TPMDC Lyndon Johnson
Medicare
PolitiFact Insists Republicans Don't Want To End Medicare (VIDEO)
If Democrats proposed to turn Medicare into a system that only provided free veterinary services to seniors, would Republicans be lying to say Dems wanted to "end Medicare," without including the caveat "as we know it"?
Of course not. But that's more or less the charge PolitiFact is leveling at Democrats over a new DCCC ad (below) which flatly charges Republicans with proposing to "end Medicare." The House GOP budget, which passed with all but two GOP votes over unanimous Democratic opposition, would over time replace the single-payer, government-run Medicare program with a different system that subsidizes private insurance plans for beneficiaries. Those subsidies would work like vouchers -- they would increase in value year-on-year at a much slower pace than the rate of the rise of health care costs, thus leaving seniors exposed to increasing costs as time goes on.
Republicans call this new health insurance system "Medicare." But it's a completely different program from today's Medicare. PolitiFact doesn't see it that way.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: DCCC, Democrats, Lyndon Johnson, Medicare, Republicans
2012 elections
Poll: Palin Nomination Could Turn SD, NE Dem For First Time Since 1964
Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and President Barack Obama (D)
The last time a Democratic presidential candidate carried either South Dakota or Nebraska in a general election was the same year that the Beatles released their debut U.S. album. Yet if the Republican Party nominates Sarah Palin for president, two PPP polls indicate that President Obama would have a strong chance of bringing both states into the Democratic column for the first time in a half century.
In Nebraska, PPP found Palin leading Obama by just one point, 45% to 44%. Compare that to last cycle, when John McCain won the state by 15 points -- though, since Nebraska awards some electors to the winner of each congressional district, Obama did take one electoral vote for winning Omaha's district. In 2004, George Bush trounced John Kerry by 33 points there.
In South Dakota, the bad omen for a Palin presidential bid is even starker. There, PPP found her outright trailing Obama by eight points, 48% to 40%.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: 2012, 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Lyndon Johnson, Nebraska, PPP, Polls, Pres '12, Sarah Palin, South Dakota
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