United Liberty

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is trying to play down the impact that Obamacare will have in the 2014 mid-term election, claiming that Democrats will continue to embrace the law on the campaign trail:

Republicans are “wasting their time” using ObamaCare as an electoral issue, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said Thursday.

Days after the healthcare law was seen as a decisive issue in her party’s special election loss in Florida, Pelosi insisted GOP attacks would backfire and that Democrats would embrace ObamaCare on the campaign trail.
[…]
“I think the Republicans are wasting their time using that as their electoral issue, and they will find that out,” she said.

Pressed by a reporter whether Democrats should shy away from the issue on the campaign trail, Pelosi didn’t hesitate.

“No, absolutely not,” she said.

Remember when Pelosi was Speaker of the House? That was, of course, before the 2010 mid-term election, in which Republicans gained 63 seats and rendered her to “Minority Leader” status. She’s apparently forgotten that the 2010 election, which was seen as a referendum on Obamacare, and her subsequent demotion.

If Democrats are so keen on Obamacare, why is the pro-Democrat House Majority PAC running ads in toss-up districts that are critical of both the rollout of the law and ostensibly criticizes regulations that to caused millions of Americans to lose their health plans.

Does anyone else remember when Democrats were going to run and win on Obamacare in the 2014 mid-term election? Those bold statements were made by DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) not long after the infamous rollout of the law.

But with the Obama administration’s most recent Obamacare delays — we’re now at 37, if you’re keeping score at home — Democrats are trying to shift the public’s attention from Obamacare to, well, anything else. Consider two recent stories, one from The New York Times and another from the National Journal.

The New York Times story focuses on Democrats’ “strategy” of targeting Charles and David Koch, which had been telegraphed in two recent, disgusting floor speeches by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). There’s nothing really new in the story that we didn’t already know. It just speaks to attempt to change the subject.

The National Journal piece covers Democrats’ attempts to pivot on Social Security by accusing Republican candidates of wanting to privatize a program that is fiscally insolvent over the long-term. The is the more interesting angle because entitlement programs are, typically, Democrats “go to” when they’re out of ammunition.

Former Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, who served in Congress from 1989 to 2011, has decided to run for Congress again, this time as a Republican in a primary challenge to incumbent Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS):

A longtime Democratic congressman who lost his south Mississippi seat in 2010 says he’s entering the Republican primary in hopes of regaining the seat.

Gene Taylor said he planned to file qualifying papers Friday for the 4th Congressional District election. The primary is June 3.

The 4th District incumbent is Republican Steven Palazzo, who defeated Taylor in 2010.

Taylor was one of 52 House Democrats who were defeated in 2010, losing to Palazzo by a 5-point margin. In that campaign, Taylor, a Blue Dog Democrat, tried hard to distance himself from his party, telling voters that he cast his ballot for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in the 2008 presidential election. He also signed a pledge sponsored Heritage Action promising that he would vote to repeal Obamacare.

John King makes note of President Obama’s absence on the campaign trail in key states and his toxicity, which could haunt Democrats in the 2014 mid-term election. “The one person we don’t see on the road yet…is the President,” King said. “We know he’s not welcome in Kentucky, we know he’s not welcome in Arkansas.”

President Barack Obama rode into the White House in 2009 off the rhetoric of “hope” and “change” and won reelection in 2012 on using a simple word, “Forward,” as his campaign slogan. But, after six years in office, Americans are realizing that what they were sold is about as real as unicorns and fairy dust.

Over at The Washington Times, Daniel Lambro points to numbers from the latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows that 60% of Americans say that they are disappointed in Obama’s presidency:

It’s one thing for President Obama to see his job approval polls slumping into the low 40s and his job disapproval scores climbing to 54 percent, according to the latest Gallup Poll surveys. It’s quite another thing entirely when his longtime allies and most ardent cheerleaders are criticizing the way he has governed, or not governed.

CBS News reported Wednesday that nearly 60 percent of Americans it polled “say they are disappointed” in his presidency. Notably, 40 percent of independents said they were “very disappointed” and a stunning one-fourth of the Democrats that were surveyed “express at least some disappointment.”

Lambro also points out that some Democrats who have backed President Obama’s agenda, including Obamacare, are trying to put distance between themselves and the White House. He uses Rep. Joe Garcia (D-FL) and an ad being run by the Democrat-backed House Majority PAC as an example:

“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed – unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” — James Madison

— Bonus daily quote: “I’m calling this storm Snowbama because it frees people from having to work.” — David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute

— Federal court strikes down Virginia’s gay marriage ban: U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen struck down Virginia’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in an opinion issued very late last night. Gay and lesbian individuals share the same capacity as heterosexual individuals to form, preserve and celebrate loving, intimate and lasting relationships,” Wright Allen wrote in the 41-page opinion. “Such relationships are created through the exercise of sacred, personal choices — choices, like the choices made by every other citizen, that must be free from unwarranted government interference.” The judge cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the Commonwealth’s ban on interracial marriage and determined that marriage is a fundamental right. Wright Allen stayed her decision, pending appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

UPDATE: Fluke now says that she won’t run for Congress, despite filing to run. She will instead seek a California State Senate seat.

Nearly a week after floating the idea of running for Congress, Politico reported this morning that Sandra Fluke has filed paperwork with the California Democratic Party to seek its nomination in California’s 33rd district, the seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA):

The California Democratic Party lists Fluke’s name as having officially filed with the party to run in the California district of the retiring Democrat. Two other candidates have filed to run and three others are considered potential candidates, according to the party’s site.

But a spokeswoman for Fluke said the move was simply a necessary step if down the line she wants to seek the party’s endorsement and said no final decisions have been made.

Fluke has not filed campaign paperwork with the FEC.

As we noted last week, Fluke gained notoriety in 2012 when she testified at a hearing hosted by House Democrats, during which she claimed that her contraceptives cost her some $3,000 over the course of a few years.

In yet another sign that Democrats have given up on their quest to take back the House of Representatives, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) has decided to call it quits, after 40 years in Washington.

Waxman, who represented California’s 33rd Congressional District (CA-33), served as the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and would have likely been in line to chair the powerful committee if Democrats took back the House this fall.

The California Democrat led Energy and Commerce from 2007 to 2011 and helped push President Barack Obama’s cap-and-trade bill and other environmental legislation. He was also one of the key congressional architects of Obamacare. So, you know, good riddance.

The most interesting development in this, however, is that Sandra Fluke is considering a bid to succeed Waxman in CA-33, according to Politico:

Sandra Fluke, who became an instant celebrity when she was denied the opportunity to testify at a hearing on Obamacare’s contraception requirements, is “strongly considering” a bid for Rep. Henry Waxman’s congressional seat, according to KPCC, a Southern California radio station.

During a post-State of the Union discussion with Politico, DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) expressed doubt that Democrats will be able to take back the House of Representatives in the 2014 mid-term election:

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday sparred over Congress and midterm elections, with the DNC chairwoman saying she can’t “confidently predict” that Democrats will take back the House in 2014 but that they will gain seats.

“I’m not going to confidently predict that Democrats will take the House back,” Wasserman Schultz said when asked about the upcoming midterm elections during POLITICO’s post-State of the Union event.  “But we will pick up seats.”

“Where?” McCarthy interjected.

“Down boy,” the DNC chair quipped.

To this point, Democratic leaders have been insistent that the House is in play, pointing out that they only need to gain 17 seats to take the majority. They even tried spin the disastrous rollout of Obamacare, which caused their numbers to tank. Wasserman Schultz, for example, boldly declared on multiple occasions that Democrats would run and win on Obamacare.

In reality, Democrats don’t have much, if any, chance of taking the House, though they could pick-up a few seats. But even that may be a stretch. Why? Because there just aren’t that many Republican seats in play.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is asking vulnerable House Democrats to sign a pledge to run on Obamacare in the 2014 mid-term election.

The NRCC began sending the “Obamacare Campaign Pledge” to vulnerable Democrats in early January. The pledge is, obviously, tongue-in-cheek. It’s based on comments from high-ranking Democrats — including DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — that Obamacare would be an issue on which Democrats will run this year.

Here’s what the NRCC — which has sent the pledge out to media outlets and blogs covering the 2014 election — is asking targeted Democrats to sign:

Despite what Wasserman Schultz and Pelosi have said, a political action committee (PAC) tied to Democratic leadership recently spent $200,000 on an ad for Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ) which criticized the rollout of the disastrous Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov.

Still, the NRCC sent out another round of emails just yesterday to note that targeted Democrats haven’t responded to the pledge, two weeks after the drive began.

Here’s what NRCC Communications Director Andrea Bozek had to say about Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA): “If Ami Bera actually believes this disastrous law will help his district, he should pledge to campaign on it. Voters deserve to know that he is standing up for higher premiums and canceled plans. What is he waiting for?”