Yesterday it was John McCain, and the supposed catastrophic cuts the Dems are proposing for Medicare. He introduced a motion to recommit the bill that would have sent the bill back to Finance, instructing the committee to remove the proposed Medicare reductions. From his statement:
Madame President, simply put, this motion to commit would be a requirement that we eliminate the half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts that is envisioned by this bill. A half a trillion dollars in cuts that are unspecified as to how, and a half a trillion dollars in cuts that would directly impact the health care of citizens in this country. … All of these are cuts in the obligations that we have assumed and are the rightful benefits that people have earned. … I will eagerly look forward to hearing from the authors of this legislation as to how they can possibly achieve a half a trillion dollars in cuts without impacting existing Medicare programs negatively and eventually lead to rationing of health care in this country. That is what this motion is all about. This motion is to eliminate those unwarranted cuts.
Never mind that (as Think Progress points out) McCain’s own proposed healthcare plan, back when he was running for president, would have been financed “with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid…in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of href=".3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.” Or that all of the Republicans who took up his claim about Medicare cuts yesterday have voted for much deeper Medicare cuts previously. They’re going to keep using this specious argument to try to scare seniors into opposing reform.
But nothing John McCain or his colleagues did yesterday can match Tom Coburn’s "you’re all going to die!" performance today. You think I’m joking?
"If it doesn’t raise costs, and we’re truly going to take this money from Medicare, what it’s going to do to our seniors is, I have a message for you: ‘You’re gonna die sooner.’"
It would be nice to think we could welcome Republicans to the fold of progressive Democrats who want to preserve Medicare (and oppose things like all-powerful entitlement reform commissions), but I somehow doubt that this conversion will be permanent.
Daily Kos: GOP HCR Plan: Keep Scaring the Seniors
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