Thursday, December 05, 2013

Pro-Kay Hagan PAC attacks Thom Tillis

A PAC aligned with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attacking Republican Thom Tillis in a new ad -- and Tillis is making the most of it.

The Senate Majority PAC is spending a reported $750,000 on an ad defending Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan on health care while attacking Tillis, one of five announced GOP candidates for her seat.

The PAC is run by former staffers of the Nevada senator. It's the second pro-Hagan ad they've run in North Carolina.

In it they defend Hagan's support of the Affordable Care Act, without ever referring to the act or to the name its commonly known by, Obamacare. Instead they tout her support of legislation that "forced insurance companies to cover cancer and other pre-existing conditions."

 Tillis, it says, "sides with insurance companies."

Tillis tweeted that "It is a badge of honor to be attacked by Harry Reid -- I'll work night and day to beat Kay Hagan and overthrow Reid's majority."

He also emailed a fundraising message to supporters.

"Clearly, North Carolina is ground zero in the effort to get rid of the liberal Reid majority that is keeping Obamacare in place and keeping our country on a path to fiscal disaster," he wrote.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why attack Tillis when Brannon is going to be the nominee?

Oh well I guess Harry Reid is very skilled at wasting money.

David P. McKnight said...

I think it is a mistake politically and administratively for supporters of the Affordable Health Care Act to refer to this program as Obamacare. To include the name of an incumbent President in any federal program of any kind is inappropriate and reflects poorly upon the bipartisan intent of such a program, which indeed ought to serve all Americans regardless of party.

I can understand why some Republicans may wish to use the term Obamacare in some pejorative sense, but why any Democrats who favor the Affordable Care Act would call it Obamacare is beyond me as this only invites partisan opposition from Republicans and independents alike.

When I was a senatorial candidate in the 1970s, I favored the basic national health care concept put forward by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, and as a congressional candidate in 1988-90, I expressed my support for the health care proposals of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. But I would never have referred to either of these health care programs as Harrycare or Teddycare.

If Democrats are not more careful about their use of political nomenclature, the current health care program may acquire the name Harrycare, only in reference to Harry Reid and not Harry Truman.