A month ago, Republican Tommy Thompson felt pretty good about winning the U.S. Senate race in Wisconsin and helping his party reclaim the majority in the chamber. He's the former four-term governor of the state, and polls showed him leading Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D).
A month later, Thompson appears to be losing. And as Rachel noted on the show last night, things are about to get even worse for the GOP candidate.
In this clip, Thompson is seen telling a Tea Party group over the summer that he's the ideal person to "come up with programs to do away with Medicaid and Medicare."
As an electoral matter, the release of videos like these six weeks before Election Day is devastating. Thompson was already struggling, and now he's on record arguing -- indeed, bragging -- that he's uniquely suited to take away health care benefits from the elderly, the disabled, and the poor.
But as a strategic matter, this is a symptom of a larger problem. Tommy Thompson used to be a relatively moderate Republican, at least by contemporary standards, uncomfortable with far-right extremists. As his party has become radicalized, however, Thompson has been forced to scramble to convince his base that he's sincere in his support for an extreme agenda.
Indeed, note the context of the clip -- it was recorded in June, during a Republican primary in which Thompson and his GOP rivals were competing to prove their fealty to a right-wing vision of government
Thompson would never make these comments today, but it's too late -- his party forced him to pander to the fringe to win a primary, and now he's poised to pay a steep price with the mainstream.
Leave a Comment:
The GOP has been trying to kill Social Security since its birth. Same with Medicare. They shouldn't be any part of the discussion about how to save it. The Democrats are the ones who brought these programs to us and they are the only ones who have any interest in saving them.
Indeed. I actually think that the most damning thing about the video is that, after Thompson says the words "do away with Medicaid and Medicare" -- he goes on to describe the GOP agenda! The Ryan plan! Block grant Medicaid, voucherize Medicare, run 'em both into the ground. The details are the same, including the age 55 cutoff. And now that Ryan is on the GOP ticket as VP, this is even more a national issue. It's not just Tommy who should be toast after this. It's the entire GOP from the top down.
"do away with Medicaid and Medicare."
An excellent idea!
And accomplishing it is simple: Congress can raise the minimum wage to $50 an hour, and we all can pay for out own health care and retirement.
(This should appeal to the Tea Party- it gets the government out of our Social Security and Medicare.)
I can remember when there was only one maccaca moment a month . Now it is getting a little predictable . The right is in bed they never made with "America" , and much to their evident displeasure they don't have complete control of the blanket . Woe , or whoa , to the spouse of the self righteous right .
you live by the idiotic; you die by the idiotic.
Those gol durn fernickity recording machines... get them every time .
The truth will set them free ....free to pursue wingnut welfare...cause they ain't getting elected.
Isn't it time to stop using terms like like moderate and far-right for Republicans. What they really are is salesmen for a platform that once was more moderate than today. But come decision day Michelle Bachmann, Steve King, Susan Collins and Scott Brown will always vote together if the votes are needed by the party. The biggest difference among them is what audience they specialize in talking to.
I can't summon up even the slightest bit of empathy for these guys. They did it to themselves. I grew up hearing how spineless Democrats are, and to a certain extent I believe there is merit to that assertion, but it's nothing compared to the way today's Republican party bends over for the Teabaggers.
Fundimentaly the GOP is going so far to the right it may be too late to prevent an capsising of the ship.
The DEMs should start looking to recruit the moderates that jump ship before then.
Thompson joined ALEC in the 80's. he introduced legislature on their behalf. He also has interests in certain medical companies, which is why he now opposes Medicaire.
And this is what happens when you pander to the crazies. The GOP thought that they could "control" the tea-bagging know nothings, so they embraced them, now they must "go along to get into office". It's a sad tale because they're really showing themselves to be spineless, unable to articulate a real vision, and eventually they'll be extinct - just like mastodons.
True enough, though their policy of encouraging willful ignorance started long before the Koch Bros brewed the latest "tea". It goes back at least to the 80's, when they embraced the "Moral Majority" (which, of course, was neither). Maybe even earlier than that - arguably one could trace it back to the late 60's when the Rape-Public-CON under "Tricky" Dick Nixon cynically decided to pursue the euphemistically named "Southern Strategy".
If anything, I'm most surprised that it seems to have taken this long for them to reap what they've sown (and I'm not counting any "unhatched chickens", yet - GOTV!).
Get Enraged and Engaged:
Mooch the Vote 2012!
;-)
The red states are sucking the economy dry, for the most part. When they pay their own freight, they can participate in telling the rest of us what to do. As was shown on the Colbert Report during the convention, if America was run as a business, those states would be closed.
Closed, or at least "under new management"!
Get Enraged and Engaged:
Mooch the Vote 2012!
;-)
Thompson is a first class scumbag. Look at what he did to welfare when he was gov of WI. He took a well running program which required education for welfare recipients and turned it into a YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE FIRST MINIMUM WAGE JOB OFFERED or you lose benefits. He mandated people into servitude. No wonder Bush 2 made him a SecHumSvcs. Best to do away with it all.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tries to sell that Thompson's words are being taken out of context. I watched the video, and he's not.
He might be for a voucher called Medicare, but that isn't Medicare. He might be for giving states about 25% of what they get now with no Medicaid requirements attached, but that isn't Medicaid. A 401(k), no matter what you call it isn't f@#%ing Social Security, either!!
The Republican Party's long overdue voyage into the heart of The Wilderness is shaping up to be a very lengthy and interesting stay. Let's see how the jackals handle it.
Watching the scumbags self-destruct is fun. It's cheaper, too, since they're the ones buying the ammo to shoot themselves with.