July 24, 2017 02:58 PM UTC

"Corycare"—The Bizarre Two-Step Continues

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• by: Colorado Pols

With yet another vote in the U.S. Senate on repealing the Affordable Care Act set for tomorrow, here’s what Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner had to say about the state of play at this weekend’s Western Conservative Summit via the Denver Post’s Brian Eason:

Over the shouts of protesters who sought to disrupt his speech, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner on Friday told a conservative gathering that he would “address the issue of health care” in the coming week, doubling down on Republican promises to repeal Obamacare, even as the effort’s success is increasingly in doubt… [Pols emphasis]

In his remarks, Gardner spoke largely in generalities, pledging to “get Washington out of the way” and “give consumers more choice, more options and more freedom” when it comes to health care. He also reiterated comments he made in an interview with The Denver Post earlier this week, suggesting that cuts to Medicaid may be needed “to make sure that we focus our health care efforts on those who need it the most.”

“What has happened is government has tried to grow so much that is has created instability in our most important safety net program,” Gardner said Friday.

Sounds like Gardner’s a “yes” vote, right? Colorado Public Radio says think again:

Republican U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner will not say whether he supports a possible effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act without legislation to replace it. Senate leadership has proposed a vote on a straight repeal of the ACA after a GOP replacement bill failed to get off the ground.

“I don’t know that’s something that’s going to be coming up, and I don’t want to speculate on how I would vote on a bill that we don’t know if it’s going to be there or not,” Gardner said… [Pols emphasis]

Gardner’s whiplash alternation between full-throated vows to join fellow Republicans in repealing the Affordable Care Act and noncommittal answers when asked specific questions by reporters has gone on for so long now that it risks becoming old hat–which would play right into Gardner’s hands, of course, in much the same way as Gardner deftly turned criticism over his flip-flops on abortion against his critics during the 2014 campaign. It’s an audacious strategy, but one Gardner successfully pulled off against Mark Udall. As Napoleon Bonaparte famously said, “in politics never retreat, never retract, never admit a mistake.”

If there is any lesson in politics that Cory Gardner has taken to heart, that’s it.

By never apologizing for or even explaining these obviously contradictory positions, Gardner is hoping to keep the media and the public guessing for as long as possible as this highly fractious debate proceeds. Gardner’s continued backing away from protecting Medicaid patients toward his new line about “protecting those who need it the most” remains the most important development here, signaling support for cuts he previously strongly implied he would oppose. The rest, as you can plainly see in the contradiction above, is filler.

Sen. Gardner’s more frank defenders call what he’s doing here “shrewd politics,” and assure us that once the matter is resolved one way or the other Gardner will be fine–and that by keeping out of the fray for as long as possible, he’ll even come out ahead politically.

Gardner’s plummeting approval ratings tell us it’s not working. And Napoleon analogies meet their end…at Waterloo.