The GOP Will Run On Ryan's Kill Medicare/Austerity Platform After All

Here's a reason for this!

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousands words and the one above, should get across the point we're making this morning. Wednesday night, Sioban Hughes, writing for the Dow Jones Newswires, hit the transom with these points from an interview Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor did in that day's Wall Street Journal, the parent company:

--Cantor: Government promises 'aren't going to be kept for many'

--Cantor: Younger Americans will have to adjust

--Cantor: Americans will see current cutbacks as paring back government waste

Republicans will continue a push to overhaul programs such as Medicare, saying in an interview that "promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many" and that younger Americans will have to adjust.

"What we have to be, I think, focused on is truth in budgeting here," Cantor told the Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal. He said "the better way" for Americans is to "get the fiscal house in order" and "come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many."

His comments suggest that Republicans are committed to overhauling entitlement programs such as Medicare even after President Barack Obama signed into law a debt package under which Medicare recipients weren't hit with direct cuts. Congress left Medicare recipients untouched directly in order to win enough Democratic votes for the debt package to become law.

But Republicans could make a new push to cut back on Medicare as the debt-reduction deal is implemented. The law initially provides for $917 billion in spending cuts over a decade, but a bipartisan committee of lawmakers must come up with a proposal by Nov. 23 to find an additional $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. The panel's members--half of whom will be Republican lawmakers-- could try again to change Medicare.

"When we came out with our budget, we said, look, let's at least put people on notice, but preserve those who are 55 and older," Cantor said, referring to a Republican-written budget plan that would turn Medicare, now a fee-for-service program, into a program that subsidizes private health insurance. "The rest of us have got ample time to try and plan our lives so that we can adjust to reality here when you look at the numbers. Again the math doesn't lie."

So... voters completely rejected Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare-- you'll recall the election of Democrat Kathy Hochul in New York's mostly deeply red district (a district where Obama only managed to win 46%, his worst showing in the state)-- but the Ryan model is still what the GOP wants to hang its hat on going forward.

Or do they? Boehner and Cantor do. Ryan does. But their troops in the field? Tuesday Wisconsin state Senator Alberta Darling, not just a firm ally of Scott Walker's and the author of some of his most notorious anti-family legislation but a loud advocate for the Ryan budget, will be facing the voters in her recall election. She was considered a shoo-in... before she adopted Ryan's kill Medicare talking points. Wednesday she seemed to back away. Questioned by journalists in Milwaukee, Darling, whose polling has been trending down, said she now doesn't know enough of the details of Ryan's plan to endorse it-- though she already did-- but that she supports his "fiscal goals."

This is going to be the great debate that rages between now and 2012. Since Obama is totally conflicted and tied in knots, congressional Democrats have to make their own case that they are NOT the party of right-wing Austerity. Democrats are doing it quite well in Wisconsin. Tuesday will tell us a lot about how the rest of this election cycle plays out.

Ryan parrots Walker lies about state budget and reasons for recalls

Paul Ryan has done a fundraising letter for State Sen. Alberta Darling, one of six Republicans facing recall elections for their support of Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting, anti-worker, anti-family, anti-senior state budget.

We don't know what direct mail lists Ryan's letter is going to, but he must hope it is a group of people who have not followed the news for the last six months -- or have incredibly short memories.

Here's what Ryan falsely claims the Darling recall is all about:

With the future of Wisconsin on the line, Senator Darling insisted that state government workers pay a modest portion of their pension and health care benefits and in doing so, she’s incurred the wrath of the Left who have vowed to make an example out of her.

That, of course, has nothing to do with the battle going on in Wisconsin. The public employee unions agreed to pay the added health care and pension costs that Walker asked for. But that wasn't enough.

Walker refused to accept that -- refused to even meet with the unions or engage in any negotiations. Instead, he and the Republican leadership rammed through a bill that essentially killed public employee bargaining in the state. Its clear intent is to kill off the unions once and for all.

That -- not the demand that public workers pay more of the tab for health care and pensions -- is what light the prairie fire, sparked massive demonstrations in Madison for months, and ignited the recall effort.

Alberta Darling, as a co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, has her bloody fingerprints all over the union-busting bill and the state budget that does so much damage to working people and their families, with massive cuts to education, health care, and more.

Darling, once seen as a moderate Republican, has backed Wallker's right-wing agenda right down the line.

Ryan knows that, of course.

And so, we hope, do the voters.

His hope -- and Darling's -- is that the gullible people who get his lying piece of mail don't know the truth and pull out their checkbooks.

The fat cats and corporate special interests already know what's going on and have given record amounts of money to Darling. Ryan hopes to con some small donors into giving, too.

The Most Unpopular Politician in America Award Goes To -

Drum Roll Please! And the winner is - Wisconsin\'s own Paul Ryan (R-Wall St).

Democrats are winning the messaging war on Rep. Paul Ryan’s bid to overhaul Medicare, with a new Bloomberg poll finding 57 percent of Americans believe they would be worse off under his plan.

Only 34 percent said they would be better off if Congress replaced “traditional Medicare” with a program to purchase private insurance with government subsidies, as Ryan has proposed.

The poll also found Ryan is now the nation’s third most disliked Republican, with net unfavorable ratings that trail only former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. But more than half surveyed said they have no opinion of the Wisconsin Republican.

Sure he lost out to Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, but they are not really politicians anymore, they are just carnival shrills trying to cash in on their fleeting fame. paul ryan is the most unpopular sitting politician in America. While more than half of America does not know who he is, to know him is to dislike him! Just think, this is the guy who Alberta Darling hails as a hero.

Cross posted at Blogging Blue.

Alberta Darling, on video, totally backs Ryan's Medicare plan

State Sen. Alberta Darling, facing a recall for her support of Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting budget, enthusiastically endorses the Paul Ryan Medicare budget, too. This video from a Friday night fundraiser to which Ryan was invited, but didn't attend.  She'll stand with Ryan anywhere, any time.  Excellent.

Darling buddies up to Ryan, steps into 'Medicare trap'

Whether he shows up or not, Rep. Paul Ryan's invitation to a fundraiser for embattled State Sen. Alberta Darling Friday night in Milwaukee is going to give Darling a big Medicare headache in her recall campaign.

Talking Points Memo says Darling has fallen into a "Medicare trap" by inviting Ryan.

You can bet that Democrats will make it an issue and tie Darling to Ryan's unpopular (that's an understatement) budget plan to eliminate Medicare as we know it and replace it with what amounts to a voucher system.

A bad decision on Darling's part. Any sparkle or extra cash she might pick up by advertising Ryan's possible attendance will be more than offset by the negatives she picks up from associating with him.

Ryan was advertised as a guest at a fundraiser for another Republican state senator facing a recall, Dan Kapanke, but was a no-show and claimed he had never agreed to attend in the first place.

Darling's campaign says Ryan's coming. He might as well; the damage is already done.