As I mentioned last night, the selection of Paul Ryan has left House Republicans defenseless. This morning, Politico joins the choir, citing at least three dozen Republican operatives who don’t want to be on the record. But in the midst of dishing out their doom and gloom, they tell us their best-case scenario.
Strategists across the party call that the absolute best-case scenario for the Romney campaign and everyone else involved: President Barack Obama gets forced into a policy debate on ground where Republicans are most comfortable, Republicans counterpunch hard on the Affordable Care Act and Democrat-approved spending reductions in Medicare, and Romney roars into November with an energized Republican base behind him.
Longtime GOP presidential strategist Charlie Black conveyed that view of the race: “We have plenty of time and money and four debates to air out this Medicare reform issue. And I think we win on it when we air it out.”
Those “Democrat-approved reductions in Medicare” were all in Ryan’s Budget. Every Republican in a tough reelection fight this year voted for those Republican-approved reductions in Medicare. The Republicans are seriously left with nothing but a plan to accuse the Democrats of supporting reductions in Medicare funding that they all voted for.
The “I voted against it (in ObamaCare) before I voted for it (in Ryan’s Budget)” argument is always a giant loser. But this lie is especially bad because it doesn’t even have any underlying merit. The suggestion is that it is okay to destroy Medicare’s guaranteed benefit because everyone in Congress voted for reductions in subsidies under Medicare Advantage. That doesn’t logically follow at all.
It doesn’t balance out. You can’t blame Democrats for doing what you have done yourself, especially when you are totally mischaracterizing what you all have done. But that is the Republican strategy. Romney told that lie just yesterday.
