(Nick Anderson via GoComics.com)
In the key Florida market at least, the Republican’s long-term scheme to encourage short-term thinking may be working. Dave Weigel on “Paul Ryan’s successfully vague campaign to promise “current seniors” the moon“:
One of the pure joys of campaign reporting is the “headlines” e-mail. When a candidate has a particularly good day—a killer debate, a speech that goes off with no falling lights or flags—journalists get a missive from the campaign that runs through the bedazzled takes of your peers. The subtext is this: Why haven’t you written your story about how fantastic we’re doing?
On Saturday, shortly after Rep. Paul Ryan spoke at The Villages in Florida, the Romney campaign sent out no fewer than 14 incredible headlines. “Nothing but Cheers for Paul Ryan’s Medicare Plan at The Villages,” reported the Tampa Bay Times. (The planned community, where souped-up golf carts dominate the roads, is a Republican stronghold.) “Ryan Campaigns With Mother, Vows To Protect Medicare for Seniors,” reported the Hill.
And so on. The point of all this: proving that the first “Medi-scare” battle of the election is ending and that Republicans have fought it to a draw. Ryan got his message down to a zinger, and repeated it all week. “We want this debate,” he said. “We need this debate. And we will win this debate.”
It just depends what the meaning of “this” is. To keep on winning the Medicare debate, Ryan needs to please three groups of people. They are: conservative voters who are fine with any Medicare scale-back, conservatives who are fine with any Medicare reforms that don’t affect them, and swing voters who aren’t sure what they want. The campaign has moved on now, and our cable chyrons and Web leads have been given over to Todd Akin. Look back at Week 1, though, and Ryan’s done a stellar job pleasing all parties….
Read the whole thing, and think dark thoughts:
… It’s solid campaign patter. Ryan alternates between the specific, like when the plans would switch over, and the vague. He’ll keep “the promise” of Medicare, which is different than keeping Medicare as it is. He’ll keep a “guarantee” of coverage, which is different than keeping it a full-coverage entitlement. I don’t see anyone who’s already inclined to vote Republican having a problem with this. And those swing voters? They’ve got to be reading the pretty headlines.
Frankensteinbeck
Bullshit. This subject is and always has been poison. The angry old people who were going to refuse to believe the GOP will ever turn on them don’t believe the GOP has turned on them? That’s no surprise. For the past week and a half the media has been slobbering over how handsome and brilliant Ryan is, and that’s drowned out other messages. THAT is the honeymoon and it’s why Romney bought Ryan in the first place. It’s already ending thanks to Akin, and will die horribly the next time Romney makes one of his gigantic gaffes.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Well there is this, make of it what you will
http://www.nationalmemo.com/carville-greenberg/early-warning-ryan-medicare-plan-imperils-battleground-republicans/
Claims the GOP lost a lot of support with seniors.
Personally I am not surprised The Villages went well for Ryan, there are about as safe as a senior audience as you can for a republican.
TenguPhule
Republicans have never kept an honest promise in their life, why think they’ll start now? And anyone over 65 dumb enough to fall for this deserves to be scammed out of every last penny and die on the street.
Linda Featheringill
This whole game must really please the 1%. They love to divide the 99% and turn us against each other. That way, we are easier to exploit, cheat, and use. A generational fight would please them no end.
Depending on who’s talking, I hear that seniors really hate the Republican Medicare plan or that they don’t care. I’ve seen numbers all over the place and it’s difficult to tell what’s really happening.
One fact we can depend on is that about 40% of all folks over 65 will vote Democratic, no matter what. The hardcore Republicans probably make up about 50% of that age group. Seniors are not homogeneous.
The under-30 folks are really into the Democrats but they don’t always vote. So they actually can’t be depended upon to sway an entire election.
The 30-59 year old people make up the bulk of voters. They are the ones to decide elections. The major part of Republican support comes from white males, who go 55-60% Republican.
My question is why would anyone under the age of 59 support the Republican Medicare plan? I think this plan would hurt the current Medicare recipients but just about everyone agrees that the younger people stand to get screwed royally. Why would they vote Republican?
Voters younger than 59 make up a solid majority of all voters. They can determine elections. Voters younger than 59 have the most to lose from the Ryan Medicare plan. It would really be in their interest to vote against it. Why don’t they?
And why aren’t [some of] you folks on BJ bitching about the obtuseness of the voting majority instead of what you’re doing, which is engaging in the 1%-designed generational conflict?
Maude
@Frankensteinbeck:
Most people know how Medicare works. They know the amount of the premiums and co pays. Ryan can stuff this sh.. up his rear.
I have medicare and I don’t use it much. A cheap drug script every three months and Saturday I go to the doctor for the first time in 14 months. That;s because I need a new script.
People call Medicare and report things like double billing and all that. You can always call ans ask a question. This system works and it works well.
You can get emails on new coverage pages.
People who do have brain matter trust Medicare. no one is trying to make a profit off of your illness.
I’ve had it with this nonsense.
Villago Delenda Est
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Which is precisely why it was chosen as the place for Ryan to put on his show.
These guys know better than to expose Ryan to a less than adoring crowd. Like one made up of his own constituents, for example…
Ruckus
@TenguPhule:
And anyone over 65 dumb enough to fall for this deserves to be scammed out of every last penny and die on the street.
I agree.
I also see how many people who are not even close to that dumb lose every penny and die on the street. They may deserve it, the rest of us don’t.
Zifnab
Isn’t “The Villages” a mega-wealthy suburb in Florida to begin with? I don’t think I’d hitch my expectations too strongly on a photo-op campaign stop that amounts to “lots of applause” in front of a friendly audience. Bush held photo-ops like that all the time. They didn’t help his approval numbers in the long run.
That’s not to say I’m not worried about how the 55+ demographic will respond to Ryancare. I just think you’re working from a bit of a skewed perspective here, and in the absence of a serious Obama counter-punch. Once the ad wars in Florida really start rolling, we’ll see where the numbers go.
Linda Featheringill
@TenguPhule: #3
You said:
“And anyone over 65 dumb enough to fall for this deserves to be scammed out of every last penny and die on the street.”
And I say:
“And anyone under 59 dumb enough to fall for this deserves to be scammed out of every last penny and die on the street.”
Except that I don’t want them to die in the street and I don’t want them to be destitute. I would like for them to wake up and look closely at the facts.
Villago Delenda Est
@Linda Featheringill:
No one should die in the street.
Well, excluding the people in the 1% who enjoy the idea of the proles going that way.
But they’ll die in the street the proper way, at the Place de la Concorde.
TenguPhule
@Linda Featheringill: And if wishs were fishs, but I don’t think even divine intervention could bring about that big of a miracle.
Maude
@Villago Delenda Est:
The 1% can die in the street after they Jump.
Linda Featheringill
@TenguPhule: #11
“And if wishs were fishs, but I don’t think even divine intervention could bring about that big of a miracle.”
What a peaceful answer! :-)
And you’re right. Getting these folks to change their minds might be an impossible goal, a foolish dream.
Turgidson
@Linda Featheringill:
Yes, but if just a few of them can change their minds, that could move Florida firmly into the good guys’ column.
I’m not thrilled that the Romney/Ryan Medicare lie campaign hasn’t been more aggressively challenged to this point, but the Obama campaign has earned the benefit of the doubt from me. If they think a post-convention or homestretch blitz dismantling R/R on Medicare is the way to go, I’ll believe them.
japa21
Looking forward to when Biden draws and quarters him in the debate.
tomvox1
I do not think “want this debate” means what you think it means, Mr. Weigel.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123326/-Quinnipiac-CBS-NYT-Poll-Swing-state-voters-trust-Obama-on-Medicare?detail=hide
Nancy Irving
How can any over-55er believe that a two-tier Medicare system can last, even over the medium term?
The voting bloc made up of those who are now 55 or over will decrease every day, while the younger voting bloc will INCREASE.
Do the over 55ers really believe that their juniors will be happy to keep on paying for their elders’ traditional, comprehensive Medicare, while those juniors know that they themselves will have to settle for inadequate vouchers when THEY retire?
Don’t those now 55 or over realize that there will be a tipping point after which their own numbers, and thus their political clout, will have decreased to a point where their juniors are more numerous and thus more politically powerful? And can they believe that any politician will then be willing to keep Ryan’s “promise” to a minority, angering the majority?
How stupid are they?