Some Democrats Talking Up Health Law On Stump

[question everything]

WASHINGTON—Democratic candidates have begun to take a more assertive stance on the Affordable Care Act, highlighting the most popular benefits of the law and attacking Republicans for trying to repeal them. Not long ago, many Democrats were in a defensive crouch when it came to health care, amid public anger about the botched rollout of the federal website to sign up for insurance and stories of people who lost existing coverage because it didn't meet federal standards. Many focused on fixes they said should be made to the law rather than trying to convince voters of its benefits.

Now, in at least half a dozen competitive Senate and gubernatorial races, Democrats and their allies are airing TV commercials that directly support the legislation, focusing on its guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions, preventive-care benefits and a ban on charging women more for insurance. In some cases, the ads talk up how the Democrat candidate has worked to guarantee these benefits; in others, they attack a Republican for wanting to take them away.

In Michigan, for instance, the Senate Majority PAC, which is working to elect Democrats, aired a TV spot attacking Republican Terri Lynn Land for seeking to repeal the health law. "With Land, insurance companies will be able to deny you coverage when you get sick," the narrator says. A spokeswoman for Ms. Land said the candidate doesn't want to deny people coverage.

At a Senate hearing to consider the nomination of a new health secretary this month, Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.), who is in a tough re-election race, hailed the Medicaid expansion available under the act and criticized her state's leadership for declining the federal money that would allow North Carolina to add a half million people to the program.

In Florida, Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, running for governor, has fully embraced the law. "I don't shy away from it. I don't back away from it. I don't apologize for it. It's the right thing to do," he said in April, according to the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.

(snip)

Surveys also suggests that many people are reluctant to repeal the law. Americans were evenly divided when asked in Journal/NBC polling in March whether they would more likely vote for a Democrat who would fix and retain the law or a Republican who would repeal it. The shaky support for repeal, combined with the federal website generally working and millions signing up for coverage, help explain the new tone from some Democrats.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/some-democrats-talking-up-health-law-on-stump-1401242528

[merrily]

1. That is what they should do, in my opinion, especially if they voted for it.

I am no fan of the bill that passed. However, please don't come tell me that you voted for what you believed to be a bad bill and expect me to return to Washington so that you can continue voting for bills you think are bad.

At this point, talk up the good points of the bill and sell it for all you're worth, if you want to return to D.C.

ETA: I can't recall any Republicans running in 2002, 2004 or 2006 on the bills they passed were bad--and some of them were downright horrific.

[Fred Sanders]

2. What I am puzzled about is how the polls seem not to show much of a rise in popular

support for the ACA....misinformation out there is sticking in people's minds still.

So much so that Mitch McConnell thinks it wise to love then Kentucky federal ACA exchange, created BY the ACA, but still vow to repeal the hated Obamacare....they are all the exact same thing, but people can not seem to grasp that.

That is some awesome propaganda effect.

As for weak kneed Democratics, it is said that fools never have doubts, only wise men question their own motivations.

[merrily]

3. I don't think Democrats are weak-kneed or genuinely questioning their own motivations.

I think they are saying whatever they believe will most help them get re-elected. I confess that is my view of most politicians today.

As far as misinformation: I am always struck by how Democrats claim to be so much smarter than Republicans, yet modern Republicans somehow manage to get their message across to their base, but modern Democrats don't. You can say it's Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or talk radio or FOX News, but they did not become a major factor until relatively recently.

As far as being weak, I think it's more comforting for Democratic voters to see Democratic politicians as weak than to see them as complicit, which, candidly, is how I see them.

[Arkana]

4. Democrats need to put Republicans in a crouch on the ACA.

Keep talking it up.