Republicans are trying out a new strategy in this difficult election cycle: sounding like Democrats. A string of Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Scott Walker, are suddenly trying to sound like defenders of health care as running on the promise to take health care away from millions of people proved to be a big loser for them. But that’s not the only issue Republicans are trying to co-opt.
After a national wave of teacher walkouts, a number of Republican governors and gubernatorial candidates are running on promises of maintaining or increasing education spending. These include Walker in Wisconsin, Gov. Doug Ducey in Arizona and Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
In Texas, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz announced, “It’s time to give teachers and other public servants fair retirement pay” and signed onto bipartisan legislation aimed at adjusting an accounting formula that can limit Social Security benefits for public employees. Last March, Cruz voted with his party to roll back an Obama administration rule aimed at boosting creation of retirement accounts for private-sector workers.
Fresh off of pushing an attempted rapist onto the Supreme Court, some Republicans are trying to harness #MeToo against Democratic opponents, too.
Of course, Republicans are just trying to sound like Democrats on a few issues where public support is firmly with Democrats. The GOP isn’t doing anything wild and crazy like actually planning to improve its record on these issues.
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