« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Mitch McConnell Blocks Conservative Effort Against Obamacare

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  February 29th, 2012 at 04:46 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

On Thursday, the Senate will consider Senator Roy Blunt’s amendment to the Senate version of the highway bill. It is the only amendment the Senate GOP will offer up.

On its surface, it is a good amendment. It will allow religious employers to opt out of the new Obamacare mandate on contraception and abortifacient drugs. But strategically, it is another lame effort by Senator Mitch McConnell to let Senate Democrats in swing states absolve themselves of any blame for what Barack Obama has done.

See, the highway bill probably is not going to pass. So Senator Blunt’s amendment won’t actually pass. But Senate Democrats can vote for it and then claim in their 2012 election that they too oppose the President, but alas their measure failed. At the same time, no outside groups want a vote right now. If there is a vote this week and the bill ultimately dies, the issue goes away in the press and Christian groups are only now whipping up opposition to the HHS regulation. Roy Blunt’s amendment comes too soon and takes off the table an issue social conservatives care about just as Republican leaders are whispering that the issue hurts them (coincidence?).

Consider the alternative. There is another amendment Senator McConnell expressly refuses to bring up this week as an alternative — an amendment by Senator Jim DeMint for full repeal of Obamacare.

“Wait,” you say, “It’d never pass.” True. But neither with Roy Blunt’s. The difference is that Roy Blunt’s gives the Democrats cover to say they oppose the President without actually opposing the President and Jim DeMint’s amendment puts many swing state Democrats in the awkward position of either reminding voters of their support of Obamacare or suddenly flipping their support to try to save their political skin.

Oh, and as a bonus, with more polling out showing a majority of Americans still oppose the individual mandate, it is a great reminder of who is on the right side of history.

But then Mitch McConnell has a history of being a bad strategist while claiming to be the Darth Vader of Senate strategists. Of course, Darth Vader did lose the Death Star twice to a rag tag group of rebels, so I guess it kind of fits.

Tags: ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • curtmilr

    McConnell is the worst GOP leader? Or whether Boehner is? I don’t see either of them have any kind of conservative principles. Both talk a good game but roll over at the first resistance.

    Regardless, I’d like to see major leadership changes after this election, especially if the GOP manage to sweep control of the Congress. It is even more important to advance principled conservatism in Congress should Romney win too! Those three as leaders of the GOP would condemn it, and the nation, to the ash heap of history.

  • tedpomeroy

    Watch him and learn. He does not want to give the Obamatards
    (the President’s rabid base) any reason to get stirred up.

    The President is doing everything he can to make them fear the GOP, McConnell says let them keep thinking the President has failed them.

    Watch McConnell and learn. There is a reason why Reid will not try to pass a budget because he knows McConnell has more brains in his finger than Reid has in his head.

  • dudette

    this makes me hopeful–but it shows me there is little unity between leadership and the DeMint types and which is McConnell?? I am thoroughly confused

  • freedom555

    YES, it’s absolutely brilliant…..and a completely unexpected strategy for an opposition leader.

    Next McConnell should praise the economic benefits of the Stimulus!

    Keep the Dems guessing…..and make your fellow Rs think you’re losing whatever little bit of backbone you might have ever had.

    Pure Genius.

  • ag8tor

    it’s politics as usual. O-care is still with us and the Dems are still in control of both houses because of the gutless so-called leaders in the GOP. Call them brilliant if you will but what are they brilliant about. Certainly it’s not conservative values. It looks as though we are stuck with O-care until after the election because they are all more worried about their political futures than the country. If they weren’t we’d have gas at $2.00 a gallon!

  • circlegranch

    “Hands Off My Healthcare” is the theme of a huge rally outside the SCOTUS being organized by AFP. Find your state chapter and sign the People’s Brief which will be sent to the Justices, asking that they rule ObamaCare as unconstitutional. The Court generally rules based on public opinion; make your voice heard.

  • tedpomeroy

    There is every reason to believe that the Obamatards will not be motivated in the fall.

    One third of the Electorate do not have strong feelings on the issues like we Conservative and vote their flighty feelings. Then there is the ugly 25% who are committed to picking your pocket for a welfare state. You need to get our enemies to “sleep” like they did in 1994 and 2010.

    Trust McConnell, read how he wrested the 2007 budget away from Reid. Reid could not get his majority and McConnell got some DEMS to vote with him. Reid did not show his face in the media for months after that!

  • WmCraig

    Seriously, are throwing cold water on the conservative base, and disgusting independents simply because we don’t want to fire up Obama’s base?

    Let me understand this. We will not repeal ObamaCare because it will fire up his base. We won’t defend individual liberty because it will fire up his base, and we won’t shut down a government we can’t pay for because it will fire up Obama’s base.

    I have two problems with this.
    First, why should independents and conservatives, or anyone be “fired up” about this kind of leadership? Throwing cold water on anyone opposed to what Obama has done will not overcome a complacent Obama base.

    Second, as soon as Obama is defeated in the fall, his base is going away, right? Obama will retire gracefully and disappear from politics like Dubya, right? If this is what you are counting on it is a dangerous plan.

    Mr. Organizer will simply be free to organize, and raise money, without the inconvenience of pretending to be President. And everyone is assuming he doesn’t become a host and commentator on ABC and a regular guest on CNN. And by regular I mean every time the Republicans do “anything” that would upset Obama’s base.

    Of course he will. Obama will get more air time then all the Republican leadership combined, including the President. Most likely he will get his own shows. (Plural intended.)

    You want us to believe that it is good strategy to avoid challenging Obama when as President he gets the blame for all the bad stuff that happens in the Obama administration, Bad stuff like a worsening economy caused by a government shutdown that would be his fault, or a an unhinged “progressive” base going on a rampage over ObamaCare repeal attempts. No, we are not going to challenge Obama. Instead we plan to skate into office unleashing a public relations monster who will hold the Republicans responsible for every evil and ill, imagined or real until the GOP goes the way of the Whigs. Who in their right minds will believe that these “brilliant strategists” will do ANYTHING, let alone shrink government, reduce spending and cut programs, once Republicans have to accept the blame for the impact on the economy? And you can be sure Obama will spend four years reminding everyone that it is the Republicans that are destroying the country. I worry more about a landslide victory for Obama in 2016.

    Everyone realizes he can run again, right?

  • goodolboy

    buy their underwear at Victoria Secrets.

  • cowdoc

    Really, this is the kind of leadership our money buys? Whatever happened to doing what was right, moral, and couragous. Obviously these guys don’t look in the mirror every mornng when they shave. Because if they did they would have to question the path they have decided upon and the wisdom of the decision. I am appalled by their actions (or inaction). I realize it is always someone else’s rep or senator that is the problem, but really Kentuckey can do better.

  • bs61

    n/t

  • bs61

    since the gutless wonder does not have twitter. Got the same women answering everyday and she would ask if I was a constituent, I said no but I am forced to live with his horrible decisions as the Minority ‘Leader’.

    Sorry if there are typos, no glasses this morning

  • geoph

    Our best hope to stop ObamaCare lies with the judiciary?
    God have Mercy on us!

  • edintexas

    Wishful thinking is how elections are won. Just like Bob Dole won, And McCain too. Oh, wait…

  • edintexas

    Then the best course would be to do nothing on this issue. That way the issue would remain to irritate the people and he would not be helping the swing state Democrats by giving them a throw away vote to show they “opposed” Obamacare and Dear Leader.

    You apparently think helping the Democrats, while angering your base, is brilliant strategy for McConnell. Well, it might allow him, or some other Republican Senator, to keep the job as Senate Minority Leader.

  • Tbone

    He is worse than Reid. At least Reid has the balls too be on the wrong side.

    McConnell is exactly what is wrong with the Republican leadership. They ain’t Republicans and they are Americans in name only. They are more like European Union elitists. If Republicans fail to remove them, this Country is finished.

  • sharrondeer

    I thought we were against the way Washington works. Well, one of the way it works — or doesn’t — is attaching unrelated amendments to bills. If we deride it when the Democrats pull that sort of thing, then we should do the same when the Republicans do.

    Case closed.

  • http://online.logcabin.org/about/ suzieQ

    But I’ve all but given up hope on repealing Obamacare. After the 2010 elections I was pumped and was sure that the Obamacare days were numbered. But since then… Nothing.

    Now the frontrunner in the race for the GOP nomination is the father of Obamacare. The same man who setup an almost identical system in Massachusetts. The same man whose advisers helped Obama create Obamacare. The same man who has said he will not repeal Obamacare. Or he will. Or he won’t. Depending on what day it is and which way the wind is blowing.

    Unlike many of my conservative friends I am not very bullish on GOP hopes to retake the senate. It would be nice, but I don’t see it happening. Olympia Snowe has announced she is retiring. Maine would be an easy dem pickup. It is also not that far of a stretch to predict that Warren will beat Brown in Romney’s former nanny state of Taxachussets.

    So when 2013 rolls around America will wake up to a GOP congress too afraid to do what they have promised, a dem senate, and the father of Obamacare as president. And still no change.

  • acat

    I’ll kick in a couple bucks.

    Mew

  • Juggernaut

    revamps that lousy bill into right wing socialism? Seems to me the right would put the bill up for vote even without dem support to show they are serious about killing the bill for good. Avoiding funding the bill is not enough. Let the dems go on record opposing the repeal.

  • udtiger

    Seriously…

    Do we really want him to even possibly sniff the Majority Leadership? At least with Reid, you KNOW you are about to get the shaft and can brace yourself for it.

  • rulken

    Obama is NOT qualified to be president, and never has been!
    The democrats in congress (prior 2010) tried to get legislation passed that would have opened the door for Obama to be qualified to be POTUS, but failed to get it passed.

  • fpete13527

    nt

  • carolina

    to look for “common ground”.
    Hang on to your seats ……. the govt is about to GROW again (and spend more of your money).
    The fed govt will never shrink – they are too busy ‘helping’ us. ugh

  • carolina

    to look for “common ground”.
    Hang on to your seats ……. the govt is about to GROW again (and spend more of your money).
    The fed govt will never shrink – they are too busy ‘helping’ us. ugh

  • lizaz

    we need to rid ourselves of the incumbents and RINOS and let the TP Republicans have a chance to prove their rhetoric…maybe they have the intestinal fortitude to face off against the marxism encroaching on us!!!!

  • Seedyrom

    he’d find out how quick money flows from other states once that candidate was vetted. We need a Kentucky version of Jim DeMint!!!

  • lineholder

    72% of ALL Americans see the individual mandate as being unconstitutional, including 56% of Democrats! Independents are against it 70%. Obama does not have broad support on this. This is an opportunity for Republicans to position themselves very clearly and plainly on the side of the majority of Americans and on the side of protecting and preserving the very foundation on which this nation was established.

    Even if it would end up being only a token vote that didn’t pass Congress, to push the issue when public opinion is in our favor, and especially right now before the SCOTUS hearings begin, would be a much wiser strategic move by Repubs than to do nothing out of a spirit of fear,which is exactly what you’re suggesting.

    DeMint is the one presenting the best strategy this time around, not McConnell.

  • vietvet68

    This turd needs to be flushed along with all the other RINO’s! He is in bed with the democrats and obama………………..

  • ihateliberals

    That is kind of like saying Army Intelligence. There is no such thing. I don’t think we have a problem with these guys taking over leadership positions. The Liberals will keep the Senate and Boehner isn’t going to win his home election this time. We use to call these people RINO’s last year but this year we know better, they are Liberal republicans. Now they are a little different than Liberal Democrats but not much. A Mitt Romney win of the White House and then these two as leaders in the congress and the GOP wil be doomed. I think it is doomed anyway if Romney wins the nomination. At tht point there will be no where for conservatives to turn. Romney is a Liberal Republican and creator of Obamacare and his economic policies aren’t that different from Obama’s. The main difference i see is Romney is White and Obama is Black.

    I will be amazed if the GOP can keep the house since they destroyed the Tea Party which put them there to start with. The GOP literally reached out and Bit the hand that fed it. Without a good conservative candidate to choose from the Tea Party isn’t going to come to the GOP’s rescue this time. Not on the White House nor congress. We are not only doomed to at least 4 more years of Obama but a Democratic Senate and House. Our country will never survive this.

  • ihateliberals

    The Mitch McConnell I know and hate is a Liberal Republican. If he didn’t have a limo to bring him to work everyday he wouldn’t know how to get there. he doesn’t have a conservative bone in his scroungy little body. When you pair him up with the likes of McCain and Olympia Snowe and Boehner in the House there is no chance for a conservative thought to be advanced in our congress.

  • papayapicker

    I realize that this is an old “witticism” that is actually about “Military Intelligence”. You need to apologize for your demeaning of Army personnel. There are very many intelligent soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines protecting your right to make your petty, snide comments but you should take time out to consider what you are about to post. BTW, I was a member of Army Intelligence from 1972-1993 and I can assure you that these people have and still are providing a very valuable service in the ongoing fight against those who would like to destroy our way of life. I have worked with members of the other services and can assure you that the skills they have require a great deal of intelligence.

  • papayapicker

    I think you are giving the GOP House and Senate leadership a little (no, a lot) too much credit for their critical thinking abilities. It wouldn’t surprise me if, after (hopefully) we House and Senate see GOP gains and Obama removed from office, that these two will stand right up and say “See, our plan worked!”

  • rightland1111

    nt

  • Vegas_Rick

    ihateliberals sounds just like one. It really should apologize.

  • Raven

    All that time you claim to have spent in intel and you never developed a sense of humour? Must have been some very bad days when you presented your intel and afterward were informed of some little, tiny thing no one even thought about but that changed the entire picture.

    If you didn’t have a sense of humour you never should have signed up.

    Disclosure: my wife is intel and I am S2.

  • blaki02

    I believe that this a time-sensitive trap being planned by the GOP. Rather than allow the Dem’s to get off with a free pass by pushing a vote on the amendment, he waits until the proper time (probably somewhere nearer the middle of election campaigns, so that when the issue surfaces again, those idiot liberal senators won’t have time to recoup.
    They’ll be too busy defending their positions to their constituents (at the same time trying to make good their reelection), that it will be like a double whammy.
    Obama will, as usual, play his Mr. Destructor card about the DO-NOTHING-CONGRESS no matter whether McConnell attempts to push thru a bill / amendment or not, so let’s just wait and see.
    My guess: I would expect to see amendment bills pushed around June / July time frame.

  • cbartlett

    I’m with ‘cat – I’ll add a few bucks to the fund!

  • drfredc

    McConnell’s LOSERrship of the GOP is sooo brilliant.

    It’s like shitting on yourself so no one can tell who you are AND won’t have anything to do with you. This is Mitch’s continual contribution to the GOP.

    I’m doing my part — whenever the RNC calls for support, I say nothing until Mitch is relegated to the back bench… The GOP needs leadership that are capable of making, clear and concise statements and actions supporting common sense conservative principles.

  • travis690

    How did such a lame strategist ever become head of his party’s Senate delegation?

    Here we have someone who was on the wrong side of the election that put Rand Paul into the Senate while he protected the party machine favorite whose name even I can no longer remember. Then over the course of the following year, he continues to implement political strategies that only make his own party look bad (at least if anyone still trusts the lamestream presstitutes). If he actually stumbles into doing anything right for the party, it will be the first time.

    An open plea to the Republican Party Senators: Please choose a new leader before the reincarnation of General Custer destroys the whole party.

    And to all my friends in Kentucky: Is there any hope that you could find a qualified replacement for the Conehead?