No, they needed to strike while the iron was hot. They had a political moment, which is not yet lost.
They pretty much ran on protecting medicare and cutting Obama-care and cutting other liberal stuff, then they get elected and decide :”We got a mandate to (effectively) eliminate Medicare.”
A juvenile and false characterization of Ryan's plan. No wonder you're raving about it: you have no idea what it contains.
Then Democrats attack (who could expect that?) and Rs say :”No, we are not eliminated it, we are saving medicare” JEEZE! saving it?
With "conservatives" like you, who needs liberals?
Yes, they are saving Medicare. Unless there is an incentive on the part of the patient receiving the treatment to save money, there will never be any limit to medical spending, and until there is a serious limit to medical spending, either Medicare is doomed, or quality health care is. You can set the quanitity of something, or you can set the price, but you can't set both. Take your pick.
The alternative -- that we do NOTHING -- is even more politically untenable than you think the Ryan plan is. Like all Ponzi schemes, Medicare will continue to pay right up to the day it it goes broke, and then, it will -- again, like all Ponzi schemes -- collapse completely. No one will tolerate the sudden disappearance of Medicare so it will then HAVE to be rolled into a single payer system; there is NO other alternative. And if seniors are in single payer, all other Demographics will be as well. Once we lock into single payer, there will be only two political parties: 1) The Insanely-Left-Wing-Party (that'll be what's left of the people who're Republicans today) and 2) the Total Commie-Put-People-in-Gas-Chambers-Party.
Running away like a little girl isn't the answer.
But when I see how many Freepers have been assimilated by the "I paid for it....the government PROMISED me...." mindset, I practically despair of convincing the general electorate.
By getting rid of it by forcing everyone under 55 out of it and handing them a voucher? What good will that do to someone in a nursing home? Someone 96 tears old and senile?No-one buys such Koolaid.
RE :”With “conservatives” like you, who needs liberals?’
I dont drink Koolaid, I gave that up in 2008. If you are successful here pushing this putting Pelosi back as Speaker before the Republicans get anything reformed or cut passed into law, you might just as well be working for her. Pushing something even you knew was unpopular without getting the voters prepared for it first will go down as the biggest blunder of all times, just last year your buddies were going to 'protect' benefits.
RE :”No, they needed to strike while the iron was hot. They had a political moment, which is not yet lost.”
What iron? These ideas were unpopular before they were even made public, plus the house cant get anything into law by themselves anyway, and this was not even a real bill. Are you joking? . Even Pelosi knew not to force suicide votes on her members 2007-2008 until she had the WH and super majority to get her liberal stuff passed into law. Why hand over power to democrats without getting any reforms into law first? That saves nothing.
RE :The alternative -- that we do NOTHING -
Obama used that same line to get Obama-care passed. It is a lie, there are many less toxic variations they could have put up for a vote. Plus, do NOTHING? At the end of the day your unpopular plan here will do nothing, because you were never serious about getting any reforms into law, just symbolic suicide votes without the hard political prep-work., THAT IS DOING NOTHING.
Here's my reaction in 2009 when Republicans made their platform guaranteeing medicare benefits by protecting them from cuts, I posted this comment on it:
To: nmh; truthandlife
Holy crap! This ‘plan’ is a political document that guarantees seniors tax payer funded entitlements. If you ever needed a call to dump the dollar this is it. A long term disaster.
#5 posted on Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:53:10 PM by sickoflibs (Socialist Conservatives: “’Big government is free because tax cuts pay for it’”)
Posted on this thread:
Republicans have lately intensified their health-care message toward the elderly. The Republican National Committee's “bill of rights” includes calls to “protect Medicare,” “prohibit efforts to ration health care based on age” and “ensure seniors can keep their current coverage. ”
GOP Pushes Health ‘Bill of Rights’(FR post of Washington Post ^ | 8/25/09 | Ben Pershing )
I didnt drink Republican Koolaid then and I wont now.