After a handful of high-profile and very embarrassing confrontations between angry constituents and Republican lawmakers over Obamacare repeal, many Republicans have just decided the safest thing to do is practice avoidance—no face-to-face meetings with constituents at all. Take Nevada's Dean Heller.
Aisha Crossley is an insurance examiner from Las Vegas, but in Washington this week she did a tour of duty on the front lines in the fight over the Affordable Care Act, armed only with her story about how the law had helped her insure her four kids.
"I live paycheck to paycheck and the ACA has allowed my kids to continue to go to the doctor, to continue to be healthy and get what they need. And without it, I don't know where I would be," she told NBC News. […]
Crossley wanted to tell her story to her state's Republican senator, Dean Heller, who supports repealing Obamacare. But Heller's office was unable to make the senator or a staff member available without more notice.
So Crossley went instead to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada's newly elected Democrat. "It's great to meet you after seeing your commercials all the time!" Crossley beamed during a private meeting.
Not just Crossley:
They must figure avoidance is better than being taped while literally running away from constituents, but they’re going to have to face the music sometime. Like in 2018, when they’re running for re-election and have to show their faces in public. So if they’re scared about the reaction they’re getting now for trying to take health insurance away from millions, do they think it’s going to be any better after it’s done?