McConnell vows to grill vulnerable 2012 Dems on healthcare reform repeal

The Hill ^ | 12/19/10 | Alexander Bolton

[freespirited]

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he will force Democrats to vote on a repeal of the landmark healthcare reform law when Republicans control half of Congress next year.

“I’m hoping we will receive from the House of Representatives a full repeal of Obamacare; it will be hard to get that through the Senate,” McConnell said on CNN's "State of the Union."

McConnell said he hopes “that among those who had maybe second thoughts in the Senate, including the 23 Democrats who are up for re-election in ’12, there will be some openness to revisiting what I think is the think is the single worst piece of legislation in my time in the Senate.”

Democrats are nervous about controlling their Senate majority after the 2012 election as 21 Democratic senators, as well as two independents who caucus with them, face re-election in what is expected to be a difficult political environment.

Republicans will control the House and incoming Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) plans to pass a repeal of the healthcare law.

Republicans, who remain in the Senate minority, do not control the upper chamber’s floor schedule, but they could attempt to force a vote on a healthcare repeal by offering it as an amendment to other legislation or using variety of other floor tactics.

[paudio]

I completely agree about Angle, although I see it slightly different. Angle relied too much on negative things, but was a bit unfocused. She should have picked one or two issues, and hammered them constantly. Instead, perhaps because of too much money, she threw a whole kitchen sinks. At the same time, she doesn't really highlight who she was. She tried too hard to undermine Reid with ineffective negative campaign, and at the same time didn't try to polish her image at all.

I'm a conservative. Yet, although I was attracted to what she has to say, I have to say I was not impressed at all at her delivery. She looked like an arrogant old lady who thought she knew all the answers. Her early ads after winning the primary had her giving lectures to a bunch of people. Reinforcing the impression that she wanted to be heard, but not listened to others. Those images played well to Rat's portrayal of her (extreme, stubborn, and so on). Carly and Whitman ran in CA. That state is just kind of helpless.

So, back to my first response, the rhetoric of Tea Pary/We the People alone would not do. We need good candidates who can run good campaign. Johnson (WI) and Rubio (FL) came to mind.