GOP claims Massachusetts outcome signals changed political tide

The Greenville (S.C.) News: "The Massachusetts Senate race for Ted Kennedy's old seat was a sign that the current health care reform bill should be scrapped, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said. .... Graham said the Obama administration tried to push a bill through that isn't bipartisan and that the Massachusetts race illustrates the nation's desire to go back to the drawing board on reform. He issued a warning that any effort to pass a bill through the Senate will result in 'holy hell'" (Osby, 1/20).

"Senate Republicans are more committed than ever to opposing President Barack Obama's health care agenda, citing a GOP victory in the Massachusetts special election as validation of their political strategy and policy course," Roll Call reports. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said, "The American people all over the country are opposed to the bill. They don't want it passed" (Drucker, 1/20).

According to CQ Politics, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "Brown's triumph also may serve as a harbinger of what is to come in this year's elections if elected officials in Washington don't set aside their far left agenda and mend fences with mainstream America. It signals that liberal Democrats in Washington are out of step with the American people" (Stanton, 1/19).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.