LA Times, reporting from Washington -
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan's broad overview of the plan, which he described Sunday, is the clearest picture yet of how the party plans to reduce government spending over the long term. It also telegraphs the central role the issue will play in the GOP's pitch to voters in 2012.
The combination of changes to entitlement programs and spending cuts sketched out by the Wisconsin Republican amounts to a dramatically different approach to deficit and debt reduction. But it also puts the party in politically dangerous waters.
Much entitlement spending — including Medicare — benefits the middle class, making dramatic changes controversial and politically risky. Republicans demonstrated the political power of the issue last year when they campaigned against Obama's healthcare overhaul in part by warning seniors the new law would cut Medicare.
Still, experts said it was all but impossible to take a major bite out of the national debt without addressing the rising costs of the program, along with other entitlements benefits. Ryan did not mention the other most contentious piece of the puzzle: Social Security.
"We are giving [Democrats] a political weapon against us, but look, they're going to have to lie and demagogue," Ryan said on "Fox New Sunday." "Shame on them if they do that."
Isn't it fascinating that Ryan is from Wisconsin? Must be the water. His last quote was precious! If he is giving the Democrats a weapon, why would they have to lie? I would suggest, based on the political atmosphere in Wisconsin, Ryan had better be thinking about his re-election in 2012. A Gallup polling showed that people opposed messing with Medicare - 76% to 23%
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Even more than the union-busting attempts in Wisconsin, this proposal will do more to energize Democrats in 2012 than almost anything else I could think of. Medicaid is hugely popular among Americans of all ages, because Americans know that this program will ensure adequate medical care for them in their retirement years. As Rachel Maddow noted yesterday, "When you turn 65, insurance companies regard your past 64 years as a 'pre-existing condition.'"
Caveat: This will only benefit Democrats if they actually use it. I can imagine a scenario (shudder) where Democrats will actually try to engage Republicans in this effort. If that happens, Liberalism in America will be dead for at least a generation.
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