Our Troubled Divided States of America
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V19, N8 Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 Our troubled Divided States of America Safe districts, volumes of outside money, and segregated media bring a nation to its knees By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – On July 27, 2004, Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama’s rhetoric soared: “’E pluribus unum,’ out of many, one. Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spinmasters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conserva- tive America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue Today, we seem poised for a civil conflagration. states: Red states for Republicans, blue states for Demo- Just look at the emerging map for Medicaid expansion un- crats . .” der the Affordable Care Act, where 29 mostly blue Demo- It was a speech that would propel him to the presi- dency four years later. Continued on page 3 To the edge of the GOP cliff By MARK SCHOEFF JR. WASHINGTON – Even if Republicans accomplish nothing else from their standoff with President Barack Obama over the federal budget and his signature health care reform law, they will have “We’re not going to be changed the way Washington works disrespected. We have to get – perhaps in a manner that winds up costing them politically. something out of this. And Most of the time in the capital, I don’t know what that even policy debates are full of political posturing, threats and bluffs that end is.” somewhere short of the brink. As the - U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, government shutdown heads into its third day, the GOP has pushed far past to the Washington Examiner HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 2 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 the edge of the cliff. the party nationally – a spectrum of The party is actually providing voters that ranges much more widely a real-time test of the hypothesis that in political orientation than that which Americans are so upset with so-called they find at home. Obamacare that they will tolerate Obama is just as dug into his is a non-partisan newsletter – even support – shuttering large position in opposing the shutdown and based in Indianapolis and chunks of the government and endur- defending the health care law as the ing potentially bad economic fallout. Republicans are on the opposite side. Nashville, Ind. It was founded It’s a huge risk. “One faction, of one party, in in 1994 in Fort Wayne. The blame for the impasse one house of Congress, in one branch It is published by is surely going to fall on the GOP of government, shut down major parts WWWHowey Media, LLC because the White House remains the of the government – all because they 405 Massachusetts Ave., most potent political force in the coun- didn’t like one law,” Obama said earlier try, even when its occupant doesn’t this week at a White House event Suite 300 use the bully pulpit to its full rhetorical to mark the opening of state health Indianapolis, IN 46204 advantage. insurance exchanges. “They’ve shut At the outset of the shutdown, down the government over an ideolog- Brian A. Howey, Publisher members of the Hoosier Republican ical crusade to deny affordable health Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington congressional delegation were su- insurance to millions of Americans.” premely confident that their party A brief meeting at the White Jack E. Howey, Editor maintained the high ground. House between Obama and congres- Mary Lou Howey, Editor “We were elected into the sional leaders on Wednesday didn’t Maureen Hayden, Statehouse [House] majority to make substantial budge the stalemate. It appears that Matthew Butler, Daily Wire changes in the health care law,” said Obama will hold his ground even if Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-8th CD. “We all the shutdown lingers until the country campaigned on that.” hits the so-called debt ceiling later this Subscriptions That kind of hard-line stance month. $599 annually may be helpful to Bucshon in fend- “The president made clear Ray Volpe, Account Manager ing off a primary challenge next year. to the leaders that he is not going to ' 317.602.3620 His next door neighbor in the delega- negotiate over the need for Congress tion, Rep. Todd Young, R-9th CD, isn’t to act to reopen the government or email: [email protected] under a threat from the Tea Party. But to raise the debt limit to pay the bills he, too, is comfortable with the GOP Congress has already incurred,” the Contact HPI approach. White House said in a statement. www.howeypolitics.com “I’ve gotten a lot of encourag- That inflexibility is shared ing words from my own constituents by most Republicans in the House. [email protected] on how we’re handling this situation,” Bucshon maintains that approving a 'Howey’s Cabin: 812.988.6520 Young said. so-called continuing resolution to keep 'Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 That kind of reinforcement is a the government operating under cur- 'Washington: 202.256.5822 result of the echo chamber created by rent budget levels would be a compro- redistricting. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-4th mise for his party. 'Business Office: 317.602.3620 CD, is not worried about backlash. He “Many of us want further said that voter sentiment in favor of spending cuts,” Bucshon said. “We’re © 2013, Howey Politics Indiana. the shutdown was strong during 12 willing to give that up, if we get All rights reserved. Photocopy- town halls he conducted last month. substantial changes in the health care ing, Internet forwarding, fax- “We’re doing exactly what law.” ing or reproducing in any form, our constituents asked us to do when Young said that Republicans we were home in August,” Rokita told already have modified their position on whole or part, is a violation of Hoosier reporters in a conference call undoing the health care law. First they federal law without permission earlier this week. wanted to defund the whole thing. from the publisher. v But the feedback that Hoo- Now they’re insisting on a one-year sier Republicans are getting may not delay in the individual mandate. reflect broader reaction that could hurt “We’ve stepped back in the HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 3 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 steps I just outlined,” Young said. “Are we willing to go fur- financial markets’ sanguine reaction to the shutdown trans- ther? Conceivably. We’re also looking for some movement forms into a downturn over the prospect of a U.S. debt from the other side.” default. A member of the House Ways and Means Com- “I would hope everyone in Washington would push mittee, Young hinted that the impasse might be broken for a swift solution so we don’t come close to…[the] debt- through a bipartisan agreement that revolves around rifle- limit expiration date,” Young said. shot policy like a repeal of the health care law’s medical If Republicans go beyond that edge, we’ll soon see device tax and broad initiatives like tax reform. whether the rest of the country is with them. v “We may have a grander bargain ahead of us,” Young said. Schoeff is HPI’s Washington correspondent. That would be a good thing for Republicans, if the white residents. But today, they represent 63 percent of all DSofA, from page 1 whites and just 38 percent of all nonwhites. cratic states are moving forward, while the majority of red “What do all these numbers boil down to?” Republican states – which will likely include Indiana – are Cook asks. “House Republicans have done a remarkable rejecting the premise. This is going to create a stark divi- job of’ sequestering Democrats into the minority, but in the sion of have/have not states, with the perception differing process they’ve also reduced their own incentive to reach sharply in the eyes of the beholder. Gov. Mike Pence has out to groups their party badly needs if it wants to stay prioritized stable biennial budgets, while other governors relevant beyond the Southern confines of the Capitol.” have sought health insurance for a larger part of their unin- So when U.S. Reps. Marlin Stutzman, Jackie Wal- sured populations. In the first three years of the Affordable orski, Todd Rokita and Susan Brooks come home, they find Care Act, the difference could be measured in the tens of a constituency urging them to do anything they can to kill billions of dollars. Obamacare, even if it means a shutdown and default. As In the 2011 reapportionment, the map draw- Walorski is discovering, even her ardent brand of conserva- ers in 30 Republican states created congressional districts tism is not good enough for the further rightward reaches that are whiter and more conservative than the rest of the of her party which ponders a primary challenge. nation. In the Pew Research poll released just hours after Writing in the National Journal last March, analysts the U.S. government shut down at midnight on Tuesday, Charlie Cook and David Wasserman noted that in 2012 four out of 10 conservative Republicans described them- Republicans won only 48% of all votes cast for the House selves as “angry” at the federal government. It is far higher but 54% of the seats. Between 2000 and 2010, the non- than any other demographic Pew surveyed. Only 26 per- Hispanic white share of the population fell from 69 percent cent of the total surveyed were described as “angry.” to 64 percent, closely tracking the 5-point drop in the white Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson, a share of the electorate measured by exit polls between former aide to U.S.