washington, dc

The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Steele Says Medicare’s So Bad We Have To Protect It

Connoisseurs of political incoherence and hypocrisy really need to check out the interview of RNC chairman Michael Steele on NPR’s Morning Edition today about his latest “Don’t Touch Medicare!” position. In what must have seemed a very long seven minutes for Steele, the Republican chieftain tried to argue that he wants to save Medicare because it’s such a bad program that we can’t afford to “raid” it, though he does support “cuts” and “efficiencies.” “Medicare is what it is,” he said a couple times, despite a certain clack of clarity about “what it is” exactly. Later in the interview, Steele gets belligerant about the suggestion that he has a “nuanced” attitude towards “government-run health care.”
Republicans would be well-advised to just shut up about Medicare. Their efforts to pose as the last-ditch defenders of an entitlement they obviously hate are even less credible than George W. Bush’s claim back in 2005 that he wanted to “protect” Social Security.
UPDATE: ThinkProgress has posted a transcript of Steele’s NPR interview. Enjoy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.