Editor's Note:

22 Hidden Taxes and Fees Set to Hit You With Obamacare. Read the Guide to Protect Yourself.

Editor's Note:

22 Hidden Taxes and Fees Set to Hit You With Obamacare. Read the Guide to Protect Yourself.

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Conservative political commentator Ann Coulter blames Republicans for the "blown" Senate races that cost the GOP a Senate majority and a chance to defeat President Barack Obama's "incredibly unpopular" healthcare reform bill.In an interview Tuesday with Newsmax TV, the best-selling author also castigates "liberals masquerading as Republicans" like John McCain, who she says "saddled us with Obama."Coulter is the legal correspondent for Human Events and a frequent commentator on TV news shows. Her latest book isIn her new book Coulter writes that she is fed up with Republican blunders."Part of my frustration is that I hate saying anything negative even about bad Republicans, but it has to be said. When you look at the blown Senate races in 2010, 2012 especially, we could hold the United States Senate right now. Obamacare could have been overruled. In fact, Obamacare could have never even been passed," she said."An example I mention in the book is the open theft of [Minnesota Democratic Sen.] Al Franken's election under a Republican governor's nose."She also acknowledges tea party blunders as well, citing the failed Senate races of Republicans Christine O'Donnell and Richard Mourdock."It wasn't that [O'Donnell] said anything massively stupid that made her dead meat, it was just that she was too conservative a candidate for Delaware. Delaware isn't a very conservative state. So why are we having a rancorous primary against, yes, a RINO, legal Republican Mike Castle? He was a shoo-in for that Senate seat and as the Obamacare vote shows us, any Republican, even John McCain, is better than a Democrat," Coulter told Newsmax."We would have a majority in the Senate right now, a big majority if you add up all the Senate races that were blown through consultants making money off the Republican Party but hurting Republicans, stupid candidates who shouldn't have been allowed to run."Asked if the government shutdown and budget battle will hurt Republicans in the next election, Coulter replied, "I understand that is a concern. In general I've been against government shutdowns over spending or the budget." But she added that "it's different when it's over Obamacare.""Obamacare is incredibly unpopular. It was passed on a strictly partisan vote. Not one single Republican voted for it. That has never been the case with any major legislation. Not with Social Security, not with Roosevelt's New Deal programs, not with Ronald Reagan's massive tax cuts, or major legislation like that. They always had large, bipartisan majorities. Not in this case," she observed."Republicans are finally doing what we want them to do. They actually are playing this very well. Their first offer is we fund the entire government except Obamacare. Their second offer is we fund the entire government, we fund Obamacare, but we want a delay for one year because we don't think it's ready. Their final offer, which is where we are now, is we said, 'OK, we fund the government, we fund Obamacare, but everybody has to live under it, including Congress, and if there are waivers for Obama's big business friends, then those same waivers have to be given to individuals. That is why the government is shut down right now."As for the advice she would give to Republicans on the upcoming 2014 midterm elections, she said some states just "aren't going to elect a conservative.""We have to start recognizing Massachusetts is different from Utah," she added.Coulter said it was difficult to see how much longer the shutdown standoff might continue. She noted that House Speaker John Boehner is in "a tough position now." But she said it's "up to conservatives and people on the right, in the media, to explain to Americans that the government is shut down because Americans refuse to live under Obamacare."What has been accomplished so far is so magnificent, and Republicans should be standing tall and be so proud of our guys like [Sens.] Mike Lee and Ted Cruz and the Republicans who have pushed it to this point," she continued. "We've been talking about this monstrosity Obamacare for the last three weeks. We wouldn't have been talking about it at all if it weren't for Republicans forcing Democrats to finally talk about it."Asked if the tea party should split from the GOP, Coulter insisted: "No! No! No! Stop talking about third-party candidacies. We need to be smart. The tea party is great. The problem is more dilettantes in politics."The main point is, concentrate on winning elections. We can't do anything if we don't win elections."Looking ahead to the next presidential election, Coulter calls on American voters to "do half as much research before choosing the next president of the free world that you would do looking at Consumer Reports before buying a new microwave.""John McCain is not a conservative. How on earth did he become the nominee of a very conservative party?" she said, to make her point that GOP voters could have done better in her view in choosing a better nominee against Obama in 2008.She said Republicans have a much better chance in 2016, when most political observers expect former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee."We have a good chance of beating Hillary. I don't think any of the Democratic candidates have that 'Obama magic' as I describe in the book," she said.