[Randi Kaye, Cnn Guest:] Good evening. I'm Randi Kaye, in for Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching. Tonight: playing politics with health care. Candidates who slammed President Obama for focusing, they said, on health care first, not jobs. Why are they now fixated on health care with so many Americans looking for work? We're "Keeping Them Honest". Also tonight, Keith Olbermann suspended after giving money to three Democratic candidates. We'll tell you how much trouble he could be in, and we'll ask our panel how much trouble he should be in. Later, deciding whether the man behind Connecticut's "Home Invasion Horror" should live or die. A mother and two daughters killed. Is there any case for leniency? "Crime & Punishment". We begin as we always do, though, "Keeping Them Honest". Tonight, politicians who said one thing during the health care battle and another thing, the closer they got to Election Day. They said President Obama was too focused on passing health care reform, and not on putting Americans back to work. Legislation first they complained and jobs second.
[Sen. Scott Brown , Massachusetts:] They want their President and Congress to focus on creating jobs and reviving America's economy. Instead, for more than a year now, we have seen a bitter, destructive and endless drive to completely transform America's health care system.
[Rep. John Boehner , Ohio:] Mr. Speaker, the American people are asking, where are the jobs?
[Sen. Jon Kyl , Arizona:] The American people have been telling Washington that promoting job growth must be the first priority. But for more than a year, Congress and the President have focused instead on a controversial health spending bill, which the majority of Americans said they didn't want.
[Unidentified Male:] Mr. President, where are the jobs?
[Rep. Peter Hoekstra , Michigan:] Mr. President, where are the jobs?
[Gov. Haley Barbour , Massachusetts:] I mean we should have been focused on jobs in June, not health care. In September, not health care; Christmas Eve, not health care.
[Rep. John Campbell , California:] Mr. Speaker, I would ask you and I would ask the President, where are the jobs you promised?
[Barbour:] It's interesting, the American people have been saying from the day Barack Obama got sworn in jobs are the biggest issue in the country, getting our economy back is the biggest issue in the country but for the last eight months, all I've heard about is the Democratic Party trying to ram health care down our country's throat.
[Boehner:] I've been asking the questions over the last three or four months, where are the jobs?
[Kaye:] All right. So that's the complaint, that President Obama put health care first and jobs second. That he wasted time better used to fix the economy and put people back to work on what they consider a scheme to expand the government at the expense of people's freedom. Now, you can agree or disagree with that notion, that's not what we're talking about tonight. We're talking about politicians who said they were looking out for ordinary Americans more concerned about their paycheck than a big piece of Washington legislation. And in that sense, they were right. Polling bears it out; 52 percent telling us the economy is the number one concern. Just eight percent said health care. So given that Americans are overwhelmingly concerned about jobs and given that these candidates said that that's what they cared about, too, you would think that they'd be focused like a laser on jobs. Right? Not exactly. Watch.
[Rep. Eric Cantor , Virginia:] So I believe that when we take majority in January, I hope that we're able to put a repeal bill on the floor right away.
[Boehner:] We are going to repeal Obama care and replace it with common sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance.
[Chip Cravaack , U.s. Congressman-elect:] My target is the health care bill. That is one of the first things I'll be trying to either repeal or defund, because this is just a bad bill. It's bad for America, and it's bad for Americans.
[Rep. Devin Nunez , California:] The country wants repeal of Obama care. The country needs repeal of Obama care, and the House of Representatives will repeal Obama care. Then it's going to be
[Unidentified Male:] I'm sorry to press you on this
[Kaye:] It looks like job one, as they say in the auto industry, will not be jobs but health care repeal. Or else. "The New York Times" reporting the pressure is on from Dick Armey's FreedomWorks which was a big supporter of Tea Party candidates during the campaign. A FreedomWorks memo being sent to all incoming House Republicans, it says in part, "Politically speaking, your only choice is to get on offense and start moving boldly ahead to repeal, replace and defund Obama care in 2011, or risk rejection by the voters in 2012". And one footnote, there is new economic data out tonight. It shows private sector job growth for the fourth straight month but the unemployment rate stuck at 9.6 percent. Joining us now, Democratic strategist Paul Begala and Dana Loesch, blogger and talk radio host and co-organizer of the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition. Paul, let's start with you. Will we see a fresh GOP move to repeal health care, do you think?
[Paul Begala, Cnn Political Contributor:] Oh, I think so. I think I I do think, in fairness to the Republicans, many of them and probably most of them, did campaign promising to repeal Obama care. They're not going to be able to do it, and they knew it when they said that. Our Constitutional system does not allow one Party and one House to repeal legislation. They know that the Senate would never pass repeal, these new House Republicans, so they know the president would never sign it. So it's a bit of a false promise to begin with. But I do think they risk being wound around the axle of a year-long fight trying to undo or defund Obama care when in fact people do want jobs. I hope the president will step into that breach with the new ideas, with new proposals to create jobs and and make that contrast. Democrats can then be for jobs and let the Republicans be for trying to empower insurance companies to to have more control over your life.
[Kaye:] And Dana isn't this really what happened to President Obama? He said we could do both jobs and health care but the perception politically that his energy was split, it cost him, and the fact is, as Paul said, Republicans don't control the Senate. They can't repeal this bill. So was this really a genuine promise on their part?
[Dana Loesch, Blogger, Talk Radio:] I do believe so. I mean, there's a lot of things that the Constitution doesn't necessarily provide for, including what we saw the the the thing with the commerce clause and the health control law. But at the same time, when we listen to everything that Nancy Pelosi said and everything that President Obama said, Nancy Pelosi herself on video, it's all over YouTube, saying that the health care bill will bring about four million jobs or some such. Health care is tied so closely to jobs. So while I think it's really important for Republicans to focus on the economy and make things easier, lessen up so that these businesses can create jobs, you also have to note that health care has been so unbelievably wound in with jobs that I mean you kind of have to address both sort of simultaneously.
[Kaye:] So if nothing changes, are you saying voters will be happy with just a symbolic gesture?
[Loesch:] Oh, no, voters are not going to be happy with just a symbolic gesture. Republicans need to go whole hog with this. They really do. They need to put forth more than just a symbolic gesture. And I think their their speech has been strong, but whether or not they're going to follow that up in the next couple of years, that remains to be seen.
[Kaye:] And Paul, let's talk about
[Begala:] And here's here
[Kaye:] go ahead.
[Begala:] here's my proposal, and maybe Dana will agree to it with this. These Republicans who ran, they said they hated Obama care, they hate government-funded, government-guaranteed, government-mandated health care. They can't repeal it but you know what they can do, repeal their own. So repeal your own, Mr. Speaker Boehner, Mr. Speaker to-be- Boehner. They can decline to accept the Congressional health care package, which is a really generous package of health care coverage, paid for by the taxpayers, guaranteed by the government. So they could at least repeal their own. And they should become the change they seek. They should lead by example and reject government-funded health care for themselves and their family. How is that, Dana? Don't you think they should do that? Because it's socialism you know.
[Loesch:] Well, Democrats the Democrats exempted themselves from this law. Democrats already exempted themselves from this law.
[Begala:] Well, that's that's not true actually. That's actually not true. That's actually not true. But but shouldn't they
[Loesch:] Oh, so they are going to subject themselves to it, then?
[Begala:] shouldn't they shouldn't repeal their own health care.
[Loesch:] So you're saying that it's not true, so are Democrats going to subject themselves to this legislation then?
[Begala:] Right. Well, of course they are. They're covered by it. They're they're going to be covered by the law. There was
[Loesch:] So so if they choose to not go on government care, will they accept the penalties that go along with that when those are enacted?
[Begala:] Dana, here is my point. The Republicans say they hate government health care. Democrats like it, so of course they're going to accept it. Why don't the Republicans decline why does not John Boehner who has almost 20 years now been on government health care, why doesn't he decline it? Because it's good. That's why. It's a heck of a good policy.
[Loesch:] Well, why don't we just actually why don't we rework it and make it Paul, why don't we rework it and have actual good health care that really addresses being able to have affordable insurance and across state lines.
[Begala:] It's fine, repeal their own law, it is it's pernicious socialism. Oh, scary.
[Loesch:] Why can't we address that, let's be serious for a moment and let's really address the problem.
[Kaye:] All right, you two. Let me let me jump in here for just a second. One thing the GOP could try and do is is defund health care. Could we see a government shutdown possibly, Paul?
[Begala:] Oh, definitely. Yes. You're going to see a government shutdown and then maybe, you know, impeachment. And there's nothing going to stop these folks.
[Loesch:] Impeachment?
[Begala:] They they have oh, sure. You watch. Hide and watch. There's already Rush Limbaugh has called for it, Mr. Beck, who's this this TV clown over at Fox News has called for it.
[Loesch:] Oh, come on.
[Begala:] A whole variety by the way, about a third of Republicans back in March before the negative ads and everything, back in March, one-third of Republicans, 38 percent, actually, in a Harris poll said they wanted to see Obama impeached. So they'll get to that. But they'll start with the government shutdown. Sure they will. Now, they they have that power under the Constitution. The president, I doubt, would go along with some of their kind of radical plans and so we I I think we definitely, late 2011, you're looking at a government shutdown.
[Kaye:] Dana
[Loesch:] I think it will be gridlock. I do think it will be gridlock.
[Kaye:] You do.
[Loesch:] But shutdown, I'm not so sure. Yes.
[Kaye:] Do you think that that that I mean voters are saying, that we that we saw the numbers in the in the intro, I mean, a very small minority of the voters are saying that health care is their top priority.
[Loesch:] Right.
[Kaye:] So is this a push that's really more about scoring political points than than really addressing the country's priorities?
[Loesch:] Yes and no. I think one of the reasons that Republicans are prioritizing this is because the the Grassroots Movement which really sustained the life of the Republican Party this past couple of years I think that they're sort of it's sort of a gesture towards the Grassroots but at the same time I think that they recognize some of the unconstitutionality of the provisions that were included in the law to begin with. But at the same time, it is unbelievably tight with jobs. You're talking about the Congressional the Congressional Budgetary Office is just I think like this year they released a report, their economic report, which said that this could cost up to 800,000 jobs. That's more than like Ford, GM and Chrysler combined. You have 550,000 union workers with those three auto plants. That's that's more than those that's more than that combined. So that's, when you're talking about jobs, when you're talking about the economy, that absolutely has to factor in. But at the same time, I think that there's a million things that we could do in the interim before we really go aggressively and look at health reform, and and talk about remedying things to to increase jobs, and like the Bush tax cuts, for instance after the first of the year. That's that's one of many steps that could be taken.
[Kaye:] All right, Paul, Dana, stick around. Let us know what you think. Join the live chat now under way at AC360.com. Up next, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has done plenty of complaining about money and politics. Tonight, he is on suspension without pay for injecting money into politics. We'll explain. Later, the $200 million myth: conservative talk radio slamming President Obama's trip to Asia, saying it's costing $200 million a day. They don't have the facts to back it up and they also don't have our Ed Henry who will join us from Mumbai, India, after doing a little price checking of his own.