Reckless pandering
by digby
Romney's walking into a briar patch with this one:
ROMNEY: You have a program like Paul Ryan has proposed, which says we’re going to give people vouchers to let them choose among private plans. I would not at the same time would want to remove the option for people who have standard Medicare. But I would probably move to a more managed care approach even in Medicare itself.
This is one where he really should propose a blue ribbon commission to study the issue rather than offering any proposals. The only Republican voters in the country who understand what he's talking about are Seniors. And they do not want any tinkering with Medicare, even if it's only forcing them into managed care (which they can already choose, by the way.) They largely voted against Democrats in the last election because the GOP told them that the health care reforms were coming out of their hides and unless President Obama makes an equally stupid move ( a good possibility, by the way) and start talking about cutting Medicare again, this is likely to make seniors queasy.
I suppose the GOP might be able to win without a huge turnout among the white, conservative elderly but it's hard to see how. In fact, Mitt is being very reckless in saying anything except that he will repeal Obamacare on his first day in office (which is impossible, but whatever...)Getting into specifics on Medicare is not going to help him.
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