Associated Press
When we last heard from Paul Ryan on Medicare policy, his rhetoric had descended into gibberish: "So the score now stands at: Ryan says he wouldn't have cut Medicare. Then Obama made those cuts. Then Ryan voted to reverse them. Then he decided to bring them back in the Republican budget. Now he opposes them and thinks they hurt seniors."
As Rachel noted on the show on Friday, Ryan scheduled a trip to a Florida retirement community -- with his mother, no less -- to give his new-and-incoherent message a trial run with an elderly audience. How'd it go? Well, let's just say Orwell would have been proud.
Ryan spoke at a community called The Villages -- one of the most Republican-dominated areas in the entire United States -- where the right-wing congressman wouldn't have to worry about a skeptical audience, since Republican sycophants would cheer his every word. Indeed, the handful of Democrats at The Villages were told in advance that they were not allowed to protest, and if Republicans disapproved of their clothing, the voters would be removed from the premises. Democrats weren't even allowed to use nearby venues with featured speakers.
With dissent stifled, Ryan stood in front of a large banner -- with all-caps lettering that read, "Protect And Strengthen Medicare" -- and a podium with the same text. The fact that Ryan intends to neither protect nor strengthen Medicare apparently didn't matter. I half-expected Ryan to start assuring the audience that "ignorance is strength," just to test the boundaries.
And then there was the speech itself.
In a campaign stop at The Villages Saturday -- a massive retirement community in central Florida known for its Republican leanings -- Paul Ryan delivered a speech aimed at reassuring the retiree audience that their Medicare would be safe under a Mitt Romney administration and warning that it's in grave danger under a second term of President Obama. [...]
"When I think about Medicare, it's not just a program," Ryan, whose mother -- a snowbird who spends part of the year at another Florida retirement home -- was in tow. "It's not just a program, it's not just a bunch of numbers. It's what my mom relies on. It's what my grandma had."
"We have to keep that guarantee," Ryan said. He called the Medicare for current seniors "a promise we have to keep."
How did Ryan defend his plan to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher scheme? He didn't. Instead, the vice presidential hopeful simply presented himself as the champion of socialized health insurance for seniors, while pretending the actual Medicare advocate -- President Obama -- wants to undercut the program he supports. Indeed, Ryan walked through a series of talking points, each more inaccurate than the last.
It was a perfectly lovely event intended to pull off a carefully-crafted deception.
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The Republican Party has just thrown away the senior vote by embracing a plan so toxic and extreme that many had kept the lid on what Paul Ryan had devised ib fear of killing the GOP's chances this November. Now that Romney has stumbled into an endorsement of Ryan's vision to kill Medicare, they are going to face millions of angry Americans at the polls. Denying seniors health security to pay for trillions worth of tax cuts for the filthy rich is not the American way. The Ryan/Romney plan takes the country back to before the Depression. If is a plan designed to kill economic growth and kill off those Americans not privileged enough to be millionaires. They truly hate America. - principled progressive
"The Republican Party has just thrown away the senior vote "
You have not put "Young, Handsome, and WHITE" into the equation.
The Medicare-vs-Voucher discussion is arcane. The color of the candidates is not. "Teh Elderly" came of age under Separate but Equal. Bigotry trumps Reason.
Sadly, I have to agree with Day. This past Friday I was at an event where I met a very nice, very intelligent senior lady. As we talked she managed to come up with a statement about her fear of the president destroying Medicare. I couldn't let it pass, so I very politely explained as simply as I could what the "argument" was about, and pointed out that Ryan and other Republicans had supported such a cut before the president was in favor of it, and had even voted for it. After I was through, she stood there in shocked silence for a moment and then asked "But how could that nice Mr. Romney lie like that?" She still believed Romney, and I strongly believe it was because he's white, though ever having a discussion with her about that would be pretty close to impossible.
So do not doubt that The Greatest Generation still harbors most of their regressive views on race. It's definitely still around.
One might wish that someone -- some independent organization, perhaps -- would run an add criticizing the Romney/Ryan campaign as being to theleft of Barack Obama.
Either you don't get smarter over time (the age old axiom that with age brings wisdom), or seniors are more selfish than young people. One of those two has to explain the reason why seniors are supportive of the party that would have them (at least their children and grandchildren) out on the street fighting for their lives. When you believe the hype and not the substance, you are sucker - so I go for option one.
"What tricks do Ambition (the Love of Power) and Avarice (the Love of Money) play on the life of one who aspires toward public service? What type of men (and women) will these vices tend to attract? Left unchecked, how is a democratic system which incentivizes these vices able to defuse the conflict to which they must ultimately lead us?"
Read more at
http://lifeamongtheordinary.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-establishment-paradise-part-two.html
Current seniors are being told that THEIR Medicare is safe from this doe-eyed charismatic charlatan who is even lying to his own mother. Someone needs to remind them that the improvements made by President Obama would disappear if Ry-omney (thanks to Charles Blow for that) is elected. They would not only get their doughnut hole restored (restore our future?) but get to once again pay co-pays for preventive care.
My ? is ....if ryan is so RICH and his mom is also,,,WHY IS SHE EVEN ON MEDICARE and living in HIGH END resort??? hellllllooooo
You said a mouth full! I was wondering if anyone else questioned that fact! How many regular working class mid-american people can be "snowbirds" and afford winter homes in Florida? I know my father worked 35 years for the same company and retired, he can't afford another home. I'm willing to bet Rayan won't drop his Gov. coverage he get from working for Gov and go buy coverage on the open private market for him and his mother. Since he hates Gov and entitlements so much, then why is he excepting the job and medical coverage? If him and all the GOP that feel that way and are so patriotic and worried about the budget/ssi they can start by dropping their coverage to save gov money... Fakes and frauds!!!!
Sadly I am afraid that People who look at the shining Ryan as Great, and then realize too late that He will be the President if something happens to Mitt. His idea's and rules would then be used toward Medicare, Social Security, Planned Parenthood and everything else involving Seniors, Students, Minorities etc etc etc. He is only for the RICH POWERFUL MEN IN AMERICA. Women will be back in the 1940's, 1950's, poor, pregnant and barefoot. WAKE UP AMERICA, he will destroy our rights if he gets his foot in the door!! My grandmother had 26 pregnancies and died giving birth at age 45, we do not want this to happen again in our lifetime or our grandchildren's lifetime.
It's all in "1984." It really is.
Glad to see Steve stated Medicare is socialized insurance instead of socialized health care. That's the proper classification.
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
Everyday Romney and Ryan spend trying to spin their Medicare policies into a good thing for seniors is a good day.
I wish I could share your optimism, but it would require me to ignore the ignorance, stupidity, or blatant selfishness of the people standing behind Ryan in the image used in Steve post.
Paul Ryan standing at a podium with "Protect & Strengthen Medicare" on it... I can't even think of an analogy for how totally illogical and stupid that is.
"Ignorance is strength" sums it up pretty well.
Ryan's huge banner that said "Protect and strengthen medicare" was no different than a banner from an earlier generation: Arbeit Macht Frei. Ryan wants to eliminate Medicare as we know it.
"It's what my mom relies on. It's what my grandma had."
Well that's a lie, Ryan's grandfather built that company using government contracts and the family has money! So while his "mother" may collect her husbands social security - she doesn't "rely" on it! And neither will he nor his children! LIAR!!
Paul Ryan's mother is a snowbird, meaning she has two homes. Yeah, just like every other senior living on a fixed income...
So Ryan has the support of "The Village People". Who's next, the "Satanic atheists"?
Can someone tell me why a Democrat would be dumb enough to live in Stepford, Florida? When I moved to the house I live in, I made sure to check the voting record of the precinct, not wanting my air polluted living around Republicans.