Obama: GOP ‘shouldn’t be running either chamber’

President Obama said Republican opposition to ObamaCare should disqualify them from running either chamber of Congress and argued during a Silicon Valley fundraiser Thursday night that the GOP was on the wrong side of history.

“I can’t explain it, why they’re so obsessed that those folks don’t have health insurance,” Obama said. “But we’re on the right side of history on that issue. But if that’s all they got, then they shouldn’t be running either chamber. They shouldn’t be running the House and they sure should not be running the Senate.”

{mosads}The president was speaking at his fifth fundraiser in 24 hours, the last leg of a furious fundraising blitz up and down the California coast. 

As in previous stops, the president fretted that the Democratic Party would not turn out for the upcoming 2014 midterm elections. 

“Democrats have a congenital defect when it comes to our politics, and that is, we like voting during presidential years and during the midterms, we don’t vote,” Obama said.

“We’re going to have to make sure that we are coming out with the same urgency and the same enthusiasm that we typically show during presidential years,” he added.

Roughly 250 supporters attended the event, where tickets ranged between $1,000 and $32,400, according to an invitation obtained by the Sunlight Foundation. According to CBS News’s Mark Knoller, it was the president’s 19th fundraiser of 2014 and his 57th benefitting Democratic candidates this cycle.

Obama has rarely strayed from his core message during the fundraising appeals, although on Thursday night, he was driven off-script at least twice. As he was introduced to a Dionne Warwick song, the audience cheered for Obama to sing along.

“No, no, no, I’m good,” Obama said. “Maybe after the midterms.”

Toward the end of his remarks, the president was briefly interrupted by a protester who shouted at him about freedom for Ethiopia.

“You kind of screwed up my ending,” Obama replied. “That’s ok. And we’ve got free speech in this country.”

The man was allowed to remain in the room after his outburst.

The president will remain overnight in California, with an energy speech at a Silicon Valley Wal-mart slated for Friday morning before returning to Washington.