House Republicans are moving forward to perfect that
PR strategy they've developed for the Obamacare replacement plan they don't have. They've decided to
take their ideas to the people in town hall meetings and find out what sounds good to the masses. They're calling it "listening."
"It's important to show the American people that there is a better approach to improving health care for Americans than Obamacare," said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the majority whip. "Unlike the president and congressional Democrats, we have been listening to the American people, and what Americans want is affordability, greater flexibility and access to care, which we are focused on achieving." […]
Republicans emphasize that they have a way to go, and may not succeed, and Mr. McCarthy said he was operating on no time line.
“Right now, our goal is to discuss policy alternatives and build consensus,” he said.
How they're going to accomplish all that is as yet unclear, since they can't actually get a majority of Republicans in the House to agree to a plan. As the
Times understates the problem, "[l]egislating on big, divisive issues has been elusive for House Republicans for years." The reality is, tea party Republicans want one thing and one thing only: repeal. They believe government has no part in, well, anything but especially not in health care. There's nothing other than repeal that they'll go along with.
Republicans can take whatever they have on the road to try to convince voters that they're actually doing something to help them. But there's nothing their PR can do to deal with the fundamental dysfunction in the party.