SHE WON'T GO!
So this is some good stuff, right here.
Last month the House Republicans voted to end Medicare, then realized that it might not have been a good idea to end one of the most popular programs in American history. Mitch McConnell certainly isn’t dumb, therefore he knows that the Republican Party needs an escape plans before the Democrats start roaring back to power next year.
This is that escape plan:
A bipartisan agreement to curb entitlement costs would reassure financial markets concerned about the nation’s ability to rein in its spiraling debt, McConnell told reporters after the meeting. Doing it now, he said, would neutralize the issue for the 2012 presidential campaign.“If there’s a grand bargain of some kind with the president of the United States, none of it will be usable by either side in next year’s election,” McConnell said. “That is the importance of this debt-ceiling moment.”
So this is what you have here: Mitch McConnell is telling the President that he’s willing to let the American government default, unless Democrats agree to cut Medicare too, thus talking away the Democrats’ electoral advantage next year.
Very “grand”, and very “important” this bargain moment is.
Also fun considering that Mitch McConnell railed against “cutting” Medicare in late 2009 on the Senate floor when the Affordable Care Act was nearing a vote. Seriously, watch:
That was the same day that his office released this press release with the same title as this video, “Cutting Medicare is not what Americans want“.
So if you’re keeping track, Senator Mitch McConnell voted to slash Medicare in the 90′s and 00′s, then was against slashing Medicare when he wanted to attack the Affordable Care Act (Americans didn’t want that!), then was against expanding Medicare when Democrats proposed that the next day, then was for ending Medicare when the Paul Ryan plan came out, and now he’s for cutting Medicare as long as Obama does it too so that voters think there’s no difference between the parties.
I’m shocked that you can get away with it too, Mitch.
And as Digby notes, I wonder if Karl Rove and David Koch have signed on to this “neutralize” pact for the 2012 race. I’m sure we can trust them, just like ole Mitch.
KentuckyElection.org
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
