Norton communicates position on health care bill via Facebook status update

U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton apparently committed Tuesday to working to repeal the federal health care bill passed Sunday. In a Facebook status update, she wrote vaguely that the “country must elect leaders this November who will work to repeal ObamaCare.” Despite pressure from the right blogosphere Sunday and Monday, Norton was alone among Colorado’s three GOP Senate primary candidates in not committing to working to repeal health reform. The talkingpoint-style Facebook update is sandwiched between similar updates criticizing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and process strategies Democrats proposed last week to pass the health bill. Her three-sentences update is linked to no related material but it seems to have been excerpted from a statement she posted on her campaign website.

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Norton been to target of criticism for generally avoiding the press. In the seven months she has been running for office, she has spoken rarely to state paper of record, the Denver Post– by one count just five times— and has made only occasional appearances on talk-radio and cable news shows. Mostly she has met with small groups of supporters, although she tried to ban a Democratic Party tracker from those events after some of the things she was saying made their way onto the internet and began attracting attention and scrutiny on the left and the right.

She has offered little elaboration, for example, on how she hopes to “abolish the federal Department of Education” and how that would translate to better and better-funded schools on the ground in Colorado. She also said President Obama cared more about the rights of terrorists than the safety of Americans and called the social security system a “ponzi scheme”– none of which came as a surprise to many of her supporters on the right, perhaps. On the matter of how these statements and others might relate to policy positions she has adopted or as guides to the work she plans to do in Washington, Norton has failed to say. Indeed by avoiding the media, she gives the impression that she is unsure of her positions or at least not willing to debate them at length on the merits.

Her status update on the repeal drew 21 “Like This” clicks from Facebook members and a mixed bag of 12 short comments from 6 readers.

The full update:

Our country must elect leaders this November who will work to repeal ObamaCare and bring real reform to our healthcare system. America has seen the face of political arrogance embodied in this bill, and its passage represents one of the darkest hours in Washington’s recent history. Never before has a majority party so …severely trampled the will of the American people to pass such a substantial piece of legislation.

At her Website she has posted a release:

US Senate candidate Jane Norton today issued a statement following the signing of President Obama’s healthcare takeover.

“The American people have seen the face of political arrogance embodied in this bill, and its passage represents one of the darkest hours in Washington’s recent history. Never before has a majority party so severely trampled the will of the American people to pass such a substantial piece of legislation.

“This bill represents the most significant move toward the failed policies of socialism America has seen in more than six decades. Our country must elect leaders this November who will work to repeal ObamaCare and bring real reform to our healthcare system.

“Pride comes before the fall, and fall will come quickly for Senator Bennet and others who have foisted this upon the American people. It will take time to undo what has been done to decorum in Washington, to our healthcare system, and to the reputation of our free market economy around the world. We can’t start restoring that reputation soon enough.”

In addition to supporting a repeal of ObamaCare, Jane Norton has previously highlighted numerous alternatives that would bring down healthcare costs. Proposals by Norton include allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, substantive tort reform, tax equity and portability, and incentivizing Health Savings Accounts.

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