Posted on 05/06/2014 9:43:25 AM PDT by Kaslin
How desperate are Senate Democrats? So desperate, in fact, that one pro-Obamacare incumbent is now sending mailers to Republican primary voters reminding them that one of her many challengers (endorsed by Mitt Romney) once praised the Affordable Care Act.
Behold, the party of ideas, my friends.
Of course, it’s a deceptive and risible strategy, which Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) hopes will weaken the establishment (and perhaps most electable) Republican candidate in the race. But all she needs to do is scare enough primary voters into dropping their support for the GOP frontrunner, Thom Tillis, so a less electable candidate gets the nod. If and when that happens, winning re-election will become significantly easier, or so the thinking goes.
It’s a strategy straight out of the Claire McCaskill playbook (via WaPo):
The fliers landed in the mailboxes of Republican voters here last week with a warning likely to unnerve many conservatives.
Thom Tillis, the Republican front-runner for a U.S. Senate seat, once called President Obama’s health-care law “a great idea,” the mailer said. The assertion echoed recent radio ads that also seem to question Tillis’s adherence to the orthodoxy of a party that has made its opposition to the Affordable Care Act a centerpiece of its midterm-election strategy.
But the warnings didn’t come from any of the seven opponents Tillis will face in Tuesday’s GOP primary, where he has been regularly attacked as not conservative enough. Instead, they were paid for by Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat who will face the eventual GOP nominee in November.
Hagan supports the health-care law but she is taking the unusual step of spending money on advertisements designed to appeal to Republican voters who are skeptical of the measure. The maneuver is apparently intended to undermine enthusiasm in the GOP base for the Republican who is considered her strongest potential challenger in November.
That’s rich coming from a Senate Democrat who, as a matter of public record, supported the Affordable Care Act, and parroted the ‘if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan’ lie repeatedly. No matter. Those facts are largely irrelevant to Team Hagan as they aggressively maneuver to water-down the competition. The message Sen. Hagan is sending to GOP primary voters is clear: Thom Tillis once claimed Obamacare was an awesome idea, so don't vote for him! This is an absurd and misleading claim, which left-leaning Politifact has already labeled “Mostly False.”
For the record, here’s what Tillis actually said, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon:
The Tillis quote was taken from his February 6 appearance on the Bill LuMaye radio show. You can check out the full audio here. The quote in question takes place around the 9-minute mark.
Here’s what Tillis said, in the context of broader GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare: “The majority of the stuff that is in Obamacare is bad, because it’s not fiscally sustainable. It’s a great idea that can’t be paid for.”
He went on to describe Obamacare as a “policy that’s creating as many problems as it fixes in terms of healthcare,” and “creating the most devastating problem of a deficit that we can’t afford.”
Does that sound like a ringing endorsement of the Affordable Care Act? No. Leave it to vulnerable Democrats, however, to maximize their chances of winning re-election by falsely portraying anti-Obamacare Republican candidates as champions of the law.
Sadly, though, this isn't the first time this has happened.
So, Tillis apparently thinks as long as ObamaCare could be “paid for”, that’s would make it a great idea? That’s the syntax of his sentence he uttered. Which is exactly the kind of gobbledygook we expect from Establishment Republicans. They love big government every bit as much as progressive Democrats. They just think they can manage the behemoth better. So in a way, Hagan has a point.
Of course Tillis thought it was “a great idea”—he’s the Establishment candidate backed by Jeb and the like.
-PJ
If it knocks out Tillis, I am all for it.
Tillis will be just another traitorous back-stabbing Democrat-collaborating gop-e Republican in the mold of John McCain and Linda Graham.
Good riddance.
Yes, but YOU voted for it, you stupid Democrat. That should get you fired by any sane voters in NC.
Socialism is a great idea, as is communism. Unfortunately, neither actually works. Heck, the goals of the folks who want big government are based on great ideas that I would support if they didn’t do more harm than good.
Ummmm OK. I guess we should just vote for you then.
Is this the way your liberal brain works? Your vote made it law as you ram-rodded it through on Christmas Eve.
YOU are responsible for millions losing lives, insurance, jobs, hours. YOU are the face of liberal scourge upon this nation.
You rode Obamas coattails into office, you can ride them out.
Hopefully he won’t be the nominee. I voted for Brannon.
If a democrat said it, or wrote it, you can safely assume it to be a lie, or propaganda.
For the record, here’s what Tillis actually said, as reported by the Washington Free Beacon:
Here’s what Tillis said, in the context of broader GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare: “The majority of the stuff that is in Obamacare is bad, because it’s not fiscally sustainable. It’s a great idea that can’t be paid for.”
You two neocons ought to be ashamamed, and you call yourself conservatives *spit*
I’m hearing very positive things from NC, Brannon has a grassroots army all over the state as greeters etc. Lots of activity.
Can you report anything positive?
Don’t you go calling me a neocon—Tillis is the Jeb Bush/Establishment guy.
And he said that Obamacare is a great idea. Okay, so he quibbled on price, but we already established that he’s a big-government whore.
“You two neocons ought to be ashamamed, and you call yourself conservatives *spit*”
Since you’ve already resorted to name calling - which is the absence of a coherent argument - then I have won already. The very sentence you write - claiming this supports Tillis - indicates you have a serious problem understanding grammar. He said, using the very quote you reprinted:
“The majority of the stuff in ObamaCare is bad, because it’s not fiscally sustainable. It’s a great idea that can’t be paid for”.
Now pay attention while I educate you on how Tillis’s usage here underscores what I said. In the first sentence, he says ObamaCare’s provisions are “bad” - and then identifies why they are “bad” - citing fiscal unsustainability (which incidentally shows Tillis to be a moron himself - and idea’s merit as to good and bad has nothing to do with it’s funding - the two ideas are mutually exclusive, since the mere ability to pay for a lousy idea doesn’t make it a better idea). Tillis has no problem with ObamaCare in principle. No problem with its encroachment of individual liberty. His basis for citing ObamaCare’s flaw is that the law doesn’t provide the funding for it. And, to make sure he let’s us know he means exactly what he said, the next sentence he utters tells us the exact same thing. He identifies ObamaCare itself as a “great idea that can’t be paid for”. In BOTH of these sentences Tillis’s only problem with ObamaCare is it’s funding source. He makes no objections to any of it’s horrors on businesses, doctors, patients, insurance companies, individuals being forced to pay a tax penalty for merely being alive because of it; none of these issues are any concern to Tillis. Only it’s funding problem. Other than the funding, Tillis tells us it’d be great, and that the majority of it’s problems would be solved.
So instead of trying to tell me what he actually said, it’s clear I did read what he said. The difference between you and me is that I actually understand what he said - since he said the same thing twice in two sentences. Whereas you, obviously, have failed to understand even something as elementary as this. So go pound sand.
Me too.
Several good choices on (R) ticket this go-round. For a change. Brannon happened to be the best, IMHO.
Though, frankly, I'll take any of them over Hagan. She needs to go. Tillis, though he'd not be my 1st choice, would be an improvement. With respect to Ronald Reagan, I'll take someone I agree with 80% of the time, over someone I agree with 0% of the time.
If Brannon makes it to a run-off, anything can happen.
And, again, IMO, Hagan is in real trouble. The election is happening in the primaries this year.
But then again, I thought that Romney was a lock in 2012, so take my opinion for what it's worth.
Nothing in the Government is ever paid for!
I honestly don’t know. I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention, as we have been dealing with my son’s medical issue. I have seen a lot of Brannon signs traveling back and forth to Chapel Hill, but a lot of Tillis signs also. I only got a call by Brannon’s team once this whole time. Tillis’s team has been calling non stop the past few weeks. I think I even got one from the Helms family members.
I’m hoping to get Walter Jones out of here also, along with a couple locals, but we will see.
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