Paul Ryan’s plan to “reform” Medicare isn’t winning the hearts and minds of the people. On Tuesday, a Democrat won a special election to fill a House seat in a deeply conservative district in upstate New York. The winner, Kathy Hochul, took every opportunity to link her Republican opponent to Ryan’s plan and it clearly worked as an election strategy. Democrats are now giddy at the prospects of hammering other Republicans with the Ryan plan in 2012.
Considering that Republicans attempted to portray Democrats as granny-killers in the 2010 election, I don’t have any ethical qualms about this strategy. And while Republicans had to actually make the effort to lie when they accused Democrats of sponsoring death panels, Democrats don’t have to fabricate anything when attacking the Ryan plan. It’s as if Republicans are doing all the work for the opposition. It’s kind of awesome when you think about it.
Changes do need to be made to Medicare to keep it solvent, but forcing people to purchase private insurance as an alternative is wildly unpopular. I just hope Democrats can have the same success attacking GOP plans to dismantle Medicaid.
