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Western suburbs —
It may be the pride of 219 Democrats, but one political commentator and former presidential adviser on Friday compared the health care reform bill to a Ponzi scheme.
Karl Rove, who spoke in Oak Brook at the DuPage County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, criticized the cost of the bill and the style in which tax revenues are projected to pay for it.
“This bill has financial underpinnings that are worthy of Bernie Madoff,” he said.
Rove served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush.
Despite having the majority of power in Washington, it took Democrats more than a year to get the health care package passed.
“And that’s a sign of how despite having the White House, the Senate and the House by big majorities and despite having this gigantic microphone called the presidency, (Democrats) have in essence been unable to sell this thing,” Rove told reporters before in a press conference before the dinner. “The American people have educated themselves. And this bill, they have turned against this bill in very strong numbers.”
Roves spent the greater part of his speech strongly criticizing the bill — which he called un-American. He urged future candidates for Congress to run for office promising to repeal the bill immediately.
“And if President Obama wants to veto that repeal then we will make the 2012 election about this bill and he will be a one-term president.”
In attendance Friday night was every Republican candidate running for state-wide office.
Bill Brady, running for governor, and Jason Plummer, running for lieutenant governor, invoked the memory of recent Republican victories in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia.
“This is our chance to prove, not just to the people of Illinois, but the people of this nation, this world, that Illinois is not about the policies of Barack Obama,” Brady said before the dinner began.
Plummer told a story of how a New Jersey resident told him Illinois is corrupt.
“My goodness folks, when the people of New Jersey are calling Illinois corrupt, clearly we’ve gone the wrong way,” he said, inciting laughter from the crowd.
The evening’s dinner cost $150 per person or $1,500 for a table for 10. DuPage County politicians from all levels of local, county and state government mingled with guests over drinks and dinner.
At the entrance of the hotel was a table on which copies of Rove’s new book, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” were being sold for $50 each.
Asked during the press conference if Bush has read the book, Rove said yes but would not say what the former president thought of it.
“That’s between him and me,” Rove said. “He read it as I wrote it. And Laura (Bush) was a particularly perceptive editor.”
Rove declined to say who he thinks would be the strongest Republican presidential candidate in 2012.
“Several geological ages will come and go before we can get a handle on that,” he said.
It may be the pride of 219 Democrats, but one political commentator and former presidential adviser on Friday compared the health care reform bill to a Ponzi scheme.
Karl Rove, who spoke in Oak Brook at the DuPage County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner, criticized the cost of the bill and the style in which tax revenues are projected to pay for it.
“This bill has financial underpinnings that are worthy of Bernie Madoff,” he said.
Rove served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush.
Despite having the majority of power in Washington, it took Democrats more than a year to get the health care package passed.
“And that’s a sign of how despite having the White House, the Senate and the House by big majorities and despite having this gigantic microphone called the presidency, (Democrats) have in essence been unable to sell this thing,” Rove told reporters before in a press conference before the dinner. “The American people have educated themselves. And this bill, they have turned against this bill in very strong numbers.”
Roves spent the greater part of his speech strongly criticizing the bill — which he called un-American. He urged future candidates for Congress to run for office promising to repeal the bill immediately.
“And if President Obama wants to veto that repeal then we will make the 2012 election about this bill and he will be a one-term president.”
In attendance Friday night was every Republican candidate running for state-wide office.
Bill Brady, running for governor, and Jason Plummer, running for lieutenant governor, invoked the memory of recent Republican victories in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia.
“This is our chance to prove, not just to the people of Illinois, but the people of this nation, this world, that Illinois is not about the policies of Barack Obama,” Brady said before the dinner began.
Plummer told a story of how a New Jersey resident told him Illinois is corrupt.
“My goodness folks, when the people of New Jersey are calling Illinois corrupt, clearly we’ve gone the wrong way,” he said, inciting laughter from the crowd.
The evening’s dinner cost $150 per person or $1,500 for a table for 10. DuPage County politicians from all levels of local, county and state government mingled with guests over drinks and dinner.
At the entrance of the hotel was a table on which copies of Rove’s new book, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” were being sold for $50 each.
Asked during the press conference if Bush has read the book, Rove said yes but would not say what the former president thought of it.
“That’s between him and me,” Rove said. “He read it as I wrote it. And Laura (Bush) was a particularly perceptive editor.”
Rove declined to say who he thinks would be the strongest Republican presidential candidate in 2012.
“Several geological ages will come and go before we can get a handle on that,” he said.
