House GOP campaign chief: Obama budget ‘shocking attack on seniors’

[Cali_Democrat]

Source: Washington Post

House Republican campaign chief Greg Walden on Wednesday launched an attack on the entitlement changes contained in President Obama’s budget proposal — a signal that the entitlement reform well might already be poisoned.

Appearing on CNN, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman accused Obama of “trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors” and signaled Republicans may try to use the changes against Democrats in the coming election.

Walden’s comments come even as key Republicans have embraced Obama’s “chained CPI” proposal to cut Social Security benefits.

“I thought it’s very intriguing in that his budget really lays out kind of a shocking attack on seniors, if you will,” Walden (Ore.) said. “We haven’t seen all the detail yet, so we’ll look at it. But I’ll tell you, when you’re going after seniors the way he’s already done on Obamacare, taking $700 billion out of Medicare to put into Obamacare, and now coming back at seniors again — I think you’re crossing that line very quickly here in terms of denying access to seniors for health care…”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/04/10/house-gop-campaign-chief-obama-budget-shocking-attack-on-seniors/

---

So the Republicans demand Obama propose cuts to programs like Social Security, and then they attack Obama and Dems for proposing those cuts.

Who could have seen this coming?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. The ads are already being filmed as we speak.

It was a completely idiotic thing to do. The lead story on the local news tonight? Obama's budget with a nifty graphic highlighting cutting medicare and social security and raising taxes.

[Mojorabbit]

45. Yes, it was totally idiotic and I can't even listen to him anymore.

When I see him on tv, I just turn it off. I am so disappointed in him. I really thought he would show a liberal side post election.

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. Don't worry: It's 3D chess!

With the poor and the elderly as pawns.

[CountAllVotes]

3. I can't handle reading about this

I think I'm gone for awhile ...

Cya soon I hope.

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Obama is either an idiot to believe in this

or and stone cold mother for setting us all up to screw us.

[FiveGoodMen]

22. Option B, I think

[840high]

52. B

[awoke_in_2003]

65. another vote for B. nt

[Eric J in MN]

5. I guess White House officials were too busy...

...thinking about the praise they'd be getting from centrist-pundits for "Chained CPI" to anticipate the Republican attacks which liberals predicted.

[limpyhobbler]

6. omg LOL

[still_one]

7. No surprise, he asked for it. I know some rationalize the by saying it won't pass anyway

However, that he put it in his budget shows not that he has courage to go against his own party, but that he is attacking seniors

My advice to him is to remove it say he got the message

[ForgoTheConsequence]

8. Yep.

And the "it wont pass" rationalization I've heard on here is nonsense.

The damage has been done by including it in the first place, its headline news almost everywhere.

[Beacool]

28. That's the same mind set the WH had in 2011 with Sequestration.

How is that one working out?

[still_one]

29. Not very well

[Beacool]

37. Exactly!!!

[NorthCarolina]

9. Maybe the Chained CPI is a diversional tactic to implement

private accounts for 55 and under as a "compromise" which, entirely coincidentally, was the GOP plan from the get-go, selling it as a path that "doesn't harm Seniors" like chained CPI would. Lets face it, Obama always seems to end up at whatever it was the GOP proposed...like ObamaCare aka RomneyCare. Same shit, different day.

[madrchsod]

14. worse than that....

obama care and romney care can be traced back to our good friends at the heritage foundation. yup.. obama has done everything the heritage foundation could only dream of.

[DhhD]

47. Yes, it was to make private insurance more affordable. As private insurance becomes more

affordable, the need for the one payer system will disappear, for a while. Then premiums will gradually go up again. This scheme is the, "New Kind of bailout". Now Medicare's $700 billion can be passed as propaganda to be the ACA bail out. This propaganda could be acceptable by Seniors. Republicans are trying to kill (SS and ACA), two birds with one stone.

Democrats did not get the stone they were lead to believe that they were getting.

Republican goals have been advanced by the one sided bipartisan partnership of Obama.

[DhhD]

49. Oh yes, and let us remember the Medicare Insurance Voucher scheme of Paul Ryan.

Obama's fascist blunder may cause a lot of people to die at a very early age over removal of affordable health care and affordable living.

2008- Bank bail out.

2014- Insurance corporation bail outs.

[John2]

10. The Republicans

ran away from cutting those programs in the Election, while Obama and Biden were busy defending themselves. Now they get in office and hand the issue right back to them. When are these guys going to understand, the American media are not their friends? They are owned and runned by the very same corporations that tried to defeat him. As soon as the so called radical Left handed him the Election, the media pundits started talking about legacy and compromise. Obama does not have to do anything, but let the same electorate handle it. Of there was such a thing as this mythical middle, Obama would not be President today. Don't cut off the hands that fed you in the Election. To alienate your base is pure stupidity unless you really thought they were your sheep. They voted on issues and not because of your looks. It had nothing to do with Obama's race either, which the other side would like him to believe. If he had ran on cutting these programs or cPI, Obama would have surely loss, because he would have proven Romney and Ryan's case.

[Volaris]

11. i suppose it's possible that the game here is

"well, I tried to do it thier way, and no one likes that idea, EVEN THE REPUBLICANS. So, it seem to me, the only thing left, is to raise fucking taxes on the people who can actually afford the shit."

But I don't have a lot of faith at this point. I am OPPOSED to fucking around with SocSec OTHER than just eliminating the income cap, but I will withhold further judgement on this mess until I see how badly the GOP gets clobbered for now REJECTING THE EXACT THING THEY SAID THEY WANTED (AGAIN).



But, I don't have much faith that that will actually happen. And this game is getting old. Mr. Nice Guy isn't working. I want this very popular President MAD at these people, and telling the American People WHY. It's working for Gun Control, it can work for The New Deal, as well.

It's what the GOP DESERVES from this President.

[Dragonfli]

12. Anyone that follows politics could, no SHOULD, have seen this coming

I posted several times this strategy was misguided and this would happen, handing Republicans a gift issue, part two will be to blame progressives (that will vote for Democrats even if only as a less evil corporate puppet party) for all the lost votes from Independents and low information voters across the political spectrum, even tho progressives didn't cause the clusterfuck, centrists did.

No big deal that I predicted this as 90% of my fellow posters predicted it as well, many explaining the political inevitability of the third rail effect far more eloquently than I managed in my posts.

[KoKo]

17. Yes....it can only be explained away for so long before the Ad Barrage

begins in 2014. UNLESS...Obama gets rid of this vile bargain over the Summer. Since it will be months of wrangling...Obama has time to "Deep Six" his most upsetting provisions in there.. His PR Campaign can begin to remove them pretty swiftly.

[Dragonfli]

20. So much damage has already been done IMO he will need to do more than get rid of it

He will have to actively and forcefully walk it back and somehow convince the public that not only has he "evolved" on the issue, but now believes it is our party's duty to protect us from such 1%er think tank invented schemes to cut our earned benefits; That our party should work instead to expand SS and Medicare.

Nothing less than a full road to Damascus conversion can turn this around in our favor. That is the only way now to retake the house and learn to be the majority party in the Senate. He can deep six it, and pr it, but the best that will do is keep the status quo in the House and the Senate, no net gain or loss.

Just having been the one to suggest it, even if he removes it from his proposals, with make fodder for hundreds of scare the elderly commercials.

The third rail is a dangerous thing to piss on, you can get electrocuted that way.

[KoKo]

23. I agree it would be very difficult for him to walk this back.

And...I'm not sure he'd want to, frankly. But, what I was saying is that if he realized he'd made bad decision there was still a little time for his MAGNIFICENT PR PEOPLE to have him walk it back and give a few speeches with some mea culpa. Don't think that's likely. And it WILL hurt us in 2014. The Repugs will take full advantage of this.

He didn't need to do this unless he wanted to and he's been signalling it sine last year when he told Boehner it was "On the Table."

[Dragonfli]

25. We should keep trying to convince him as our only resort

Incessant phone calls and letters to his office as well as our reps offices are really all we can do. It is worth the effort as he may drop it, not likely but possible.

I have not been impressed with the prowess of his PR team as they have tried to sell this. I suppose they may do better with a message that makes more sense than equating cuts to earned benefits that will do real harm with slight tax increases on those that have had record profits.

It's hard to sell the real pain this will cause to millions as shared sacrifice when those that call for such things have not and will not sacrifice anything that will affect their opulent lifestyles in the slightest.

[Larrylarry]

13. It's a non-story

This coming from a man who supports the Paul Ryan budget

Michele Bachmann might as well spoke the words herself

The guy is implying Paul Ryan doesn't balance the budget on the backs of seniors.

Nobody is listening to that guy

[forestpath]

15. PBO can rest easy - the Club for Growth has his back!

[Larrylarry]

16. Thanks for the laugh

The club for growth article is making fun of the presidents proposal ...not getting behind him in support

What haters going to hate
not like facts are going to change your mind

[forestpath]

18. No, they are going after a REPUBLICAN who opposes Obama's SS cuts.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/club-for-growth-questions-gop-rep-for-attacking

The conservative advocacy group Club for Growth is calling on Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) to answer for his comments Wednesday, in which he attacked President Barack Obama for proposing cuts to entitlements -- a goal ordinarily sought by a majority of the Republican party.

“Greg Walden doesn’t seriously oppose even the most modest of reforms to social security, right?” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement. “With nearly $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, the last thing Republicans should attack the Democrats for is for making the most minor reforms to our entitlement programs. If anything, President Obama nibbles around the edges of entitlement reform and doesn’t do anything to put entitlements on a permanently sustainable path.

“Greg Walden ought to think about clarifying his remarks on chained CPI, and think about clarifying soon. I’m sure his constituents would like to know his opinion,” he added.

Walden, who happens to chair the House GOP’s re-election committee, went on CNN earlier Wednesday to decry Obama's budget because it “lays out a shocking attack on seniors.”

I'm sure Obama is bursting with pride! He can count on one of the most destructive, pro-1 percent groups in the country for help! Now that's a grand bargain with the devil.

[Larrylarry]

19. I disagree

These words are making fun of the budget

"the most minor reforms to our entitlement programs. If anything, President Obama nibbles around the edges of entitlement reform and doesn’t do anything to put entitlements on a permanently sustainable path."

To claim the "CFG has his back" is crazy

[0rganism]

21. Let's assume, for a moment, that Obama & his crew knew this was coming too

I'm not pleased with how this looks right now, but Obama and his policy advisers study this stuff carefully. For a moment, give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume Obama didn't piss on the third rail without some kind of exit strategy.

What's the next step? Clearly, they'd have to expect the GOP and the mass media to rake them over the coals on this. So how does this play out? Will they retract the offer? Will they wait for congress to defeat the budget proposal outright, using the chained CPI as a rationalization? Either way, it seems like after this response, they can make a legit claim that people don't want their "entitlements" cut, regardless of what the GOP claims and the fringe "Tea party" idiots demand.

Which should hand the issue back to Obama and the Democrats in looking for alternatives to the cut-everything austerity nuttiness.

Well, that was fun. Now, back to your regularly-scheduled Obama dissing.

[Auntie Bush]

24. + 100

Have FAITH fellow Dems.

[0rganism]

42. don't know if it's exactly faith that's required here

Seems more like memory. How often have we seen Obama come back strong from these kinds of apparently fatal political wounds? Republicans rely on a collective attention deficit disorder among the public, but Obama plays the long game to win.

If past is predicate, by mid-June the Republicans will be thoroughly flummoxed, their anti-entitlement plank will be in serious jeopardy, and the "Tea party" will be reduced to mounting insurrections in primary races.

[Doctor_J]

32. Still clinging to the 12-D chess fantasy

I suppose there will still be a few of you left when the party's completely destroyed

[0rganism]

41. not at all, just not assuming the POTUS is a complete dumbfuck

I understand that we recently had 8 years where that may indeed have been the case, but I'm willing to see how this plays out in the next month or two before commencing with the wailing and gnashing of teeth. This isn't the first time DUers have written off President Obama as a lost cause, and I'm willing to bet it won't be the last.

[awoke_in_2003]

66. I don't think he is a dumbfuck...

he knows exactly what he is doing.

[cantbeserious]

26. There You Have It - As Predicted By Many Erudite DUers

eom

[Beacool]

27. What I would like to know is who in the WH told Obama that this was a good idea.

[cbrer]

30. Your final comment

Beat me to the punch. As soon as the Democratic president proposed SS cuts, the GOP was going to criticize, bemoan, and generally demonize the act.

At least they're consistent...

[Beacool]

31. I read one depressing article earlier this morning.

It said that one out of six adults and one out of four children live in poverty. There are millions of people whose sole source of income is their SS benefits. Some of them worked at low income jobs for decades. Their SS benefits are meager enough as it is. How are these people going to survive when they are already on the brink?

I never thought that a Democrat would do this. It makes me angry, but also very sad.

[TM99]

33. I am willing to state here the prediction

that the Republicans just won back control of the Senate and an even greater majority in the House in 2014 due to this lunacy.

Who did not see this coming?!

[Scootaloo]

55. It's not like democrats turn out for midterms anyway...

Add this shit?

[TM99]

61. I wasn't a Democrat during the 2010 midterms.

From all that I have read and observed with polling data it was not that the Dems didn't turn out, it was the independents & unaffiliated who went stronger GOP. They fell for the Tea Party rhetoric including 'death panels' and Obamacare.

If Obama doesn't correct this, the GOP will have another campaign winning strategy - "Obama & the Dems are going to cut grandma's social security".

Wash, rinse, and repeat. If Dems are smart they will distance themselves from Obama's budget post haste. The question is are there enough progressives and FDR Dem congress critters for that to occur?

[crim son]

62. This Independent turned out and voted straight Democrat, as usual.

A lot of good it did.

[libdude]

34. Well that did'nt take long

Perhaps the President got so caught up in his game that he was the one being played and did'nt see it due to the blindness of arrogance and self deception. Well the story will be told in 2014 when he and the Democratic party start asking for support and money in order to defeat the Republicans. Perhaps both parties are beyond redemption and should be shoved aside for a third party, perhaps the knife wound in the back by the President will be healed by then.

[City Lights]

35. Surprise, surprise, surprise! nt

[CBHagman]

36. Karl Rove's group was running ads about Medicare cuts in early 2012.

American Crossroads came up with a couple of ads that were targeted at women. The premise was that the narrator of the ad was a worried female voter of the sandwich generation (i.e., with both kids and an elderly parent to worry about) and included a line about "Mom's Medicare" being cut, as though "Mom" were going to lose out on services when in reality it was about the payments to providers being changed -- not the same thing at all.

In fact Romney and Ryan used the same claim all through the campaign.

[TomCADem]

40. The Medicare Cuts Were A Lie, Since There Was No Actual Benefit Cuts...

...while Ryans plan was planning to (1) abolish Obamacare and (2) privitize Medicare into vouchercare, thus severely cutting benefits. But does the media say a peep?

[TomCADem]

38. Of Course, Republicans Only Get Away With It Because They Get A Free Pass

Republicans attempt to privatize social security and Medicare, the media turns a blind eye as they claim that such efforts are "saving" medicare and social security, then Boehner complains that President Obama is holding entitlement reform "hostage" to increased taxes demanding that Republicans get to approve the cuts without any taxes, then the media sits back as a Republican attacks the President for agreeing to a Republican demand.

How does this happen if the media was not asleep at the wheel. If Republicans were held accountable by the media, then Democrats would be winning going away. Instead, the media blames Democrats for Republican intransience.

[markpkessinger]

39. How's that chess game working out for you, Mr. President? n/t

[primavera]

43. ROTFLMFAO!

Oh, the irony!

[Sunlei]

44. Talk is cheap, what are republicans waiting for? They need to agree to a compromise with chained CPI

removed from the deal.

[DallasNE]

46. Obama Needs To Get On Top Of This Pronto

It is why people over 55 vote Republican today and why Democrats lost the House in 2010. Some of the other stuff is Republicans throwing stuff up against the wall to see what sticks, like Boehner saying there is nothing new in Obama's proposal, but this is one that could again stick. Obama needs to go after this hard. Seniors should be a lock for Democrats because Social Security and Medicare were passed with very little Republican support and now they are the saviors -- I don't think so. But with media complicity I think Obama will have a hard time putting the toothpaste back in the tube. This budget proposal was not well thought out on the politics and politics always trumps policy.

[AllyCat]

48. I disagree with both sides. Time to find a progressive champion.

And are they still trotting out that $700B from Medicare argument that has been completely debunked?

[Fearless]

50. Think about this...

If I agree with the Republican, it means that I think he is right on this particular issue but that I would never vote for him. But that's because I'm well informed. Let's take the average voter. The average voter will see what President Obama wants to do and what Republicans say they believe in and choose to vote Republican and not Democratic the next time around.

This is a big problem. Even if chained CPI doesn't happen.

[L0oniX]

51. I don't care. I love Obama. How dare you attack our hero? Look at my collection of 1000's of links..

and look at what these people think of you haters...


Why do you hate my president?


Why don't you care about giving money to rich people?


...and you people are so mean to me when I stand up to the haters

[Life Long Dem]

53. I think Obama doesn't care much for a certain group on the left

Emoprogs

[Orsino]

54. Sometimes the GOP ads write themselves.

And sometimes we write them.

[malibea]

56. Where is "vulnerable" defined in Budget?

I know that the President says that the "chained CPI" proposal will not affect those "most vulnerable" seniors. Can anyone tell me where I can find a definition of those "most vulnerable" seniors not affected by the chained CPI methodology? I trust the president and do not believe that the CPI will have an affect on "all persons" currently receiving Social Security, but I need to read for myself who will be exempted from this new assessment tool. Can some of you smart people out here help me find what I am looking for?

[yurbud]

57. who is going to say Obama is playing three dimensional chess now?

he's basically taping a sign to his ass that says "kick me."

[Botany]

58. Wake the fuck up Mr. President

"they" will never work with you, no matter what you offer them it will be the wrong thing
to do, and "they" are all about crashing the economy in order to have people hurting so
"they" can blame the big spending liberal democrats.

Stand for what you ran on Mr. P.. These mother fuckers will lie about anything and everything
in order to gain some sort of political advantage. They do not like you or will the ever work w/
you.

BTW Mr. President Social Security has added $00.00 to the deficit so cutting parts of it will not
help the deficit .... as a matter of fact it will add to the deficit,

[ErikJ]

59. Check and Checkmate --2014 is doomed.

[LongTomH]

60. The Democratic strategy in 2014 now has to be to run against their President.....

......for the first time in US history!

[BobTheSubgenius]

63. Vast hypocrisy.

Whether it is or it isn't, the RNC does NOT get to say so. Behind closed doors, you just KNOW they are turning cartwheels...but that won't stop them from going after more.

[Auntie Bush]

64. Do you really think the public is that stupid?

Well..................maybe! But I doubt it!

[jimlup]

67. without a doubt they are...

You momentarily overestimated them. But think about it. You paused for a reason. Yes, they definitely are. If they were not the Republican party would have been history back in the '70's

You CAN fool some of the people some of the time and the Republicans make living at it. You already know this.

[Marrah_G]

69. absolutely

[Marrah_G]

68. Who could have ever seen that coming? nt

[treestar]

70. A Republican hypocrite

Who would have thought?

[forward4freedom]

71. It's more than an attack on seniors

Isn't it also an attack on lower income people in general? The wealth gap continues to widen and if this SS cut should go through it wont help with that trend. If anything the benefits should be increased to help narrow the widening wealth gap.

[Macoy51]

72. Thank goodness for the republicans!

Thank goodness for the republicans. At least the poorest and weakest among us will always be able to count on the Republican Party to stand up and defend them.

/sarcasm off

Just when you think the republicans were down for the count, the democrats lean over backwards to help them out.


Macoy

[Macoy51]

73. This Could Work

This may be a great move. Maybe the Democrats need to come out against gay marriage, abortion, advocate lowering the minimum wage and abolishing environmental protection laws.

The republicans would quickly come out in favor of Gay marriage, legalized abortion, raising the minimum wage and stronger environmental laws. And of course, we would compromise and allow them to pass laws supporting all the above.


macoy