The Tea Party truly is the gift that keeps on giving:
http://wfpl.org/...
A pair of Tea Party groups are increasing their pressure on Sen. Mitch McConnell and his Republican caucus to de-fund President Obama's health care at all costs.
Recently, McConnell questioned that strategy and said a government shutdown would not halt the Affordable Care Act's implementation.
The Washington Post's Aaron Blake reports Tea Party Patriots and For America are targeting McConnell's caucus in a series of online advertisements in the hopes of gaining traction.
For America has already put out an ad essentially calling McConnell a "chicken" for not being more supportive. - WFPL News 89.3, 8/19/13
The Heritage Foundation also released an ad using quotes from Senators Marco Rubio (R. FL) and Ted Cruz (R. TX) about shutting down the government to defund Obamacare:
McConnell isn't the only Republican Senator these ads are putting the pressure on:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The first wave of ads will target six Republicans who have expressed skepticism about the Defund Obamacare effort: Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (Tex.) and Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Tom Coburn (Okla) and Richard Burr (N.C.).
The second wave of ads will target six Senate Republicans who haven’t made their positions clear, calling on them to exercise leadership on the issue. The six are Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Pat Roberts (Kan.) and Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.).
A similar ad will target House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio).
The six-state tour will complement the ads and will travel through many of these members’ home states — including Boehner’s.
Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin and For America Chairman Brent Bozell will team up to travel to Boehner’s home state of Ohio and McConnell’s Kentucky before moving on to Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Virginia. - Washington Post, 8/19/13
Yeah, good luck with that. Don't know if these ads will help spark a movement in the GOP that just isn't gaining any traction:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/...
The activists claim they have the momentum, but so far, the Republican leadership in Washington isn't feeling the pressure. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor reached out to the conservative National Review last week to proclaim that "no one is advocating a government shutdown."
"To get 60 votes in the Senate, you need at least 14 Democrats to join Republicans and pass a [measure] that defunds Obamacare," Cantor said. "Right now, I am not aware of a single Democrat in the Senate who would join us. If and when defunding has 60 votes in the Senate, we will absolutely deliver more than 218 votes in the House."
Beyond the town halls, Heritage Action recently released polling to try to convince GOP leaders that they could win a defunding fight in the court of public opinion. The Heritage survey, done in 10 competitive House districts, showed nearly 60 percent support for shutting down the government to slow the health care law. The poll question, however, didn't use the word "shutdown" but instead asked about "a temporary slowdown in nonessential federal government operations." A plurality of voters said they'd place most of the blame on congressional Republicans, not Obama, if the government shut down.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a Cantor ally, went so far as to suggest a government shutdown over the health law could cost Republicans the House majority.
The possibility of a Republican-precipitated shutdown does have Democrats licking their political chops. "This is destructive not only for the country and for health care but it's also, I think, something that would boomerang on them politically," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., a former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. - National Journal, 8/18/13
However, it will be interesting to see how McConnell handles this situation because his Tea Party challenger, Matt Bevin (R. KY), has decided to side with guys like Cruz:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
In the Senate, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is attempting to straddle the line between approving of the plan hatched by some of his colleagues to force the defunding of Obamacare with a government shutdown threat, and supporting colleagues who have deemed that plan politically dangerous. And on YouTube, there's Matt Bevin:
Bevin aligning himself with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are the easy points on the board to pick up. There's a little clever fudging, however, over Bevin's demand to "start voting in the U.S. Senate to kill it by defunding it."
How, exactly, would McConnell do that? At the moment, support for Lee's plan to stage a government shutdown over the matter has only waned. McConnell's position on the matter is the more realistic talking point that some of his colleagues have also voiced: “I’m for stopping Obamacare, but shutting down the government will not stop Obamacare.” And the new, new thing in conservative circles isn't "defunding" Obamacare, it's "delaying" Obamacare. It's also essentially a non-starter.
Now, could McConnell stand on his head or wave his arms around or cloak himself in fire and yawp about how much he hates Obamacare? Sure. But practically speaking, if you swapped in Bevin for McConnell right now, he'd be one more potential joiner in an effort to stage a government shutdown that doesn't have a lot of support and won't accomplish much. - Huffington Post, 8/14/13
While these two clowns duke it out, lets help fuel Alison Lundergan Grimes' (D. KY) campaign so she can defeat McConnell or Bevin next year:
https://secure.actblue.com/...