The Hypocrisy of Republicans

When Paul Ryan's budget was released a couple of weeks ago, it included a proposal to change Medicare, to change it into a block grant that would radically change it, providing less for Seniors who have worked their entire life. Democrats seized on the movement, rightly denouncing it as a plan that would hurt seniors yet keep the Bush-era tax cuts for all levels, including reducing the corporate tax rate (which is already among the lowest in developed nations, and with tax breaks and loopholes, makes it even lower. Just look at GE.) Now, the Republicans are asking Democrats to "stop engaging in 'Mediscare' tactics", that is, to stop saying that the Ryan Plan, the Path to Prosperity, would end Medicare as we all know it, which all know. Hmm, that's interesting. Let me flash back to a year ago, when the Health Care Reform Act was being debated, the Republicans came out with true demagogy, by saying that Democrats were rationing Health Care, were creating Death Panels, and bunch of other bull. As Paul Krugman states in his Op-Ed piece in the Times,

Now, you may recall that the people who signed that letter got their current jobs largely by engaging in “Mediscare” tactics of their own. And bear in mind that what Democrats are saying now is entirely true, while what Republicans were saying last year was completely false. Death panels! Well, it’s time, said the signatories, to “wipe the slate clean.” How very convenient — and how very pathetic.          

Those 42 Republican freshmen were elected last year in part by using demagogy are now running scared, as they fear that Democrats were will give a taste of their own medicine, but instead of using lies and myths, they are using the cold, hard truth. As I said last year in this blog post, it was ironic that these were the same people who opposed Medicare when it was first proposed, said last year that the Health Care Reform Act would destroy it, and now want to turn it into block grant program that would change it as we know it. Quoting lastly from Mr. Krugman, it is those Republican freshmen who

Last year, older voters, who split their vote almost evenly between the parties in 2008, swung overwhelmingly to the G.O.P., as Republicans posed successfully as defenders of Medicare. Now Democrats are pointing out that the G.O.P., far from defending Medicare, is actually trying to dismantle the program. So you can see why those Republican freshmen are nervous.

But the Democrats aren’t engaging in scare tactics, they’re simply telling the truth...and that’s something voters ought to know.

Checkmate, Republicans.