Pundits are often quick to jump on Democrats for their messaging blunders, but frankly Mitch McConnell made about the biggest messaging gaffe possible Tuesday when he explicitly put some of the government's most popular programs on the chopping block. In an interview with Bloomberg News, McConnell pegged Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as the key drivers of a skyrocketing deficit, which in reality spiked following the massive GOP tax cuts.
Asked about the ballooning deficit and national debt, which is expected to reach fully $1 trillion next year, McConnell responded, on camera:
"It's very disturbing and it's driven by the three big entitlement programs that are very popular—Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid— that's 70 percent of what we spend every year."
In what appears to have been further interviewing with Bloomberg off camera, McConnell expanded on his comments in a clear effort to tag Democrats with cleaning up after the mess Republicans made with their tax giveaway to the rich:
“It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem [...] it's a bipartisan problem."
“I think it’s pretty safe to say that entitlement changes, which is the real driver of the debt by any objective standard, may well be difficult if not impossible to achieve when you have unified government."
In other words, we're aiming to make Democrats complicit in cutting the most popular—not to mention essential—programs in the country.
But McConnell's main point—that Republicans are looking to cut the nation's three main social safety net programs—was a political gift, coming in the midst of an election where nearly every Democrat has run hard on making health care more accessible to people.
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“Senator McConnell gave the game up in his comment yesterday,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, told reporters on a Wednesday press call. “It was very clear from what he said that a vote for Republican candidates in this election is a vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. That’s what he said.” (emphasis added)
“Whether or not people put this in ads, and they well may do that, I can assure you all of our candidates will be zeroing in on this issue,” Van Hollen added.
Republicans have been running away from their health care record in every way possible, often removing references to the Obamacare law they failed to repeal and even downright lying about their votes to strip people of pre-existing conditions coverage.
For instance, Republican Arizona Senate candidate Martha McSally has repeatedly assured people, “I voted for a bill to protect pre-existing conditions," even though the Trumpcare bill she supported provided zero protections against gouging by insurers that makes such coverage totally unaffordable.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been reminding voters of Republicans’ actual record on health care. In Texas, Democrat Beto O'Rourke has recently gone on attack against GOP Sen. Ted Cruz on health care.
“This election will decide the future of health care," O'Rourke says in a new ad. "Ted Cruz has voted to take away health care from millions of American families. He’s tried repeatedly to roll back protections for pre-existing conditions and he shut down the government for 16 days because he thought too many people had too much health care."
And in North Dakota, incumbent Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp has been visiting with senior citizens around the state emphasizing her commitment to making sure they keep their access to Social Security and health care. Heitkamp also tells constituents she voted against Trumpcare precisely because it would have cut Medicaid access.
Now every Democrat in a tough race against Republicans has the video and audio from the Republican leader himself directly arguing that health care and Social Security benefits must be cut.
Thanks, Mitch.