Rare News Desk
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled his latest campaign weapon during a press conference at his re-election headquarters in Louisville, K.Y. Tuesday: Obamacare.
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“This was a chaotic mistake,” McConnell said of President Obama’s promise to keep existing health insurance policies intact, despite the 280,000 Kentuckians he described as losing their current insurance under the newly enacted law.
“The single worst piece of legislation that’s been passed in modern times. And I think it’s a little late for an apology. What the American people would like is a little action here; to get rid of this thing and to start over,” McConnell said according to WDRB News.
The embattled Republican leader has stepped up his rhetoric after facing increased criticism for his role in ending the government shutdown on a two-front re-election battle that shows him slipping in polls.
Though McConnell is on track to be the latest “establishment Republican” to beat a tea-party challenger – a trend likely to grow in 2014 – he’s also the next target for a Democrat to unseat – another increasing prospect next year.
Democratic firm Lake Research polled for MoveOn.org last week confirming a tied race between the Kentucky senator and the Democrat running for his seat, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes with each so far capturing 37 percent of the Kentucky electorate.
The study gave tea-party candidate Matt Bevin just 17 percent of the vote compared to McConnell’s 50 percent. A slightly higher margin of Kentuckians – 52 percent – rated McConnell favorably and 42 percent unfavorably, with about 49 percent of Americans nationally finding McConnell unfavorable.
“The panic has set in, the troops are restless and on a daily basis you will see some Democrats in some red states come up with a new way to try and distance themselves from Obamacare,” McConnell said.
McConnell accused Grimes of “trying to run away” from Democrat’s premiere legislation over the last two election cycles, while ignoring Bevin completely during his first official re-election campaign press conference.
“We should have started with the assumption No. 1 that we have the finest health care in the world and No. 2 we have 85 percent of Americans with health insurance,” McConnell said. “How do you work on the 15 percent without destroying it for the 85 percent?”
“A better approach…would be to use a scalpel instead of a meat ax,” McConnell said according to ABC News.
Spokespersons from both the Grimes and Bevin campaigns responded to the press conference in public statements.
“Mitch McConnell failed to offer any new ideas. Instead of offering solutions that work for Kentucky, McConnell resorts to desperate political games and Washington finger pointing,” spokesperson Charly Norton said on behalf of Grimes.
“Alison Lundergan Grimes is the only candidate in this race who has proposed solutions to help Kentuckians. As Alison has said for months, there are parts of the Affordable Care Act that need to be fixed,” Norton said.
The Bevin campaign used the conference to continue the popular tea-party rhetoric of blaming Republicans that took part in ending the government shutdown – the tactic tea partyers used to try and defund Obamacare.
“Mitch McConnell loves to talk a good game about Obamacare, but he was praised by Democrats of all stripes for funding Obamacare,” spokesperson Sarah Durand said.
“We need someone like Matt Bevin who will fight for Kentucky conservative values not cave to Washington Democrats like McConnell,” Durand said.
Related articles
- Alison Lundergan Grimes Tied With Mitch McConnell In Senate Race: Poll (huffingtonpost.com)
- McConnell Uses Obamacare as Rx for Election Campaign (abcnews.go.com)
- Celebrities lend a hand to Ky.’s Alison Lundergan Grimes (state-journal.com)
