During today's panel, The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson said that it's not leadership if no one wants to follow. Eight in ten Americans do not want cuts in Medicare to balance the budget. Paul Ryan, during today's interview, urged for seriousness and leadership. And he said that Mr. Gingrich's statements about his plan last week were a 'gross mischaracterization' of his plan, and if people were correctly informed, his problem would be more popular. It was obvious for Maryland Congressman (D) Chris Van Hollen to characterize his statements as correct, and as we know now, Mr. Gingrich has been doing everything he could this week to walk back the statements, but it seems that Mr. Gingrich knows what other Republicans are not willing to admit, because they all voted for it, is that the Ryan plan is not a political winner. Never mind the politics, it's not a winner for the American people. The head of FreedomWorks, Dick Armey, said in the Wall Street Journal that Mr. Gingrich threw his fellow Republicans under the bus.
What Mr. Gingrich did, the professor that he is, is define the test very clearly for the Republican Presidential candidates. If you want to be considered a 'real' Republican, you have to be for the Paul Ryan budget plan and if it is characterized (accurately) as killing Medicare, you still have to stand by it. Anything less of this position and you will not get party support. This is unless you file for an exemption, which Mitch Romney has as he tries to explain why the Massachusetts health care plan that he orchestrated is good for the state but not for the country. For the record, Massachusetts insures 98% of the people in the state, is ranked 2nd for best health care among states in the country, and has managed to keep costs under control in essence saving money.
However, there are a few problems with his statements and his plan that goes beyond just the Medicare alterations. First, Mr. Ryan's budget plan doesn't balance the budget for 25 years and adds six trillion dollars to deficit in the first ten years, with no raising of any taxes. When John Boehner says in interviews that everything's on the table except tax increases, which means that everything is, in fact, not on the table. Mr. Van Hollen also said today that increasing tax revenue has to be part of the equation, which is realistic. Mr. Ryan talks about seriousness, but you can not be serious without some tax increases, which could come in the form of eliminating subsidies for the oil companies. However, Republicans are against eliminating these subsidies, even part of them.
There is no way to balance the budget by just cutting spending. Revenue needs to increase in places or it's not going to work.
But back to Medicare... Mr. Ryan explained that his plan wouldn't effect seniors now who have organized their lives around the program as it is. What he is saying is that people who are 54 and younger are going to have to make due with less. For our two cents, we think that people are accepting of getting by with less - the middle class has steadily done that year after year for the past 30. But the fact remains is that the essence of Mr. Ryan's plan is to privatize Medicare, and people simply don't want it privatized because that puts the control of whether they receive coverage or not in the hands of the private insurance companies. The Ryan plan also would repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act, which requires insurance companies to not deny someone coverage if they have a pre-existing condition and to put 85 cents of every dollar paid in to go to healthcare purposes. By privatizing Medicare, seniors will be susceptible to coverage denial and high premiums, which will grow faster than the rate of inflation, to which the vouchers Mr. Ryan is proposing, would not cover at the same pace.
Mr. Ryan speaks of leading, but as Mr. Gregory accurately pointed out, leading is building consensus, and this is exactly what he doesn't have. If his plan is the right thing to do for the country then why shouldn't it be enacted right away. The truth is that under Mr. Ryan's plan there would be a huge transfer of money to the private insurance industry. The even larger debate could extend to whether or not you think health care is a basic right. If there is no non-profit choice, only private choices, for health care and you could extend that you believe that health care is not a right because you have to be able to afford it or you don't get it.
Also, he says that the alternative to his plan is rationing of health care where the government will only be able to provide so much and then after that, no more - that's it, we can afford to give you anymore. If Medicare is made solvent, then rationing would not be an issue. (We've discussed the many ways in which it could be done.) However, by essentially giving people vouchers that the Paul Ryan Medicare Plan advocates, that is essentially rationing as well with now someone making a profit - the insurance company. Here's your voucher and this is all you get and if you want more coverage, you have to buy it yourself. And if you look at the state of the middle class where there is income, but every dime spoken for, this is a type of economic rationing. In other words, most people can not afford that extra coverage that they need.
Though Mr. Ryan has 'doubled-down' on his budget plan and the significant changing of Medicare within it, he said that he is willing to negotiate if the Democrats will present a plan. That's the one good point that he has - the Senate Democrats have not presented a plan. Do they have one? Maybe, they say so but right now they are politicking. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has called for a vote in the Senate next week for the Ryan budget. For the Democrats, it is smart for him to do this because it will clearly define where Senate Republicans are on the issue. However, after the vote, the Democrats had better come out with a plan that clear and has a high understandability quotient or they risk never pulling the debate toward the middle much less to their side of the proverbial line. As Mr. Ryan noted repeatedly, it has been 753 days for Democrats not to present a budget.
Lastly, Mr. Gregory reported that Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) will not run for President citing that he loves his country but loves his family more (a reason everyone could certainly understand). However, with that announcement, the Republican field gets even more weak and Republicans will truly just be playing for the Senate, which makes the aforementioned Reid vote important.
Chris Christie? Not in the slightest. Reason being, is that have you seen any current Republican Governor get in the race? Not a former governor, a current one - No, and you won't. Right now, Republican Governors are pushing through a lot of far-right bills on abortion, voting, and unions to name a few so why move outside that bubble of ideological success for would likely be a defeat? And you can see is that notion is going around - Hailey Barber, now Mitch Daniels, and everyone will wait in vain for Mr. Christie.
What we found interesting was Republican Strategist Mike Murphy say that the Iowa Caucus has too much juice in defining the front runner for the race. He's vocalizing what we suspect Republicans have been thinking for some time and is now to a point that they are openly talking about it. Because you have a small, very conservative Republican caucus in Iowa, you could see people like Michelle Bachmann do well, and conversely a more moderate candidate like John Huntsman do poorly. The Republican establishment figures that Mr. Murphy frequently works for want more moderate, Reagan 'big tent' representatives. We're about an election or two away from the Tea Party running as a third option.
Round Table: Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, Mike Murphy, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, WaPo's Eugene Robinson, and NYT's Andrew Ross Sorkin.
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