Ryan and the Repugs apply lipstick to their Medicare plan

[marmar]

from TPM:



Beset by a constant barrage of attacks from the left and increasing unease on the right, House Republican leaders plan to relaunch their proposal to turn Medicare into a privatized voucher program. Leading the charge will be the GOP budget's architect, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who is scheduled to deliver an address on the topic at the Economic Club of Chicago on Monday.

House Republicans have yet to find their voice on health care ever since passing their budget last month and the new push by leadership comes amid confusion over whether their leaders have abandoned their original plan entirely. Ryan will have to choose his message carefully in order to reassure the conservative base that the GOP's appetite for cuts is undiminished while reassuring moderate Republicans in swing districts that the issue won't wreck their re-election prospects.

The party launched their budget to great fanfare last month as Ryan introduced his "Path to Prosperity" in a series of press conferences and speeches. Its large cuts to Medicare united even conservative Democratic lawmakers against the plan from the start, however, who followed President Obama's lead in casting the budget as a cheap shot at seniors that simultaneously lavished the wealthy with new tax breaks.

Republicans began feeling the heat in their home districts after returning during the Easter recess, including an incident in which Ryan himself was booed by constituents at a town hall in Wisconsin. Public polling consistently showed decisive majorities of Americans opposed to cuts in Medicare, preferring instead to tax the rich. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/gop-looks-to-shock-failing-medicare-plan-back-to-life-with-new-message.php

[louis-t]

1. Read "choose his message carefully" as...

Come up with another cute name for 'death panels'.