Eugene Robinson - The GOP’s Medicare headache

[n2doc]

By Eugene Robinson, Published: May 23
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 Web site 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
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-gops-medicare-headache/2011/05/23/AFfST49G_story.html

[sufrommich]

1. I think the vote is today. Can't wait to see the results.nt

[malaise]

2. “I don’t consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be.”

CONGRESSMAN PAUL RYAN (R-WISCONSIN): First of all, if people are describing this accurately in polls, it's far more popular than the poll you referenced. Second of all, leaders are elected to lead. I don't consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be. Leaders change the polls, and we are leading in the House. We are not seeing this kind of leadership from the President of the United States. The Senate Democrats haven't even proposed or passed a budget for 753 days and we have a budget crisis.

http://nation.foxnews.com/paul-ryan/2011/05/22/ryan-schools-gregory-i-dont-consult-polls-tell-me-what-my-principles-are-or-pol

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Government of the people for the people by the people - not according to Paul Ryan the fascist. Eat him Dems.

[KharmaTrain]

3. A Long Way To November, 2012...

It looks like the Ryan scam is a gift Democrats should be able to ride to victory next year but that's assuming the short attention span of the American corporate media and many voters remain focused on the issue. I find that highly unlikely...especially when billions are about to be spent through direct campaign ads and PACs to distort and confuse the issue. Be assured Rove, Luntz and their minions are working overtime right now on finding buzzwords to turn black into white. If they can, once again, sell their horseshit to the corporate media then we could see this issue mitigated. But that still doesn't get the rushpublicans out of the woods.

Their stand on union busting is as toxic as their attack on Medicare. Their over-reaches on what they thought was a "mandate" is also ripping apart their corrupt party as the teabaggers and the hate radio crowd now control the GOTB agenda and make them more and more unelectable every day.