Here We Go Again
by David Atkins ("thereisnospoon")
Conservative PACs are attacking Democrats for hurting Medicare again:
The conservative American Action Network is launching a large-scale mail and newspaper ad campaign, targeting a long list of House districts to shore up Republicans on the issue of Medicare.
The campaign, which includes both mail pieces and newspaper ads, charges Democrats with attempting to “balance the budget on the backs of seniors” with a proposal to amend Medicare Part D.
All told, the AAN message offensive will cost about a million dollars, according to officials with the group, and also includes some web advertising. That’s a significant investment in the Medicare debate, which Democrats have dominated so far this year.
The issue has to do with forcing drug manufacturers to pay Medicaid-style rebates for drugs needed by those covered by both Medicaid and Medicare Part D, making yet another needed good government fix to the massive fuckup that was George W. Bush's signature budget-busting healthcare item.
Keep in mind that the context for the debt ceiling hostage negotiation is the desperate need for Republicans to distract and take the stench away from their deeply unpopular vote for the Ryan budget. They need to dirty the water on this issue as much as possible, particularly since seniors are their key voting demographic, and because their success in 2010 was largely predicated on lying to seniors that the Affordable Care Act would end Medicare as we know it. The Affordable Care Act was a deeply flawed bill that did a lot of things wrong, but hurting Medicare was not one of them. Nor will Waxman's bill that is currently being attacked hurt Medicare, either.
But that's not going to stop conservative groups from lying about it, because they know they stand a good chance of losing the House if Dems can make a strong counterattack on protecting Medicare. The GOP already had a casualty of the Ryan budget earlier this year in New York's 26th district.
The GOP urgently needs Dems to take votes to cut Medicare so that they can negate the issue of their arrogant vote on the Ryan budget heading into 2012.
Good thing, then, that the White House has been pushing for cuts to...Medicare. Makes sense. That should work out fabulously.