Dis-Kynect

Every third sentence that emanates from the mouth of Senator Mitch McConnell these days is a blood oath to repeal Obamacare. I don't believe he can do it and I don't believe he thinks he can do it. I just think it's something he has to say to turn out Republican votes for his re-election in Kentucky.

Kentucky has set up a health insurance exchange called Kynect which is quite popular in that state. A lot of folks who like it don't get that it's part of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. Remember that alleged protest sign, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare"? This is the same kind of logical disconnect. It's like saying, "I wish they'd close all the McDonald's. I don't care about any of those fast food chains, just as long as I can get my Big Macs and Egg McMuffins." (You can probably come up with a better analogy than that…)

So there's Senator McConnell's problem: How to vow to close McDonald's without taking away his constituents' Egg McMuffins. So far, he's handled the Obamacare/Kynect situation by denying they're the same thing and claiming that you can have one without the other. The Lexington Herald-Leader, which is a pretty big newspaper in his home state, is saying this is double-talk.

I don't think Mitch McConnell can lose in Kentucky unless he does one or both of two things. One is to suggest that anyone should ever be denied the purchase of any gun they want. The other is to say Obamacare might have some redeeming features. So from now 'til Election Day, he's going to have to continue to pretend to do away with Obamacare while not harming Kynect. This is going to be fun to watch.