Posted on 04/16/2014 10:32:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Really? With every Republican in the country set to run ObamaCare attack ads this fall, the Democratic Party’s going to double down in a perennially red state on the captain of the Healthcare.gov Titanic?
There’s got to be a hidden motive in pushing a story this bananas to the media. But what?
In her darkest hour last fall, Kathleen Sebelius suffered one of the deepest cuts from an old family friend who accused her of gross incompetence over the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and demanded that she resign as secretary of health and human services. Now she is weighing revenge.
Ms. Sebelius is considering entreaties from Democrats who want her to run against that old friend, Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas.
Several Democrats said this week that Ms. Sebelius had been mentioned with growing frequency as someone who could wage a serious challenge to Mr. Roberts, 77, who is running for a fourth term and is considered vulnerable. One person who spoke directly to Ms. Sebelius said that she was thinking about it, but added that it was too soon to say how seriously she was taking the idea…
But friends and Democrats who know her said that they seriously doubted she would follow through and mount a campaign, considering how personally difficult the past six or seven months had been.
Theory one: The left’s triumphalism about hitting seven million sign-ups, replete with treating Sebelius’s resignation as a measure of victory, has now logically metamorphosed into the insane belief that her ObamaCare record makes her a strong candidate, even in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in 75 years. This is where reading Vox gets you, I guess.
Theory two: Sebelius’s friends feel sorry for her now that she’s politically toxic and planted this with the Times to boost her spirits. Her political career’s over and it hurts to admit that, so here’s a way of not admitting it just yet.
Theory three: She’s bitter about having been scapegoated for the O-Care rollout, especially in light of resignation postmortems claiming that Team Obama lost confidence in her months ago. Running for Senate is “revenge,” in other words — on the White House and Democrats, who were eager to shed her as dead weight.
Theory four: The Democratic bench in Kansas really is this thin. This is a state, remember, where Dems control slightly more than a quarter of the state House and just one-fifth of the state Senate. For all her flaws, Sebelius has unusually high name recognition there, partly because of her HHS platform and partly because of her years as governor. Meanwhile, on the right, Pat Roberts’s job approval is underwater and he and Milton Wolf are busy kneecapping each other in a bitter primary. Between GOP infighting and the fact that, at least nationally, more voters prefer the Democratic plan for health care than the Republican one, maybe Democrats figure that it’s worth rolling the dice on a big name, whatever her liabilities. If not for the O-Care debacle, she’d be a no-brainer as a Democratic recruit in Kansas; maybe, they think, the hometown crowd will have some sympathy for her and decide that it’s worth giving someone else a shot after more than 30 years of Roberts in Congress.
That’s the best I can do to rationalize this and I’m not remotely convinced. One more theory for the road. Sebelius as sacrificial lamb (again)?
Theory: Democrats want Kathleen Sebelius to run for Senate so her opponent absorbs 100% of all 2014 GOP donations nationwide
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) April 16, 2014
Sebelius for Senate? Sure. While we’re on the subject of good ideas, let’s bring back the Edsel, and the Vega.
I’m stunned, STUNNED that the Dems would want a lying, anti-American, free-speech killing goon to run for Senate.
I may never recover from this news.
And I thought Texas Democrats were idiots.
Are Kansas Democrats really this stupid?
Reagan did the party no favors by appointing only men his age to high office. All of them retired at once and left a huge gap in the ranks. The same is true in Senate seats. We need a wide-spread of ages so there won’t be a huge gap. It’s time to bring younger people into harness and keep the blood continually refreshed. If, for example, an easily elected person was then to resign so a newbie could be appointed, that would be a good strategy. But appaenly this guy is in trouble and Republicans would be better off backing a new face.
The Democrats have a similar shallow bench problem. The best they can do is old rehashes like Hillary Clinton and Alex Sink? Really?!
Dear. God.
Perhaps, but Reagan did something that no President in recent history has done -
HE PUT COUNTRY FIRST, AHEAD OF PARTY!
“HE PUT COUNTRY FIRST, AHEAD OF PARTY! “
I have no argument with that. But in retrospect there was a huge gap that was unnecessary. We should be sensitive that it’s there so conservatism isn’t hamstrung with Bob Doles and John McCains.
When is the last time Kansas elected a Democrat to the US Senate?
Nominating one of the chief architects of Obamacare will only serve to guarantee the US Senate seat to the GOP for the forseeable future.
I wouldn't sell that possibility short... remember, Kansas inexplicably elected her as Governor.
She was one soldier serving hidden leaders all for the larger cause of Socialism and the destruction of the United States - she will be paid handsomely.
Or murdered.
We vote for Governor on non Presidential election years and seem to end up with a lot of Democrat Governors for a conservative state. I don't know exactly what happens. Maybe a lot of conservatives stay home in the off year election. If Sebelius runs for Senate this year I don't think that will be a problem.
Kind of. Theory four makes the most sense. There literally is nobody else to run. The Democrat cupboard in Kansas is bare. They figure that on the off chance that Wolf does knock off Roberts in the primary, highly unlikely but not impossible, the the Johnson County Republicans would vote for Sebelius over a Tea Partier like Wolf. As for Sebelius what has she got to lose?
It’s just another “Obamacare is Awesome!” bit of silliness. It’s pathetic. We’re not supposed to notice it sucks.
1930
.
I can see Pat Roberts saying, “Please, please, please....”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.