September 27, 2011
— Ace A follow-up to the earlier post. Ryan calls for "provocative" speech, informing the public of the true choices before them.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) tells National Review Online that Republicans, especially presidential contenders, need become more “provocative” when speaking about health-care reform. “We need to be provocative,” he says. “We owe the country a referendum election. We owe them a policy alternative.”Specifically, Ryan urges the field to focus on Medicare. “It is the issue, pure and simple,” he says, noting that it encompasses the “debt issue, the deficit issue, and the economy issue.” To help them along this afternoon, Ryan, the Budget Committee chairman, outlined his health-care ideas at the Hoover Institution in Palo Alto, Calif.
...
“We can do a lot from the House to help bring the party, and therefore the presidential candidates, into the mode of offering a very clear and specific alternative to President Obama’s vision for the country,” he says. As Ryan told me in August, he wants to play a “Jack Kemp–like role” this cycle.“He taught me that big ideas are the best politics,” Ryan said then.
“They will always be challenged, and they will sometimes be controversial, but you have to do what you think is right, what you’re passionate about, and be a strong advocate for it. If you do that, you can shift the debate in major ways. He showed me how you can do that.”
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Posted by: © Sponge at September 27, 2011 11:58 AM (UK9cE)
Posted by: Jay in Ames at September 27, 2011 11:59 AM (UEEex)
Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at September 27, 2011 12:00 PM (+lsX1)
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:00 PM (f9c2L)
Posted by: brak at September 27, 2011 12:01 PM (nIoiW)
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:02 PM (f9c2L)
Those 10 words would turn this into a "referendum election" faster than anything else.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at September 27, 2011 12:03 PM (8y9MW)
Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo! Echo!
Posted by: dudeformerlyinsantacruz at September 27, 2011 12:04 PM (BRa9r)
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 04:00 PM (f9c2L)
I think that was the DNC that released commercials of Ryan pushing old people over a cliff that scared people. They didn't actually know anything about his plan because the MBM wouldn't tell them about it.
Posted by: © Sponge at September 27, 2011 12:04 PM (UK9cE)
Posted by: Ted Striker at September 27, 2011 12:04 PM (Y+DPZ)
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:05 PM (f9c2L)
Joe ... Biden ... Biden ... Biden ...
Posted by: Ted Striker at September 27, 2011 12:06 PM (Y+DPZ)
Posted by: � Sponge
.........
No.. that's wrong. They knew quite a lot about it.. and GOP reps got reamed when they went back to their districts for townhall meetings.
I'm sure the full-court press by the Dems and MSM helped spread the word.. but seniors knew quite a bit about the details.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:07 PM (f9c2L)
Posted by: Captain Oveur at September 27, 2011 12:08 PM (AZGON)
He was on one of the Sunday programs with Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. Otherwise, outside of arguing on TV shows and press releases, he seems to prefer working behind-the-scenes
Posted by: Miss80sBaby at September 27, 2011 12:08 PM (o2lIv)
1. Reform the tort system to get lawyers out.
2. Allow insurance to be sold across State lines
3. Get rid of the floor on medical expense deductions
4. Eliminate SCHIP, Medicare, and Medicade
5. Define required emergency room procedures so that lawyers can not claim the common cold is life threatening.
That would be a good start.
Posted by: Vic at September 27, 2011 12:08 PM (M9Ie6)
It's cute how you think Medicare is going to continue in any non-trivial way.
Posted by: Methos at September 27, 2011 12:08 PM (sOXQX)
See, I don't have a problem with actually enumerating our position. We just have to be very, very careful to illuminate theirs, first. Make sure that everyone is aware that, as Ace has pointed out, the Democrat plan is a) no reform at all and b) reduced funding.
Drive that home enough, and it won't matter what our proposal is. But you're right that we need to get people committed to hearing us out before we try to explain out plan in detail.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at September 27, 2011 12:08 PM (8y9MW)
Posted by: Islamic Rage Boy at September 27, 2011 12:09 PM (e8kgV)
I'm sure the full-court press by the Dems and MSM helped spread the word.. but seniors knew quite a bit about the details.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 04:07 PM (f9c2L)
If that's the case, they would've known that his plan didn't affect them. He wasn't changing anything to anyone currently receiving or over the age of 50 or whatever, was he?
Posted by: © Sponge at September 27, 2011 12:11 PM (UK9cE)
Posted by: Islamic Rage Boy at September 27, 2011 04:09 PM
Can't hear ya girlfriend, we're blogging from Martian bases!
Posted by: The Breitbart Conspiracy at September 27, 2011 12:14 PM (Y+DPZ)
..........
But, what IS our position? Ryan's plan was bad.. IMHO, it was unworkable.
And after the debacle following its release, I doubt you could get a dozen GOP Reps to sign on to that plan.
The real problem is there is no good solution. There are only several bad solutions.
Cut benefits.
Hike premiums.
Cut payments to providers.
A combination of those would keep it going for a while.. maybe.
Privatizing Medicare simply pushes those decision points out to some private provider, so the government doesn't have to look like the bad guy. But insurers will simply have to do some combination of the above themselves. And it will still end up political suicide.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:15 PM (f9c2L)
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 04:00 PM (f9c2L)
Ryan's plan shouldn't scare the bejeezus out of seniors. Having no plan at all should scare the bejeezus out of seniors. And even if Ryan's plan did gut medicare, would it be all right to speak in vague, nice sounding terms, and then gut medicare afterwards?
Posted by: yinzer at September 27, 2011 12:15 PM (/Mla1)
Good thing we have idiots like Sheila Jackson Lee and Barney Franksucker.
Because without her and her big fucking mouth, we wouldn't win big elections like the one in 2010.
Posted by: Soothsayer at September 27, 2011 12:16 PM (G/zuv)
........
If we want the presidency bad enough? Yes. There are a lot of other things we need to fix besides Medicare. If we don't make it to the WH, we don't get ANY of them done.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:18 PM (f9c2L)
Not true. Private insurance is very, very good at getting the most for every penny. Some changes would be made, yes, but not nearly as drastic as the current plan- to whit: no changes, but major cuts in funding.
That's why we have to get their lack-of-a-plan across thoroughly before we discuss our plan. And, as someone deeply involved with the health care industry, let me say that Ryan's plan was the best I've seen in a long, long time to fix Medicare.
Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) is tired beyond tired of the trolls at September 27, 2011 12:20 PM (8y9MW)
Posted by: Miss80sBaby at September 27, 2011 12:21 PM (o2lIv)
You can find more than twelve. Certain freshmen and fellow RSC members who were instrumental in backing Ryan on this still believe in it, and some of them still argue he would have called for implementing his reforms more quickly. So it may no longer be even half the conference, but you can find more than twelve.
Posted by: Miss80sBaby at September 27, 2011 12:29 PM (o2lIv)
Posted by: DanInMN at September 27, 2011 12:29 PM (XqeyF)
Posted by: Monkeytoe at September 27, 2011 12:35 PM (sOx93)
That's why we have to get their lack-of-a-plan across thoroughly before we discuss our plan. And, as someone deeply involved with the health care industry, let me say that Ryan's plan was the best I've seen in a long, long time to fix Medicare.
Posted by: AllenG
...........
Well, call me skeptical, Allen... Health care is not the same as health insurance.
Insurers have one goal: maximize profits. Non-medicare health insurance depends on a pool with as many healthy low-use enrollees as possible to offset the payouts to the really sick. And most insurers try their damndest not to ever take on someone who is really sick.
Medicare is a truly unique pool. Everyone in Medicare is potentially a high-cost member (much higher risk per person). How does a private insurer improve their odds?.. decrease their risks? Ryan's plan forces an insurer to take on every applicant regardless of health status. And it gives the insurer a flat amount for the premium. (I think there are some bonuses for really sick people) However, avenues open to private insurers to maximize profit are pretty slim.
So they will weasel out of paying for as much as they can. And if the government says they cannot do that, they will walk away from Medicare coverage.
The current single-payer system only pays for medical care. If the member incurs no bills, it pays out nothing.. and collects their premiums, to boot. In Ryan's plan, that same healthy member has now cost us taxpayers $11,000 per year. Makes no sense to me.
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at September 27, 2011 12:37 PM (f9c2L)
Jack Kemp (along with Bill Bennett) founded the think tank Empower America in the '90s. He was considered to be an economic expert and played a large part in promoting Reagan's economic agenda.
Posted by: Miss80sBaby at September 27, 2011 12:53 PM (o2lIv)
Compare the stuff that non-candidate Paul Ryan is introducing into the national debate with the stuff that some other more well-known non-candidates are spouting off about, and you'll get a clue as to why I'll never vote for certain of those non-candidates even if they do ever get the nerve up to run.
Posted by: davidinvirginia at September 27, 2011 01:15 PM (ED4oz)
Romney immediately responded by wearing a paisley tie with a striped shirt.
Posted by: Not Drinking Nearly Enough at September 27, 2011 01:46 PM (HtUdo)
Posted by: steevy at September 27, 2011 01:59 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Al Gore's Second Chakra at September 27, 2011 02:46 PM (mgl7C)
Here's the narrative:
Republicans are trying to SAVE Medicare because we believe in a solvent, reliable social safety net. If we don't adopt Ryan's plan, or something very close to it, Medicare goes completely bust less than ten years from today, and everybody suffers.
Spread the word. Repeat it over and over and over and over. Drown out the dinosaur media. Candidates, make sure you say this at every single debate, whether any "moderator" asks a direct question about it or not. Bring it up anyway, no matter what. Repeat it so clearly, so loud, so often, that it can't help but appear in the dinosaur media.
Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 27, 2011 04:05 PM (2AfqM)
Democrats know that Medicare will go broke if nothing is done -- and they are okay with that. They are okay with completely abandoning senior citizens, as they repeatedly demonstrate by their stubborn refusal to do anything to save Medicare from fast-approaching bankruptcy.
Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 27, 2011 04:13 PM (2AfqM)
Posted by: Kathy from Kansas at September 27, 2011 04:15 PM (2AfqM)
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He should denounce himself. Racist.
Posted by: The Hammer at September 27, 2011 11:57 AM (dja/g)