On Tuesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer insisted the divide within the Republican Party has been exaggerated, adding that Republicans disagree over strategy but not ideology.
“[I] think this whole thing is as you say very much blown up by the liberal media because it’s a great dramatic story,” Krauthammer said. “But here’s the fundamental contradiction. I think this analysis is wrong. It’s fundamentally wrong for this reason: The difference between what are being called the hard right and the moderates, the RINOs and the true believers, is really one over tactics rather than over ideology and objectives.
Let me give you one example. Is there a disagreement — a fundamental disagreement between one faction and another — over Paul Ryan’s radical reform of Medicare? I would say no. What we’re talking about is whether it was a good idea to shut down the government. Whether it’s a good idea to adopt a tactic here, a tactic there. On objectives you tell me what is the fundamental difference between the so-called moderates and radicals. I don’t see it. We all agree — let me just say one thing. We all agree on limited government. We all agree on restoration of individual rights. We all agree on liberty being the central ideal. We agree on restoration of individual responsibility and initiative. Where’s the big difference?”
The more important point according to Krauthammer was that the focus shouldn’t be on tactics and this so-called divide but instead on emphasizing how Obamacare and the Democratic Party are falling apart in ways that could lead to the collapse of American liberalism.
“Well, I’ve been attacked a lot over 30 years,” Krauthammer said. “You know, if that — I would be out of the arena if I was in support of them. And I understand people who said this is a time when you want to stand up. I thought it was the wrong tactic at the wrong time. Look, what we have as you mentioned in the opening, we have not just Obamacare unraveling, not just the Obama administration unraveling, not just the Democratic majority in the Senate [unraveling] — but we could be looking at the collapse of American liberalism. Obamacare is the big thing for them — the biggest in 100 years. And this is a moment when we have to be calm. We have to understand what holds us together on the right. We have to watch and explain why the failure of the left is happening. And if we do that, we will win.”