Eugene Robinson: A Medicare Moment for the GOP

[marmar]

from truthdig:




A Medicare Moment for the GOP

Posted on May 23, 2011
By Eugene Robinson


Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the architect of his party’s radical plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, gave a lesson Sunday in stating the obvious: “I don’t consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be.” I’d suggest that Republicans with less disdain for public opinion might want to check out the height of the cliff from which Ryan would have them leap.

What concentrates the minds of GOP strategists and candidates—or ought to—is the spectacle unfolding in New York’s 26th Congressional District near Buffalo. It’s a solid Republican constituency, one that Chris Lee won last year with 74 percent of the vote. Alas, Lee resigned after a website published a bare-chested beefcake photo he had sent to a woman he met through Craigslist.

This meant there had to be a special election, scheduled for Tuesday. The Republican candidate, state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, who has all the right credentials, had been expected to win easily. But she is in a tough battle with a strong Democratic challenger, Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul—and last week, a stunning Siena College poll showed that Hochul had actually pulled ahead, 42 percent to 38 percent.

What should worry Republicans is that the biggest issue in the campaign—practically the only issue—is Ryan’s Medicare plan. Corwin supports it, Hochul opposes it, and the GOP may well lose a race that shouldn’t even be close. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_medicare_moment_for_gop_20110523/

[iwishiwas]

1. Good karma to Kathy today. Hope Dems get TO THE POLLS!!

[DirkGently]

2. Republicans have greatly overestimated their ability to bend reality here.

[ellenfl]

3. i heard him say that about polls . i thought repubs

bowed to the will of the people? wouldn't that be the people talking in those polls? he just confirmed that repubs DO NOT listen to their constituents . . . unless said constituents toe the repub line.

ellen fl

[The Green Manalishi]

4. ANYTIME the Democrat in the race can beat the Republican over the head

with the meme :"The republicans intend to destroy your Medicare and social security"
We *will* win.

Bless Ryan for handing us a nice big club; any Dem who doesn't use it, and use it hard, is too stupid to get elected if running unopposed.