Republicans look to avoid YouTube moments in fight over Obamacare repeal
By Mike DeBonis January 19 at 6:00 AM
After Sen. Thom Tillis said he would be talking to constituents live on Facebook Wednesday, more than 200 people submitted questions — many of them pointed queries about his views on health care.
While Tillis’s office had advertised a 30-minute event, the senator ultimately appeared on camera for 11 minutes, answering eight questions read to him by a staff member.
“We have to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that works,” said the North Carolina Republican. “What we also have to do is get through the rhetoric you’re hearing from some people. .?.?. Some of the mainstream media and others have pretended that there is no replace strategy — there is.”
Tillis did not acknowledge any of the follow-up questions that popped up in the comments alongside his video, including requests for more details on the GOP replacement plan. But he did avoid the sort of viral spectacle that many of his fellow lawmakers have encountered over the past week as the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act got underway in Washington.
Seven years after unruly Democratic town halls helped stoke public outrage over the Affordable Care Act, Republicans now appear keen to avoid the kind of dustups capable of racking up millions of views on YouTube and ending up in a 2018 campaign commercial. One week after the Republican Congress kicked off the process of repealing the landmark health-care legislation, only a handful of GOP lawmakers have held or are currently planning to host in-person town hall meetings open to all comers — the sort of large-scale events that helped feed the original Obamacare backlash in the summer of 2009.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/republicans-look-to-avoid-youtube-moments-in-fight-over-obamacare-repeal/2017/01/18/22bb2048-dd12-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html?utm_term=.6957856e0a35&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1
