I think that regardless of the outcome of this situation, it is time to mount a campaign to replace McConnell as Senate (hopefully) Majority leader after the next election. This will be only more pressing if Romney is the nominee or Obama wins re-election. Wouldn’t you feel a thousand times more comfortable with Romney if DeMint was pushing the legislative agenda?

Maybe the organizations doing the threatening should consider a campaign to have McConnell replaced anyway, with someone like Rubio. Our executive branch has somehow acquired the authority to “exempt” individual people or groups from the application of statutes, so why not get an “exemption” to the Senate rules and let’s have some fresh faces in the GOP leadership positions in the Senate?

Nice work EE. It can only help our cause to force Dems to once again vote on the poison they unleashed on America.

Again, it seems all I can do is call and email Senator McConnell’s office, ask my like-minded friends to do the same and the most important thing which may yield the greatest results…

Get down on my knees and pray. We need some divine intervention here. Won’t you join me?

Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Where two or three have come together in my name, I am there among them.

Matthew 18:19-20

Brian

Let’s remember that our original goal was “Repeal AND REPLACE,” not just repeal.

Polls show that at least one provision of ObamaCare really is popular with the American public: Guaranteed issue. No one can be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

If the GOP goes for full repeal but without replace, then the Dems will spin that as the GOP taking away guaranteed issue. Then all that Obama has to do to win re-election is trot out sad video after sad video of children with hemophilia, leukemia, diabetes–and say that those children who survive to adulthood can’t get health insurance for themselves without guaranteed issue from ObamaCare.

Did you think that he was honorable?

all go along with the incumbents in voting for McConnell as minority leader, when he was already known as a weakling and a squish? Did they just go along to get along with the old geezer Senators who are McConnell’s cronies?

I doubt any efforts to remove McConnell as minority leader will be successful this year. The best chance of removing him will be in Jan. with the new session. As much as McConnell needs to go, wouldn’t it be bad to create that turmoil with the Republican party with the Senate and House elections coming up in a matter of months?

Possibly an effort of some sort can be made to plead with the R Senators, who will be seated in Jan. to not vote for McConnell as minority or majority leader. If DeMint is willing to take on that position, he would be far superior to McConnell. DeMint has the Senate experience, the correct conservative principles, and has consistently displayed the leadership abilities in taking on the liberals and old Harry Reid. He’s a fighter. DeMint said that he is retiring after this term, but his term isn’t up until 2016. By that time someone like Rubio will be ready to step in as the R leader.

…the Dems will just introduce piecemeal legislation over the next decade or more and eventually restore every piece of repealed Ocare. They’re masters at incrementalism and they’re patient. It took 100 years to get Ocare, they’re not about to give up now.

Don’t the professional politicians on our side know this?

so-called leadership standing with regard to repealing Obamacare? In the 2010 elections there were something like 80 new R house members elected, many who ran on repealing Obamacare. Shortly after those elections, Eric Cantor, in a townhall speech, said that R’s didn’t want to get rid of the good portions of Obamacare. He referred to the pre-existing provisions, and the 26 year old “children” staying on their parents insurance as the good portions of Obamacare. Does the House leadership still hold those positions?

One of the questions I have, with the repealing of only certain portions of Obamacare, would be to question how that may affect the SC decision on the lawsuit. I know the lawsuit is addressing whether the mandate is constitutional. We’ve heard that without the mandate the entire law fails. The law doesn’t include the required provision that if one portion is decided to be unconstitutional, the rest of the law still stands. If the Congress keeps chipping away at only the bad portions of the law, such as the contraception mandate, would the SC be less likely to decide on the law at all, and possibly would send it back to Congress to “fix” the legislation? That would be a nightmare scenario, as the Republican leadership in the Senate and the House don’t appear to want full repeal. Doesn’t the full impact of the legislation hit in 2013, at which time the liberals will really start filling in the invisible blanks, and it would be near impossible to get rid of then?

Repeal will not pass this year. All the Democrat Senators will vote against it. (It is still good to hold their feet to the fire.) Even if it got through the Senate, Obama would veto all bill that contained an Obamacare repeal.

We need to keep the Obamacare issue alive for the election, but this seems a little early for a full repeal vote. If it does get voted down as it likely will, it becomes harder to bring up again closer to the election. They can just argue that we voted on this already, and by doing so they will reduce the discussion on the actual issue.

The GOP needs a better issue strategy. They need to plan to bring up a series of votes intended to keep the issue alive throughout the election cycle. For example, they could have a vote on just individual mandate to buy insurance. Then in a couple months pick out something else from Obamacare that the Dems will vote against. This should lead up to a vote in late September for full repeal.

I don’t think this is what McConnell has in mind for opposing amendments. This lack of strategy shows poor leadership and poor political savvy on his part. Polls indicate that a majority want Obamacare repealed. It is a winning issue. Why aren’t we exploiting it?

I emailed him about the Demint versus the Blunt amendment asking point blank his position on the matter. I got a generic policy letter in response.

He basically says, the Supreme Court is hearing the case and even if the Supreme Court doesn’t overturn the “Individual Mandate” he is sponsoring

“American Liberty Restoration Act (S. 19), which was introduced in the Senate on January 25, 2011, and if enacted, would repeal the individual mandate.” – Quote from the letter I received.

However, except for a link to his web site for the health care reform measures he does support, he makes absolutely no reference to repealing Obamacare.

He needs to be primaried if he does not support repeal!

The people of Kentucky are to blame.

I agree with what you’ve said about Republicans taking a stand on full repeal.

But when we have a bipartisan bill like HR 452, to repeal IPAB, that has (1) made it through the house (2) made it through Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee (3) has the support of about 350K doctors and (4) is on its way to the Senate in March, which is the same time O-care will be moving to SCOTUS….is there nothing we can do to rally around these actions and back them up without it being taken that we’re sacrificing a chance at full repeal?

HR 452 could be a real opportunity. IPAB is a key part of the bill. It’s almost as important as the individual mandate.

Is there no way to put the situation we’re facing now with HR 452 to good use???

If the approach Conservatives as a whole are going to be taking on this is that we hold out for full repeal, come what may come…I just hope we aren’t putting all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, and letting opportunities pass us by. That’s all.