The GOP’s Medicare headache
By Eugene Robinson,
WashPost
Monday, May 23, 5:44 PM
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the architect of his party’s radical plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, gave a lesson Sunday in stating the obvious: “I don’t consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be.” I’d suggest that Republicans with less disdain for public opinion might want to check out the height of the cliff from which Ryan would have them leap.
What concentrates the minds of GOP strategists and candidates — or ought to — is the spectacle unfolding in New York’s 26th Congressional District near Buffalo. It’s a solid Republican constituency, one that Chris Lee won last year with 74 percent of the vote. Alas, Lee resigned after a Web site published a bare-chested beefcake photo he had sent to a woman he met through Craigslist.
This meant there had to be a special election, scheduled for Tuesday. The Republican candidate, state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, who has all the right credentials, had been expected to win easily. But she is in a tough battle with a strong Democratic challenger, Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul — and last week, a stunning Siena College poll showed that Hochul had actually pulled ahead, 42 percent to 38 percent.
What should worry Republicans is that the biggest issue in the campaign — practically the only issue — is Ryan’s Medicare plan. Corwin supports it, Hochul opposes it, and the GOP may well lose a race that shouldn’t even be close.
(More here.)
WashPost
Monday, May 23, 5:44 PM
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the architect of his party’s radical plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program, gave a lesson Sunday in stating the obvious: “I don’t consult polls to tell me what my principles are or what our policies should be.” I’d suggest that Republicans with less disdain for public opinion might want to check out the height of the cliff from which Ryan would have them leap.
What concentrates the minds of GOP strategists and candidates — or ought to — is the spectacle unfolding in New York’s 26th Congressional District near Buffalo. It’s a solid Republican constituency, one that Chris Lee won last year with 74 percent of the vote. Alas, Lee resigned after a Web site published a bare-chested beefcake photo he had sent to a woman he met through Craigslist.
This meant there had to be a special election, scheduled for Tuesday. The Republican candidate, state Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, who has all the right credentials, had been expected to win easily. But she is in a tough battle with a strong Democratic challenger, Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul — and last week, a stunning Siena College poll showed that Hochul had actually pulled ahead, 42 percent to 38 percent.
What should worry Republicans is that the biggest issue in the campaign — practically the only issue — is Ryan’s Medicare plan. Corwin supports it, Hochul opposes it, and the GOP may well lose a race that shouldn’t even be close.
(More here.)
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