicare and keep reminding voters that his opponent supports Obamacare, even though that bill manages both to cut Medicare by $500 billion and dramatically increase government spending.
Call it reverse-Mediscare if you want, but Republicans should never lose the messaging battle between “The Path to Prosperity” and Obamacare. Unfortunately, Amodei hasn’t figured out how to defend his positions consistently. Let’s hope NV-02 doesn’t turn into a repeat of NY-26.
