Republicans are despicable people.
Some of you may be wondering why I would say such a thing. After all, I periodically express my profound admiration for Ronald Reagan (as well as my appreciation for the only other good President of the past 100-plus years).
Moreover, I just wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial saying nice things about the Ryan budget. And I also have done a couple of TV interviews explaining how that plan would do a good job of controlling the burden of government spending.
But these are the exceptions. What really matters is what Republicans do when they actually hold power. By that standard, most GOPers are terrible.
Bush was a reckless big spender, for instance, and I’ve compiled a list of examples that make me think Romney would be equally disappointing.
And now I have something new for my list of Romney transgressions. Take a look at this awful campaign commercial.
Several things about this commercial make me nauseous.
- First, current seniors did not pay for Medicare. The Medicare payroll tax only covers about one-third of projected costs. To be fair, the ad doesn’t claim that seniors completely self-financed their benefits, but it clearly promotes the entitlement mindset – particularly with the nonsense about “guaranteed healthcare.”
- Second, while I agree that Obamacare is a “massive new government program,” it’s downright pathetic to run an ad defending an even more massive old government program.
- Third, Obama did not cut Medicare. He merely reduced the program’s rate of growth. Republicans correctly complain when leftists demagogue about non-existent spending cuts, but they lose all credibility when they use the same dishonest tactics.
You might be thinking that Romney was out of the loop when some campaign consultants went rogue and put together a deeply flawed commercial.
Don’t kid yourself. Here’s what Romney just said, as reported by the L.A. Times.
At a campaign fundraiser in Charlotte on Wednesday, Romney told NASCAR team owners and other donors that Obama “cut Medicare funding for current Medicare retirees” to pay for his healthcare overhaul. “That came out of the Medicare trust fund,” Romney told supporters at Duke Mansion, a colonial-style banquet hall. “He raided that trust fund to pay for Obamacare. And as seniors hear this, they’re going to be angry.” …Restoring the cuts, as Romney advocated Wednesday in a CBS interview, would swell the federal deficit in kind. Romney, who has named deficit reduction as a top priority, said nothing about how he would cover the expense.
In other words, Romney not only is criticizing Obama for restraining the growth of Medicare spending, he’s also promising to increase outlays on the program if he gets to the White House.
By the way, none of this should be interpreted as an endorsement of what Obama did. As you can see from these two charts (from Medicare’s Chief Actuary), the reductions in the rate of growth of Medicare spending basically were used to finance higher spending in other areas such as Medicaid.
But Romney’s basically promising to do nothing more than reverse these two charts. And that’s assuming we can trust his campaign promise to undo Obamacare. This cartoon shows why I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
I don’t care whether politicians are Republicans or Democrats. I care whether they are going to increase economic freedom so that we can enjoy more liberty and prosperity.
Based on his approach to Medicare, Romney at best wants to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.
If Romney actually cared about taxpayers and the economy, he would promise to repeal the costly Obamacare program and then build upon that small first step with a commitment to reform the other unaffordable entitlement programs.
[…] then Romney will do something odious and I’ll sound the warning sign with a we-don’t-need-another-big-spender-like-Bush […]
[…] then Romney will do something odious and I’ll sound the warning sign with a we-don’t-need-another-big-spender-like-Bush […]
[…] Mitchell has a post regarding Mitt Romney’s campaign commercial aimed at seniors on Medicare. Instead of honestly stating that Medicare needs reform, Romney takes […]
[…] then Romney will do something odious and I’ll sound the warning sign with a we-don’t-need-another-big-spender-like-Bush […]
Bill,
If the govt stole money from his district by taxation and gives it away to whoever asks for it, isn’t it his duty to ensure that the money stolen from his district doesn’t go elsewhere?
Sharon Poole
Honor is indeed lacking in both campaigns. Well said. The only man with honor in the race is Ron Paul. End of discussion.
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Maybe you have not heard, but Dr. Paul is no longer in the race. Please explain to me how it is honorable to include pork spending into a bill, and then vote against it knowing full well it will pass, then try and claim some moral high ground. End of discussion.
Sociopaths, they’re all just friggen sociopaths.
Honor is indeed lacking in both campaigns. Well said. The only man with honor in the race is Ron Paul. End of discussion.
You really have your work cut out for you if you are going to monitor and comment on all of the political ads being run on TV. Good luck on that undertaking.
Of course no one would ever tell a lie, half truth or cherry pick the data to make their point. It is interesting that the WSJ evaluated the awful Obama campaign commercial – The Postmodern President – The challenge is finding anything his campaign says that is true, – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443537404577577193632921170.html#mod=djemWMP_t .
Honor seems to be lacking in both campaigns.
Additionally, I always thought that the reason I was paying a Medicare tax was to provide me with some level of health care in my old age. If the author of this program did not structure it to be self funded, that is not my problem. However, if any of the funds in this program are transferred out for other purposes then it becomes my problem.
I look forward to reading you comments – thanks for providing additional insight into the working of the political circus.
Don Atchison
Glide, Oregon
Reality Check: Is Rep. Paul Ryan Actually A Big Spender? His “Principle” Problem
It’s like they can’t help themselves, they want to promise us “free” stuff.