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Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Will 'Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show'
Newsbusters ^

Posted on 04/12/2011 3:00:12 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

Chris Matthews: Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan Will 'Kill Half the People Who Watch My Show' By Noel Sheppard Created 04/11/2011 - 8:35pm

By Noel Sheppard | April 11, 2011 | 20:35

MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Monday spent much of show scaring viewers about Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) recently released budget proposal.

So apoplectic was the "Hardball" host that he told liberal guests Howard Fineman and Richard Wolffe that Ryan's Medicare reform pland "is going to kill half the people who watch this show" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: The good thing for the president is the Paul Ryan Medicare plan, because it makes people angry. And, first of all, it scares seniors.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Yes. Well, it should.

FINEMAN: Yes, and it should. But, at the same time, it exempts 55 and over, so it’s going to really annoy younger people who are going to at some point get -- supposed to get the Medicare benefits -- 40 to 55...

If it exempts people 55 and over, why should it scare seniors? Exempts means they're not impacted by this whatsoever. Why should anybody be scared by something that doesn't impact them?

People are encouraged to remember this as Matthews either doesn't understand it, or is an extremely dishonest person:

MATTHEWS: Howard, you know -- you’re close to me in age. Let me just point this out.

FINEMAN: Yes. Right.

MATTHEWS: Most people who follow the news and watch the newspapers every day and watch television shows like this on FOX or this network, MSNBC, or anywhere, on CNN, they -- those most attuned to this debate over the budget are either retired or close to it.

FINEMAN: Yes.

MATTHEWS: They are very sensitive to the fact that they have planned in their retirement that their medical costs will be covered by their Medicare plan. They don’t have to save $20 million so they can pay for their medical expenses when they get older, right, which are going to get more costly as they get older.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s, that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs.Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore.

FINEMAN: I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons...

For the record, Matthews turned 65 last December. This means he is already eligible for Medicare and would not be impacted by Ryan's plan. I couldn't find Fineman's birthday, but as he graduated high school in 1966, he's probably 62 or 63 making him also exempt from Ryan's plan.

As such, there's absolutely no reason for them to be scared that their Medicare benefits are at all at risk by what the Wisconsin Congressman has proposed, and no one 55 or over should be either.

Yet, in the ensuing minutes, Matthews and his guests were actually going to wonder why seniors don't understand this:

MATTHEWS: Right.

FINEMAN: ... it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either.

MATTHEWS: Why not?

FINEMAN: Because they’re going to turn it into the plan where you only get a certain amount of money.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

FINEMAN: In other words, all the changes are going to be for those younger people. So they’re the ones who ultimately will get screwed.

MATTHEWS: Yes. Here’s your Borders book $10 gift certificate that’s going to pay for your million dollar health care costs. It’s a joke.

(CROSSTALK)

RICHARD WOLFFE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. But here’s the perverse thing. For a start, the age exemption didn’t work for Bush when it came to Social Security.

MATTHEWS: It went nowhere.

WOLFFE: So they know that’s political...

MATTHEWS: Why? Because people don’t hear this?

FINEMAN: They don’t hear it. They don’t hear it.

WOLFFE: They don’t hear it.

Indeed. They don't hear it, because people like this misrepresent it. If Matthews, Fineman, and Wolffe all made it clear that Ryan's bill doesn't impact anyone 55 and older, retirees and soon-to-be retirees wouldn't be afraid of it.

Instead, Matthews ignorantly or dishonestly claimed: "The federal government promised that back in the ‘60s, that they would take care of people who have worked their whole life for their medical costs. Now the Republicans are saying, no, no, we’re not going to do that anymore."

And Fineman responded, "I totally agree. My only point was, in addition to scaring everybody for those very valid reasons, it’s not going to win points among younger people below 55 either."

And these so-called journalists why the exemption age of 55 didn't work for Bush when he tried to reform Social Security in 2005, and why it's going to be problematic for Ryan's Medicare reform plan. It's because shills like these are intentionally trying to scare and confuse the public.

But the best was still to come:

WOLFFE: But that’s a political opportunity that, perversely, this White House is not going to leap on right now. There may be lots of people in the Senate on the Democrats’ side who say, let’s use it as a political football, but this president...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Well, they’re saving it for November.

WOLFFE: This president -- no, no. The president is going to say, if there’s a deal out there, let’s do it, but the deal has to be reasonable; the deal has to include taxes. What’s unreasonable...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: This is smart. In other words, don’t...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Don’t let it be dead on arrival.

WOLFFE: No.

MATTHEWS: Let the Republican sit out there, sit out there, as the basis for a compromise.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: They’re that smart? They’re that smart?

(CROSSTALK)

WOLFFE: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: They’re that smart?

(CROSSTALK)

WOLFFE: They are smart enough to play that game, but they’re going to say, if you are serious about deficits, you cannot leave taxes off the table.

MATTHEWS: OK.

FINEMAN: Yes. He...

MATTHEWS: Will -- will that ever sell with the country? Will the Congress ever adopt a combination of some modification or cost-cutting, which we know has to come into place, somehow squeeze the costs of Medicare -- medical costs, and a tax increase for people who can afford it, as a -- as a more democratic, a more fair way to deal with this problem? Will they get that through and signed by the president, or is that just a posture?

HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it’s a possibility but they’ll be glad to talk about it for the next few months. The one thing the president doesn’t want to do is talk about tax increases in isolation.

MATTHEWS: Fair enough. I’m with you.

FINEMAN: As Richard was saying, you’ve got -- you can’t -- that won’t work for Democrats, even if you’re just going to tax rich people. You have to put it in the context of a plan.

MATTHEWS: OK. So, guys are so smart. I’m with the smart people here.

FINEMAN: Right.

MATTHEWS: So, the plan is the president says, look, let them offer a big slash in Medicare, which is going to kill half the people who watch this show.

So the reform package for Medicare in Ryan's budget will kill half of the people who watch "Hardball."

And this is sadly what passes for journalism at MSNBC.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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how his producer let's him get away with this is beyond me...
1 posted on 04/12/2011 3:00:13 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
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To: Sub-Driver

He’s got two stupid viewers, and my poor ignorant FIL is one of them.


2 posted on 04/12/2011 3:05:19 AM PDT by Ann Archy (Abortion is the Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Sub-Driver

This country would be a better place if half of Chris’s viewers actually DID die.


3 posted on 04/12/2011 3:05:33 AM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
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To: Sub-Driver

It would be easier if Chrissy would just leave the air. His voice and comments are just killing his audience.


4 posted on 04/12/2011 3:06:18 AM PDT by ncfool (The new USSA - United Socialist States of AmeriKa. Welcome to Obummers world or Obamaville USSA.)
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To: Sub-Driver

The mere thought sends a tingle up my leg. . . .


5 posted on 04/12/2011 3:07:37 AM PDT by DeaconRed (2013 can't get here fast enough! A ZERO will be GONE. .Sooner with help from The Donald.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Only half? And not TinglyLegs?


6 posted on 04/12/2011 3:08:04 AM PDT by Hardraade (I want gigaton warheads now!!)
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To: Voter#537

One half down, one half to go.


7 posted on 04/12/2011 3:08:23 AM PDT by flaglady47 (When the gov't fears the people, liberty; When the people fear the gov't, tyranny.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Oh no! Not all two of them!


8 posted on 04/12/2011 3:09:23 AM PDT by PalmettoMason (It's easy being a menace to society when WAY OVER half the population is happy being sheep.)
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To: Sub-Driver

so, a Holocaust of seven viewers...


9 posted on 04/12/2011 3:13:29 AM PDT by Da Mav
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To: Sub-Driver

I would say that ALL of his audience is already BRAIN dead.


10 posted on 04/12/2011 3:15:31 AM PDT by AlexW (Proud to be a Birther.)
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To: PalmettoMason

I thought only his mom watched the show. How do you kill half a person?


11 posted on 04/12/2011 3:18:34 AM PDT by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners)
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To: AlexW
You came close, Al ... but what everyone has missed is, half his audience is so screwed up, any attempt to get it right would kill it.
12 posted on 04/12/2011 3:21:19 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true.)
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To: Ann Archy

Sooo Ann, you get in to political discussions during family get togethers???


13 posted on 04/12/2011 3:23:02 AM PDT by Joe Boucher ((FUBO))
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To: All

I wonder if Rep Ryan can tweak his plan a little so that we could kill ALL of his viewers?


14 posted on 04/12/2011 3:27:26 AM PDT by Nekman (If I want to Abort the Democrat Party does that mean I am Pro Choice?)
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To: Sub-Driver
If it exempts people 55 and over, why should it scare seniors? Exempts means they're not impacted by this whatsoever. Why should anybody be scared by something that doesn't impact them?

I had my 70-year-old father-in-law, who's turned into a HUGE Lib in his old age, explain this mentality to me recently.

It's not enough that they're "protected". It's their duty to see that their children and grandchildren are "protected" as well.

Counter-argument #1 was that each generation should get to make up it's own mind over policies like this. Response was paternalistic: "you'll know better once you're my age, in the meantime it's my job to save you and my grandkids from yourself"

Counterargument #2 was that if things stayed the same the country was going to be broke and there wouldn't be anything for us anyways. Response was off-topic distractive belligerence: don't lecture on the current deficit and debt because it's needed to clean up the mess left by Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 42.
15 posted on 04/12/2011 3:30:07 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Sub-Driver

Ok, question: how many die because they can’t get medical attention, vs how many drop dead on the spot from shear outrage.


16 posted on 04/12/2011 3:31:31 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Sub-Driver

It would kill half of Matthews’ audience? If only...


17 posted on 04/12/2011 3:32:20 AM PDT by MayflowerMadam
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To: Sub-Driver

Kill half of Chrissy’s viewers?

All the more reason to adopt the plan!


18 posted on 04/12/2011 3:36:47 AM PDT by Scanian
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To: Sub-Driver
That's OK, Chris.
Everyone who watches your show is brain dead, so this is a pretty good survival rate!
19 posted on 04/12/2011 3:38:35 AM PDT by grobdriver (Proud Member, Party Of No! No Socialism - No Fascism - Nobama - No Way!)
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To: tanknetter

“Ok, question: how many die because they can’t get medical attention, vs how many drop dead on the spot from shear outrage.”

Fineman clearly will die from outrage. As an earlier poster noted, Matthews only has 2 viewers, so it’s Fineman’s death that apparently will account for the 50% mortality rate.


20 posted on 04/12/2011 3:45:29 AM PDT by DrC
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