McConnell On Health Reform: ‘It Would Be Good For The Country If It Failed’

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This morning on Fox News Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) argued that the country would benefit from the failure to pass health reform:

HUME: Let’s assume that for the purpose of this question, which is in raw political terms is it better for the Democrats and worse for the Republicans if the bill passes or if it fails?

MCCONNELL: What’s important is it would be good for the country if it failed.

“I think the politics are toxic for the Democrats either way,” McConnell told host Brit Hume. “Whether it passes or whether it fails, it will be a huge issue not just in 2010 but in 2012,” he said. Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/17/mcconnell-health-care-fail/

It’s telling that McConnell believes that a Senate health reform bill which would cover more than 30 million uninsured Americans while reducing the deficit is bad for America. McConnell appears to have made a political calculus that health care reform must be defeated in order to help Republicans’ electoral prospects.

Ironically, when Rush Limbaugh declared “I hope Obama fails” shortly before the President’s inauguration, McConnell strenuously disagreed. “No one wants Obama to fail,” McConnell said. But by the end of the year, McConnell’s aides were calling Limbaugh “to explain their tactics” to defeat Obama. “McConnell’s office did call here and say that they are opposing this,” Limbaugh informed his audience.

As President Obama has said, “You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” But that is in fact what McConnell is doing.