THIS WEEK (ABC)- Roundtable (my comment) (some of this is paraphrased for expediency)
Rep Donna Edwards(Maryland)- (war on women narrative is pathetic, the Democrats would have you believe Republicans are going to turn the Army on them. This another missed opportunity to ask a Democrat if they think a normal healthy pregnancy should end in abortion?)
Edwards- On Medicare, Republicans are just not telling the truth(is that like the obamacare act tax/penalty explanation?), Republican Medicare is like Providing green stamps for Medicare
Edwards- college student loan rates (no lady, I have student loan debt too, debt is debt no matter what you owe. My rate is below 3%, and I quit taken loans years ago after my 2 year degree and am working my way through college now)
Van Sustren- thinks they are being condescending when they say Obama just didn’t have the experience to improve the economy(No Greta, they are just being polite) On Medicare;
Van Sustren- Paul Ryan at least has a plan to save medicare
Van Sustren- Obama doesn’t show a production record by Stimulus bill results(actually, it’s been an avoidable spending disaster, that’s why I say they are just being polite)
Granholm- Obama extended medicare by 8 years(by taking the funding? how many more years would have medicare had if $700 billion wouldn’t have went to the fund the Affordable care act?)
Granholm- Stimulus had tax cuts people didn’t see(them were tax credits, not cuts, and we told you years ago it wasn’t going to work, Ms Granholm, you just didn’t listen)
Granholm- can’t use you college id to vote(bet you can’t use it to buy liquor too, can you fix that, Ms Granholm?)
Granholm- Republicans are trying to carve out the people you think are going to vote for the other side(like the dead? illegals? ACORN?)
Unknown(couldn’t keep up with typing this, think it was Stephonopolis)- Ryan is Mit Romneys chief character witness(let’s see them bring this up for Biden/Obama)
Will- cutting Medicare funding ‘Arithmetic will do that’ (Paul Ryan is capable of the medicare math, why aren’t Democrats?)
IMO the most effective way the Reps can argue the Medicare issue is to raise the IPAB aka Death Panel, that will directly affect seniors now. This non-elected board of 15 members will be making life and death decisions on what Medicare will fund and not fund, reimbursement rates, treatment protocols, etc. And it will take a two-thirds vote of Congress to overturn what they decide. This is the most visceral approach. Sarah Palin understood this better than any, which is why the Death Panel appellation had the Dems spinning like tops and frothing at the mouth. They understood how powerful that agrument is.
I think the arguing over the $716 billion and how many years Medicare (trust fund for Part A) was extended are too down in the weeds for many Americans. The Medicare Trust Fund has been running in the red since 2008. We have been cashing in IOUs to pay for the shortfall and those funds must come from the General Fund that borrows 42 cents of every federal dollar spent. The Medicare Trust fund has no real assets any more than the SS Trust Fund does.
The bottomline is that Medicare is unsustainable and must be reformed. The Reps have a plan, the Dems do not. And Obamacare is law--not a plan-that impacts seniors now with the Death Panel.