The battle lines have been drawn, and now the only question is how much fight the Dems have in them to really make this a war to the bitter end. They also have to know that the Romney-Ryan Axis will try to spin any attacks on Ryan's plan any way they can. The Dems must prepare themselves for multiple distortions, and have solid responses ready.....no pussyfooting around or remotely acknowledging (as the Big Dawg Clinton did last year) that Ryan's plan has anything of any redeeming benefit. It does not.
It is a bare-faced, unadulterated effort to eviscerate the elderly in this country of any medical or other security. To leave them unprotected, like dogs without bones, in a vicious commercial -coercive market landscape that will laugh and howl in stitches before it remotely considers offering any insurance. Worse, the Ryan plan seeks to divide and conquer by telling current oldsters over 55 they "have nothing to fear" while leaving the horrific voucher system to "those 55 and under". In this execrable way, they hope to divide voters in key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio - to win the votes of current seniors 65 or older, by causing them to exclusively think only of THEIR own self-interest.
But this is the last thing they ought to do! As I noted three blogs ago, this is just what the plutocrats want: to have people faction off from each other by self-interest. Hence enticing horrific scenarios that could confer winnable margins in those states by virtue of voting seniors thinking: "Hey, I can vote Romney and Ryan 'cause their changes won't affect ME!"
But what about your younger peers? Have you no sympathy for what they will endure? How about your own nephews or nieces, or even kids? Do you not care one iota about them? Why indeed be so myopic as to consider only YOUR benefit, and not theirs? Do you not grasp that this is exactly why the country has been headed into the shitcan because too often voters have permitted their interests to be cynically manipulated, divided.
This morning ('Morning Joe') was telling as Chuck Todd, MSNBC analyst, put down nonsense spouted by Joe Scarborough himself about the potential for Dems to "demagogue" Medicare. Scarborough insisted the Dems and Obama would have NO comeback to Ryan's plan since "Obamacare already promises to cut $750 billion from Medicare, so how can the Democrats scare seniors with massive Ryan cuts?".
Todd replied by saying that this would not work because Ryan plans to not only KEEP those cuts (which are actually more to unnecessary medical procedures) but to add his own mammoth cuts, incurred by virtue of limited value vouchers which would compel seniors to spend more and more out of pocket in high risk pool markets. Thus, over time, and clearly by 2033, they'd have to pay a 60% or greater share for medical treatments and premiums than they do now. (But do so in an environment in which Social Security likely pays out less.) After that, 'Morning Joe' was stone cold silent. At that point someone else chirped about all the "choices" oldsters would have. Todd, to his credit, slapped that one down too, noting that by a certain age, people no longer want more choices, they want security. Indeed, I already blogged a few days ago about patient choice being more diminishing returns than anything of positive use.
But it bears repeating that this is something the Dems must be mindful of, and have a response for! They cannot let the Repukes spin this their way as if Ryan's plan is an advantage.
They also need to bring out the "Howitzers" as opposed to sling shots! (If they hired me as an ad man I'd prepare some ad formats that'd work wonders).
The level of attack in the ads aimed at Ryan has to at least approach the content (in terms of raising hackles and fears) as the infamous LBJ Daisy ad . Nothing less will DO!
Study that ad carefully, Dems! See the content. Sure, it only ran once, but it was in prime time and essentially sewed up the '64 election for LBJ (Over BarryGoldwater) in a landslide. People - citizens were so fucking scared by it that the remote thought of voting Goldwater became anathema.
If you want to save such a Cobalt bomb ad for later, ok. Go with the softer ones first that still land haymakers. One of these was done a year or so ago by a Left PAC that showed a Ryan lookalike pushing a granny in a wheel chair off of a steep cliff. This will work! Sure, it's emotional, but you can't attack Ryan's plan exclusively on the basis of policy positions, because often people (for whatever reason) tune out their grey matter. You have to hit them in their amygdalas!
And keep hitting! Don't let up!
You might also want to prepare some background info on Ryan's hometown, Janesville, WI, to use in ads. Zero in on guys like one unemployed worker, Brian Krutsch from Janesville (see image). Krutsch, like most ordinary workers there, happily voted Ryan and Republican all the way so long as the issue remained theoretical about the usual Teabagging baloney of "deficts and high spending".
But what changed is when it ceased to be so distant and ethereal and became personal, as he now recognizes that not only will HE will be affected by it, but his kids as well. In an Associated Press account in the April 10, 2011, Denver Post, he blurted out
"Old people need help with medical bills. There's too many under-insured right now- especially people like myself right now, who don't have insurance"
Not only Krutsch, but evidently many others in Janesville (formerly Republican voters) are now seeing it, according to the account. One 74-year old resident was quoted as saying:
"It bothers me that my kids and our grandchildren might be affected by whatever has to be done".
Well, it ought to bother you even MORE, now that this guy is VEEP candidate! Better late than never, but WHY didn't you see this earlier? Is it that hard to parse? Or was it your indefatigable American optimism that blinded you? This is the recurring question!
The other sad fact, which these Wisconsin voters have only slowly awakened to, is that Ryan's so-called "Path to Prosperity" makes NO demands on the wealthiest 1% (why economist Krugman calls it more "voodoo economics" based on supply side hooey that cutting taxes lowers deficits) and no demands on the Pentagon - now sucking up nearly 58 cents of every dollar spent annually. In other words, this rascal full well knows in his black heart that he is piling all the financial burdens onto the backs of the elderly and most vulnerable poor. Does he care? Hell no!
But Democrats, whose primary programs Ryan plans to eviscerate, have to care! Which is why they need to bring the biggest weapons to the fight this time, not mere sling shots!
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