Sunday, August 19, 2012

The GOP Are Foolish For Medicare Battle


For the last week we have heard Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and his newly minted Vice Presidential running mate, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, try to go on the offensive when it comes to one of the nations most valued programs, Medicare.

America's comeback team, as they have dubbed themselves seems to be stealing a page from the Karl Rove playbook which is to turn one of your opponents strengths into a weakness (by the way, calling yourself America's comeback team is devalued when you using strategy from a guy who's administration is the cause for the problems we are in).

Romney, Ryan, and Republicans in general have been chanting this mantra that President Obama took $716 billion out of the Medicare program and placed that money into the Affordable Care Act. You have to admire the discipline of Republicans with their messaging even when that message is a bold face lie.

Now it is true that the ACA does cut that amount of money, but it cuts from hospital and private insurance reimbursements, another huge part of the cuts comes from private Medicare Advantage plans. The most important thing for America's seniors to know is that none, absolutely none of these cuts touch Medicare benefits.

Here is how Sarah Kliff of The Washington Post's Wonk Blog put it in a column last week.
The Affordable Care Act rolls back payment rates for hospitals and insurers. It does not, however, change the basket of benefits that patients have access to.”

So to sum this whole thing up the benefits that seniors get from Medicare will not be touched whatsoever by the Affordable Care Act. It's funny how that can get lost in GOP translation.

The other thing that Team Romney neglects to tell you is that Paul Ryan's now famous budget plan “The Path to Prosperity” cuts that same $716 billion out of Medicare that however is not the smart political move, especially when you have Republican congressional candidates running away from the budget as fast as they can.

Ryan himself has been out on the campaign trail touting the Medicare discussion. “We want this debate, We need this debate, and We will win this debate.” To me this begs the question does he have selective amnesia or does he really believe Republicans can turn around 70 years of conventional wisdom.

Make no mistake it has been the GOP who for years has led the charge to do away with Medicare and Social Security. George W. Bush made it the central theme of his second term as President to privatize the programs, which could have been as much of an influence on Ryan's budget as Ayn Rand was to his personal views on government.

The notion that Republicans would want to have this fight when the President is vulnerable on the economy and unemployment still sits over 8 % is like Muhammad Ali saying he can outrace Wayne Gretzky on a pair of ice skates---never go away from your best asset.

David Axelrod and David Plouffe have forgotten more than I will ever know about campaign strategy and where is the best place to go to get their guy re-elected, but if I were them I would have both the President and Vice President Joe Biden memorize the Ryan budget between now and the debates in October.

Imagine a worse case scenario for the GOP than having Ryan's own words and ideas spit back at him. Imagine Vice President Biden saying “Rep Ryan your plan may grandfather in people who are already 55, but what about future generations who don't want to take part in a voucher system”, or “Rep Ryan if your budget is what is needed for fiscal responsibility in the Medicare program why have fellow Republicans labeled it “right-wing social engineering” and why have you and Governor Romney backtracked from it.

If Dems take that approach, America's comeback team would be jumping at the chance to talk about other issues in the campaign, at least until the Bain and taxes portion of the questioning comes up.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Pennsylvania Voter ID Is A Problem For Obama


Congrats Pennsylvania Republicans, you have for the time being undone everything that the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Right's Movement, and the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson worked for.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about the decision by a Pennsylvania judge (a Republican, surprise surprise) to uphold the ridiculous voter identification law that was signed into law earlier this year by Republican Governor Tom Corbett.

The law could disenfranchise over 750,000 people including minorities and the elderly. The law also has a disproportionate effect on the city of Philadelphia and it's surrounding areas, a huge voting block that basically delivered the state to Barack Obama in 2008.

Knowing the information I just sighted Judge Robert Simpson still refused to grant an injunction to stop the law from being enforced, clearly indicating how much of a partisan decision this was.

The Republican party after winning landslide majorities in Governorships and state legislatures in 2010 have set out to take away the vote from thousands who tend to lean left, rather than make a pitch to those same voters with their ideas. If you can't beat em' cheat em'

State Rep. Mike Turzai admitted as much when during a speech to the Republican State Committee in their summer meeting said “Voter ID, which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania , is done”. This is the equivalent of a guy knocking over a convenient store and then smiling for the security camera. Usually in those cases the judge throws the book at the guy.

As we have seen with Citizens United, and the Republican House of Representatives the GOP is committed to the defeat of Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats across the country, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's now famous quip about “denying the President a 2nd term” is proof. The sad thing is they are willing to sink to all time lows to do so.

Voter ID, Republicans say will cut down on the amount of voter fraud that has allegedly taken place in elections over the years, yet many sources have described voter fraud as being “non existent.” Between 2002 and 2005 the George W. Bush administration made prosecuting voter fraud a priority, yet in those three years the DOJ found only 38 cases, yes folks 38 cases out of the hundreds of millions of votes that were cast.

The GOP remedy to this supposed problem is to take out a sledgehammer and kill a mosquito. They are willing to disenfranchise most in order to prosecute the tiny few.

I mentioned earlier that Republicans have a hard time selling their ideas, thus they trot out scams like Voter ID. That is absolutely true and 2008 was the eye opener. The GOP was horrified by what the saw in terms of the numbers that showed up to support then candidate Obama.

The demographics then as now are not on their side. Minorities, young people, and single woman all turned out in droves to vote Democrat in 08'. With Newt Gingrich persistently calling Barack Obama “the best food stamp President in history”, Mitt Romney telling college students they should “shop around for the best price” rather than looking to the government for help via Pell Grants and Paul Ryan being just as draconian on women's reproductive rights as Rick Santorum ever was, the GOP can't win unless they take out half of the supporters on the other side.

The question now is what do, not just Democrats, but people who believe in the fundamental right to vote do. With only two and a half months left before the election can groups get people the info they need and ultimately the ID's to have them vote in time.

The bigger question however may be can the President get himself re-elected without the state of Pennsylvania, let's hope we don't have to find out.



Monday, August 13, 2012

Ryan A Dream For The Left And Right


It is now official. In a strange bit of irony Mitt Romney has somehow joined together Liberals and Conservatives by choosing Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential candidate.

Sportswriters often talk about trades that work out for both teams, while this isn't the political equivalent of a trade it is a scenario where both parties can walk away really happy.

Republicans have this strange affection for Paul Ryan that I as a simple minded liberal just don't get. It is Ryan who is praised in GOP circles as a bold and pragmatic thinker who is full of fresh ideas. Newt Gingrich a party lifer found out just how deep Republican support for Ryan runs when during his Presidential campaign last summer he referred to Ryan's now famous budget as “right-wing social engineering.” It was only a matter of days before Gingrich was making the rounds in conservative media groveling and begging for forgiveness.

Grover Norquist the President of the right leaning Americans For Tax Reform (and outside of Rush Limbaugh the most powerful person in the party for his ability to extort politicians into signing his no new taxes pledge.) made his feelings about Ryan, and the aforementioned Governor Romney known at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February.

All we have to do is replace Obama. …We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. …We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.”

Along with making Romney feel like the smallest man in the party tent, Norquist was essentially saying that the GOP will be following Ryan and his ideas for the forseeable future. That brings me to simply ask the question why!

Paul Ryan is the worst Vice Presidential candidate the Republican party could have come up with. For all of the GOP's talk about fiscal responsibility, limited government and a cap on spending the man some have called this generations Ronald Reagan has virtually practiced none of that during his time as a congressman in Washington.

If you are a true conservative Ryan's voting record is the equivalent of you taking out your wallet and setting it on fire. Ryan voted for both Bush Tax Cuts, The Iraq War, Medicare Part D, TARP, and stimulus programs under both Presidents Bush and Obama. Ryan and his GOP brethen are now saying that President Obama hasn't rebuilt the house that they burned down.

The meat and potatoes of this argument however revolves around the aforementioned budget that bears Mr. Ryan's name. When you cut through all of the GOP talking points you will find that the Ryan Budget is a privatization of Medicare plain and simple, and as various Republican congressman and women found out when they went on town hall tours in the summer and fall 2011 a great number of the elderly were not happy about. Ryan likes to tout that Medicare needs saving and maybe it does, but his prescription for saving the patient is to kill it and replace it with something more costly and less beneficial to seniors everywhere.

Democrats are happy as can be now that Ryan is indeed the number two man in the party, before it was announced a Democratic strategist told Reuters: "I would love for Romney to pick him, It would crystallize everything for us. Just to have him on the ticket would even further elevate the Ryan budget."

Another respected strategist also told Reuters: "We could really with no effort wrap the Ryan budget around Romney. If he's not on the ticket we have to spend energy reminding folks".

Throw in the fact that between them Romney and Ryan have no experience in Foreign Policy. When you think Republican party you think neo-cons, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman (okay technically he's not a Republican) yet the party has nominated two guys who ran as far away from the military as you could possibly get, In Mitt's case literally (France is a long way away).

For all of the talk about Sarah Palin's incompetence, and there was a lot of justified talk, Ryan is less qualified to assume the mantle of President than Palin was. Palin was the Governor of a state making executive decisions for residents Whether or not she knows multiplication or was lucky to be in one of the few states in the union that would actually vote for her is irrelavant when compared to Ryan's time in the House where he has been virtually responsible for nothing.

Ryan as the V.P only does one thing for Romney, it buys him a little more cred with Republicans. Too bad it will be moderates and independents who decided this election.