Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Chris Collins: 'People now don't die' of breast, prostate cancer

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' NY-27: My jaw just hinged open and didn't want to shut after I read this. Major, major props to Adama Brown for this find about Republican Chris Collins, running against Democratic Rep. Kathy Hochul in New York's 27th Congressional District:

The healthcare reforms Collins said he would push would be tort reform and open up competition in insurance by allowing policies across state lines.

Collins also argued that modern healthcare is expensive for a reason.

"People now don't die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things," Collins said. "The fact of the matter is, our healthcare today is so much better,  we're living so much longer, because of innovations in drug development, surgical procedures, stents, implantable cardiac defibrillators, neural stimulators'they didn't exist 10 years ago. The increase in cost is not because doctors are making a lot more money. It's what you can get for healthcare, extending your life and curing diseases."

As Brown points out, prostate cancer kills almost 30,000 men a year (PDF) in the United States, while breast cancer kills nearly 40,000 women each year (PDF). I am absolutely dumbfounded. But I'm also a bit troubled by the fact that this interview was published on June 24, but neither the Hochul campaign nor the DCCC spotted Collins' remarks until after Brown (who isn't paid to do this sort of thing) discovered them and published his piece a week later. Hochul's eventual response was also very ineffectual:

"Chris Collins has demonstrated a stunning lack of sensitivity by saying, 'people now don't die from prostate cancer, breast cancer, and some of the other things.' Tragically, nearly 70,000 people will die this year from these two types of cancer alone.  We can disagree about public policy without making these kinds of outrageous and offensive statements."

That's it. (And I can't even link to the press release on her website because it's just a splash page.) What's more, Hochul's press release failed to even cite a source or provide a link, and didn't quote Collins' statement in full'an error which opened the door for the publisher of the original interview, Howard Owens of The Batavian, to accuse Hochul of "rip[ing] this quote out of context." Owens went too far, though, in insisting that Collins "clearly... misspoke." If Collins in fact misspoke, he could have said so'but in response, Collins did not admit to any sort of misspeaking. So the onus is still on him to explain himself.

Meanwhile, I'm left wondering what the D-Trip is up to. They should be doing the dirty work here, tying these remarks to other outrageous things Collins has said in the past'like when he called state Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, a Jew, the "anti-Christ" and likened him to Hitler, or when he allegedly told a woman attending a crowded gubernatorial address: "I'm sure if you offer someone a lap dance you can find a place to sit." So far as I know, though, no such press release has gone out.

These kinds of blunders, like the one Collins made, offer rare golden opportunities to define your opponent as unacceptable and out-of-touch. I figured Democrats would instantly pounce and put Collins on the defensive. But it looks like this opportunity is being fumbled away, and I cannot understand why.