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March 21, 2014 11:07 AM UTC

Udall vs. Gardner: The Kitchen Sink vs. Obamascare

  • 17 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Rep. Cory Gardner (R).
Rep. Cory Gardner (R).

Good analysis of the Colorado U.S. Senate race today from the Denver Post's Lynn Bartels:

Abortion, immigration, the federal government shutdown — to hear the left tell it, Republican U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner has a multitude of sins to answer for as he campaigns across Colorado to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.

The right isn't any happier with Udall, but it's his vote for the Affordable Care Act that will be hammered again. And again. And again. [Pols emphasis]

With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, millions of dollars will be spent over the next eight months to dissect, distort and doctor their records…

Bartels explores some, but not all, of the campaign themes likely to be used against Cory Gardner in this year's U.S. Senate race in today's story, which we recommend in its entirety. She notes Gardner's proud support in 2010, as recorded in a 9NEWS CD-4 primary debate, for the "Personhood" abortion ban amendment–even helping gather signatures to get Amendment 62 on the ballot that year. And what we've discussed in this space as a particularly strong hit on Gardner, his role in last year's economically disastrous shutdown of the federal government:

Take last year's government shutdown in the midst of Colorado's devastating floods. Rocky Mountain National Park alone lost nearly $11 million in revenues. Democrats say the shutdown occurred when a group of Tea Party-type Republicans, Gardner included, refused to support funding mechanisms unless Obamacare was delayed or overturned.

Gardner supporters argue the congressman was part of a group of Republicans trying to come up with a deal. Democrats counter the effort came after fellow GOP members of Congress were on TV blasting their own party over the shutdown…

The government shutdown was a huge setback for Republicans politically, with the public overwhelmingly turning against House Republicans in particular as the manufactured crisis wore on. The tremendous and very real economic damage to communities like Estes Park, which saw tourism plunge during the shutdown and even after neighboring Rocky Mountain National Park was shuttered, stands in stark contrast to the proven mendacious attacks on Sen. Mark Udall over the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. "Obamacare." And don't forget the added drama of anger from East Coast elected officials from both parties over Gardner's vote against Hurricane Sandy relief, then seeking relief dollars from the same source for flood relief in Colorado.

As for health care, what's Gardner's plan? We already know it doesn't include coverage for pre-existing conditions. And that's before we even get to the video clip we grabbed back in 2011 (top) of Gardner lavishing praise on the Ryan Plan GOP budget that would have privatized Medicare.

And this is the point that becomes clear from today's story: as the Obamacare-centric attacks on Democrats get debunked, and the "horror stories" being spread about the new law fail to pass elementary scrutiny–and are not substantiated by the experience of actual voters–the efficacy of Obamacare as a weapon against Democrats is breaking down. Conservative attack groups like Americans for Prosperity have been running shrill anti-Obamacare ads for months, but are meeting a progressively more chilly reception from the media as their false claims become more widely recognized. Assuming that continues, the days of persuasively spreading total lies like "millions have lost health insurance" could be about over.

Once that happens, Democrats have an awful lot of things to talk about.

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17 thoughts on “Udall vs. Gardner: The Kitchen Sink vs. Obamascare”

  1. Does Cory Gardner really think all the lies about Obamacare are going to go unrefuted and uncorrected for over 7 months ?  Seven months from now how many more people will be signed up, how many more success stories will there be, and how many more people will be positively impacted ?

    I understand running on Obamascare as a strategy if the election were tomorrow.  It isn't.

    1. Horseshit, Let me help you.

      If the Udallcare ads continue 2-3 months without a response they will have done damage.  They don't need 7 months.

      The sign up period ends in 10 days, not 7 months.

      Starting on April 1st more people lose insurance and the next signup period starts in the fall.  The individual how I have been hurt by Udallcare storys will come out by drip , , drip . . drip.  It is cummulative.  By then the rates will be significantly higher because of adverse selection caused by the plan design.

      1. Once on the brink of such total and terrible calamity, with more people having health coverage and such, then what?  When do we begin rounding up the Republicans to put in the FEMA camps?  Is that before or after the mid terms?  

      3. Um, no.

        The sign-up period ends in 10 days… After March 31, the insurance companies are required to compile their current enrollee list to determine coverage rates for next year. Also after March 31, anyone who isn't enrolled faces possible penalties when they file their tax return next year. But the exchanges and the insurance companies can still sign up new enrollees, and no-one loses coverage at the end of the month because they failed to sign up.

        The acknowledged go-to guy on ACA signups, Charles Gaba, estimates that individual plan signups under the ACA will hit 6.22 million by the end of the month. That's more than the revised CBO projection on which they've based their latest numbers (the original goal was 7 million, but that was revised downward due to exchange startup issues).

        As of yesterday, it's estimated that more than 15 million people are enrolled under provisions of the ACA that help individuals – exchange plan signups, Medicaid expansion participants, young people under 26 on their parents' plans, and others…

        What's sad is that millions more would have been covered under Medicaid expansion if their Republican state officials hadn't blocked that expansion in a misguided attempt to make a political statement.

        http://acasignups.net/graph

        1. If there are 6 million sign ups how many people does that translate to who have insurance coverage? 4 million, the vast majority of which previously had insurance.  The 7 million number was not sign ups, it was for people who would get insurance through the exchanges.  This sign up stuff is bogus happy talk.  The process has been a failure, the act is a failure substantively and it will succeed in having the Dems lose their majority in both the house and the senate.  But other than that, it was a great idea.

          1. Obamacare will indeed cost Democrats the House and Senate in 2014. Pundits everywhere and on both sides agree. The denial and wishful thinking on this blog runs deep.

              1. "Boulder Liberal" did miracles for Bob Schaffer, so why not have Gardner run on Obamacare.  What the hell, lets go with it !

                Its like you guys are just phoning it in lately.

                 

          2. A.C. You say it was a " great idea"why didn't Republican propose their preference? And while we're at it maybe you or some other con can tell us all about some ongoing program conceived out of conservative principles proposed,carried,and mostly passed by conservatives that benefits the largest share of the country. To help you out here  I'm thinking about something like the REA, the TVA, or Social Security all of which were opposed by conservatives some( the most) of whom were Republicans.It seems to me like preemption would have been your best strategy. Get there fustest with the mostest but you didn't.

            1. lange, All the major social programs which have been passed, except for Obamacare, were based with significant bipartisan support.  The civil rights acts of the 60's would not have passed without major Republican support.  

              The reason Obamacare is in such trouble is the Dems saw no benefit in bringing Republicans along and did not have to.  They passed a "purer" bill than they would have if it was bipartisan but set themselves up for what has followed. The bill did not even get Susan Collins support, and she is reliably middle of the road.

              When you pass a law too far to the extreme to get any centrist votes that affects all Americans you set yourself up for a major backlash (see congress 2010, senate 2014).

               

      6. It is you who needs the help.Those "cancellations" the Teapublicans arecrowingabout can only be issued during enrollment periods. Anyone who actually has their insurance cancelled off-season can appeal it. If they can prove they were cancelled for filing a claim for a covered procedure, the insurance company has to honor the policy ntil the next enrollment season. Nice try.

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