GOP Sen. Bob Bennett Says His Own Party Is Short On Policy Ideas (VIDEO)

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) took aim at his own party's policy ideas when he took to the podium to speak before a group of moderate Republicans on Wednesday.

"As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas," Bennett told members of the Ripon Society. "Indeed, if you raise specific ideas and solutions, as I've tried to do on health care with [Oregon Democratic Sen.] Ron Wyden, you are attacked with the same vigor as we've seen in American politics all the way back to slavery and polygamy. You are attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable."

Bennett, who was kicked off his party's primary ballot last month at the Utah GOP convention, predicted that Republicans will retake control of the House of Representatives in November, but suggested that the shift in power may be short-lived given the lack of solutions coming from their side of the aisle.

"The concern I have is that ideology and a demand for absolute party purity endangers our ability to govern once we get into office," Bennett said.

WATCH: GOP Sen. Bob Bennett Takes Aim At His Own Party

Comments

[Longtimeliberal]

06:36 PM on 07/01/2010

Bennett is refressing=he is honest

[Ron1951]

05:29 PM on 07/01/2010

After the next election, IF repubs make gains in congress, we'll get to see that they really have no clothes, let alone any policies that are not tried and failed.

[outsidethemainstream]

05:31 PM on 07/02/2010

problem is that the American public should have figured this out already....

[Ron1951]

11:25 AM on 07/03/2010

true, but remember, P.T. Barnum was correct--there is a sucker born every minute

[Tina Mikos]

05:16 PM on 07/01/2010

Smart man - I hope more like him come forward and speak up!

[clearlythinking]

04:55 PM on 07/01/2010

Ideology and absolute party purity isn't the only problem. The party's desire for absolute power after every election is pretty disturbing and somewhat un-American.

[satanlite]

04:48 PM on 07/01/2010

This'll never make Pox News.

[politicalgenius]

04:10 PM on 07/01/2010

and yet we have clowns like boehner who think there is a large enough contingent of idiots who will vote these guys back into power.

can't remember who said and I won't claim this as my own: voting the gop back into power is like giving your car keys to the same drunk driver that drove you into a ditch the last time (this time, it'll be like riding shotgun without a seatbelt)

[den1953]

03:57 PM on 07/01/2010

Wow first Bennett now Graham i believe there might be hope for some of the Republican Party after all, the GOP is finally realizing they are getting pinched by the tea bag party,all i can say bravo Dick Armey and Sarah Palin bravo!

[Ron1951]

05:31 PM on 07/01/2010

but Bennett was voted out in favor to a teabagger. They'd love to get Graham, but he's too strong in SC--for better or for worse.

[Enock Zamora]

03:41 PM on 07/01/2010

Bob Bennett is right, his party are like two drunks, convinced they will turn the corner, on an icy road with just the 'rims' on their ride.

[Peter Danbridge]

03:24 PM on 07/01/2010

We need more people in BOTH parties to say this kind of thing. Blind partisanship by our leadership has become a form of treason; it puts us all in peril and we have little time left for such antics.

[TankGirlz]

03:26 PM on 07/01/2010

The sane ones (semi-sane?) are creeping away from their brethren!

[taddles]

03:20 PM on 07/01/2010

If by "short" you mean they haven't had one in over 2 years, that would be a yes Senator.

[castleblanca]

03:10 PM on 07/01/2010

The GOP is short on policy ideas.

Did you hear that, Boehner????

That's one of your own speaking!

[PerryMason33]

03:05 PM on 07/01/2010

Gee, I wonder why Utah voters kicked Bob Bennett's sorry butt out of the Senate? Ever hear the Aesop fable about the fox and the sour grapes?

[pennsykid2000]

03:03 PM on 07/01/2010

The only ideas Repubs have are whatever cynical move they can make to exploit an issue for short-term political gain. That's it. Forget actual solutions to our nation's problems.

[dragonladywaltham]

03:00 PM on 07/01/2010

A truthful honest Republican?

[ArbitorA]

02:47 PM on 07/01/2010

I'm not so sure. Republicans have ideas. They have had them for years. This guy just has an axe to grind.

The big, over-arching idea of the Republican Party is to sell off public trusts and assets to private interests.

Blackwater, Z-Force, A-Team, or whatever they are calling themselves now is a private army that came to life under Republican rule. So private police, fire, military, transportation networks (remember highway luxury lanes), etc., are all Republican ideas.

House on fire? Can't pay the private fire department to put it out? You're toast.

That is Republican vision. Those are the big ideas.

[Right TryEngels]

03:14 PM on 07/01/2010

Yes, the Republicans have ideas -- just none they can state publicly and still win elections.