Last week President Obama focused the revealing truth of sunlight onto the reckless intentions of the Republican Party in respect to the future of this nation. The President explained their draconian efforts through the vision of US Congressman Paul D. Ryan (R-WI), especially as it relates to seniors and Medicare:
It's a vision that says America can't afford to keep the promise we've made to care for our seniors. It says that 10 years from now, if you're a 65-year-old who's eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today. It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher, and if that voucher isn't worth enough to buy the insurance that's available in the open marketplace, well, tough luck -– you're on your own. Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.
Yesterday, while watching an episode of MSNBC’s Hardball, columnist Jonathan Alter said this:
If the (Democratic) party as a whole cannot wrap the Ryan plan around the necks of those Republicans who voted for it, they should find another line of work, because this is a big fat one over the middle of the plate for the Democratic Party.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Messaging, messaging, and messaging! During the summer of 2009 the Republicans, aided by the clamor of the disingenuous Tea Party movement, managed to convince a sizable number of people in this country that the President’s Health Care Bill would effectively eradicate our beloved elders.
This was done by simply repeating the false charge ad nauseam. If the Right can be committed to lying with such unbelievable zeal, then the Left should be committed to presenting the truth with the same tireless fervor, especially when the majority of people in this country, including even those identifying themselves as members of the Tea Party, are opposed to changes in Medicare:
A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that Americans oppose cuts to Medicare or Medicaid by a margin of 80 to 18 percent, including 73 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of Independents. In fact, just 28 percent of Tea Party supports or backed the plan, while75 percent opposed it.
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/...
On Friday, April 15, the Republican Congress registered their vote for Congressman Ryan’s grand scheme to end Medicare. By a margin of 235 to 193, with only 4 Republicans voting against the plan, they signaled to the world their ruthless disregard for the poor and elderly. While overhauling the Medicaid health program, the proposal would also cut top corporate and personal income tax rates.
Still, I’m beginning to feel the stir of a strong wind of discontent (by even Republican voters). One of the prevailing images of the battle for Health Care was that of the town hall and its usual assembly of angry Republicans demonstrating their displeasure with a Democratic member of Congress by showering him or her with boos.
As was reported yesterday, Republican Congressman, Ryan, himself, was treated to a chorus of boos as he attempted to defend his plan for cutting taxes on the wealthy.
CONSTITUENT: The middle class is disappearing right now. During this time of prosperity, the top 1 percent was taking about 10 percent of the total annual income, but yet today we are fighting to not let the tax breaks for the wealthy expire? And we’re fighting to not raise the Social Security cap from $87,000? I think we’re wrong.
RYAN: A couple things. I don’t disagree with the premise of what you’re saying. The question is what’s the best way to do this. Is it to redistribute… (Crosstalk)
CONSTITUENT: You have to lower spending. But it’s a matter of there’s nothing wrong with taxing the top because it does not trickle down.
RYAN: We do tax the top (Audience boos). Let’s remember, most of our jobs come from successful small businesses. Two-thirds of our jobs do. You got to remember, businesses pay taxes individually. So when you raise their tax rates to 44.8 percent, which is what the president is proposing, I would just fundamentally disagree. That is going to hurt job creation.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
Is this really happening? This incident was unbelievable, because it showed that even individuals who have always remained content to forfeit and vote against their own interest, in order to protect the status quo and extensive largess of the Republican Party’s corporate overlords, are perhaps finally beginning to realize that all along they have meant nothing to Republicans except lowly sacrificial lambs.
Shortly after the Republican vote on the Ryan plan, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair, Steve Israel, vowed this:
When we win back the majority, people will look back at this vote as a defining one that secured the majority for Democrats.
I certainly hope so. Democrats have a wonderful opportunity to spur a genuine populist revolt against the Republican Party, but it will not be achieved unless they continue to press the message of the Republicans’ protection of the wealthy at the expense of seniors, the poor, and the middle class.
The President has continued to spread the message, but this simply cannot be all about his efforts, this is an all hands on deck proposition. Democrats need to be as relentless in controlling the message as the Republicans were during the Health Care battle. Once again, Jonathan Alter:
If the (Democratic) party as a whole cannot wrap the Ryan plan around the necks of those Republicans who voted for it, they should find another line of work, because this is a big fat one over the middle of the plate for the Democratic Party.
I could not agree more!