Radio host Mark Levin says the Republican Party’s handling of health care reform is further proof it has been “conquered” by a culture seeped in progressivism.

The actions of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and like-minded lawmakers bear the hallmarks of an ideologically defeated institution to Mr. Levin and The Blaze founder Glenn Beck, who spoke Tuesday to promote the former’s new book, “Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism.”

“Let’s be honest, the Republican Party is a progressive party,” Mr. Levin said. “The Democrat [sic] Party is a radical-progressive party, but there’s no constitutional party. And I don’t want to hear about these little third parties that get about 12,000 votes. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the two major parties. The problem we have here is that we are debating within their environment. It’s never about whether the government should be involved in this; it’s how much government should be involved in this. It’s never about individual liberty, individual choice. It’s always about collectivism.”

Mr. Beck accused Mr. McConnell and his allies of “absolutely lying” to the American people about the Senate’s health care bill, although he said the reasons for their behavior was unclear.

“The problem is the Republican Party has been conquered as much as society has been conquered,” Mr. Levin said. “There’s not a single department, a single agency, a single program, a single entitlement — forget about being eliminated — that’s been curtailed.”

The conversation dovetailed with news that Senate Republicans will postpone a vote on Mr. McConnell’s health care bill until after the July 4 recess.

Mr. Levin’s book debuted as Amazon’s No. 1 bestseller Tuesday.

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