WH needles McConnell for ObamaCare remark

The White House on Tuesday seized on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) declaration that his state’s ObamaCare website is “fine” to hit the Republican leader on social media.

“McConnell wants to get rid of ObamaCare, but not that ObamaCare [Kentucky] has — that ObamaCare is just great,” tweeted Tara McGuinness, a senior White House communications adviser, whose portfolio includes the controversial healthcare law.

Democrats, including Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes, have pounced on McConnell’s remark during Monday night’s Senate debate that he is “fine” with aspects of Kentucky’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act. An estimated 500,000 people in Kentucky have purchased health insurance through the state’s healthcare exchange, putting the minority leader in a tough spot.

“Kentucky Kynect is a website. It was paid for by a grant from the federal government,” McConnell said during the debate. “The website can continue, but in my view, the best interests of the country would be achieved by pulling out ObamaCare root and branch.”

“It’s fine to have a website,” McConnell added.

Grimes called the Kentucky lawmaker’s position implausible.

“In the fictional fantasy land that Mitch McConnell is in,” she said, “it doesn’t show the statistics that are here in the state. We have over half a million Kentuckians who are, for the first time ever, are filling prescriptions, are going to the doctor [and] are getting checkups.”

“I will not be a senator that rips that insurance from their hand,” Grimes added.