Posts Tagged ‘Medicare’

Politics Daily has another list. This one details the largest change of hearts Republicans have had based on the changing political atmosphere. Basically it shows how many Republicans could care less about actual policy and are only concerned with the politics behind it. Here is the list and some highlights:

1. Financial disclosure: Republicans (including Mitch McConnell) once supported transparency as a means of stopping corruption. Now that idea would, according to McConnell, “Shred the Constitution.”

2. Cap-and-trade: It was the idea of free-market conservatives to allow people to buy the right to pollute. The first Bush administration used “emission trading” (cap-and-trade) to curb sulfur dioxide emissions. Now that it is unpopular, all Republicans who have supported it (McCain, Graham, etc.) oppose it.

3. Immigration: W. and Ted Kennedy had a plan. Eleven Republicans supported it and are still in office. Again McCain leads the charge in completely changing his mind. What a maverick.

4. Deficit Spending: Deficit spending was okay to support W.’s agenda, but not for the suffering unemployed.

5. Bipartisan deficit-reduction commission: Six Republicans who proposed the bill to create the commission voted against it. Purportedly because it might recommend raising taxes. Because we don’t need to raise funds if we want to reduce the deficit. Obama formed it anyway.

6. Individual insurance mandate: I’ve written before how this was a Republican idea. It was originally conceived of by free-market conservatives as a way to protect the private sector. Imagine that! The huge socialist plot to destroy our country was thought of by conservatives as a way to protect private industry. (I wonder if Dr will read this or just revert to socialist fear mongering.)

7. Medicare spending curbs: This is a fun one. The same Republicans that spread fear to the elderly (about this and death panels) wanted to do the same thing. McCain’s actually had a plan to cut $1.3 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid as a part of his 2008 campaign. But they saw the opportunity to scare old people (who vote) and jumped at it. What’s especially funny is that many conservatives originally opposed the entire notion of Medicare because, you know, it’s socialized medicine. But as soon as it became a good way to score points they had to defend it as though it were their only child. “Keep your government hands off my Medicare!”

This is an interesting list because many of this issues are still salient. As long as they think it is politically beneficial to vote no, they will continue to do so, regardless of what they believe the effect of a policy will actually be.

Enjoy Papi winning the Home Run Derby.

Adam Feser

Paul Krugman has an op-ed piece about Republicans and Medicare. He discusses some of the obvious hypocrisy of Republicans in how they are attacking Democrats.

First, he points out that Republicans have long hated Medicare. Reagan claimed it would give Washington control over what doctors and patients could and couldn’t do (sound familiar?). Gingrich, loud critic of Democrats’ attempts to find savings in Medicare, tried to make Medicare cuts in 1995. They now claim to be defenders of the program.

So one of two things must be true. Either they see a political advantage and are actually lying or they see how much good a government-run health care program can do. Turns out its the former.

The “Roadmap for America’s Future,” a budget plan which has Republican support, would actually cut $650 billion from Medicare.

As Krugman says:

The bottom line, then, is that the crusade against health reform has relied, crucially, on utter hypocrisy: Republicans who hate Medicare, tried to slash Medicare in the past, and still aim to dismantle the program over time, have been scoring political points by denouncing proposals for modest cost savings — savings that are substantially smaller than the spending cuts buried in their own proposals.

Enjoy a little more hypocrisy.

Adam Feser

RNC head Michael Steele wrote a piece for the Washington Post, and it is just odd. A large part of it is meant to scare seniors about their Medicare coverage. Another part of it is to promise the seniors that he will work to ensure their coverage is not toyed with.

Does this strike anyone else as ridiculous? He’s spreading fear about a government-run program ruining and rationing health care while at the same time promising to keep a single-payer, government-run program strong. He’s singing the praises of a program Republicans have always hated. It’s just silly.

Ed Kilgore also sees a return of the “welfare wedge,” as he calls it. It is a classic argument used by conservatives to try and stop programs. Undeserving, lazy people (welfare queens) straight up steal your hard-earned dollars. In this instance, Steele frames it as undeserving people will steal your health care. (I can’t help but think of people not willing to wait in line, even if it means others go without care. How compassionate we are.)

This is a weak argument, because Medicaid covers many of the classic welfare queens so many conservatives hate. This bill is to help people that are working or were recently working that simply cannot afford care.

At any rate, it’s an interesting article.

Enjoy Inglorious Basterds.

Adam Feser