The long-time GOP members lament the lack of bipartisan cooperation in Washington. | REUTERS Snowe: Dole is right about GOP

Former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said Tuesday she agrees with former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole’s critique of the modern GOP and said Republicans need to “rethink their approach as a political party.”

“I certainly do agree with the former majority leader, Bob Dole, with whom I worked when I first entered the Senate and who was a consensus builder and understood what was essential and important for the Republican Party and what was important for America,” she said on MSNBC. “And that, unfortunately, has been lost today on Capitol Hill.”


“Yes, Republicans do bear responsibility and do the Democrats,” Snowe continued. “You have to work together and obviously, the Republican party is undergoing some, you know, significant and serious changes and they are going to have to rethink their approach as a political party and how they are going to regroup and become a governing majority party that appeals to a broader group of Americans than they do today.”

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Appearing on “Fox News Sunday” this weekend, Dole, who led Senate Republicans for more than a decade, said the modern Senate was “bent pretty badly” and said, “I doubt it” when asked whether he could have thrived in today’s Republican party.

“It seems almost unreal that we can’t get together on budget or legislation,” Dole said. “I mean, we weren’t perfect, but at least we got the work done.”

As the party’s onetime presidential nominee and longtime leader in the upper chamber, Dole’s words could sting for today’s Republicans. He and Snowe both belonged to a moderate, consensus-seeking wing of the GOP that seems endangered in the Senate.