Paul Ryan's Medicare Kool-Aid

As I note often, today's Republican Party seems to be out to commit a slow form of political suicide. It embraces polices and positions that are anathema to younger voters, Hispanics and immigrants as it panders to disgruntled older white voters in a manner that would make most whores blush. Or at least such was the case until the GOP members of the House of Representatives apparently imbibed large quantities of drug laced Kool-Aid and voted for Rep. Paul Ryan's budget proposal that would declare war on senior citizens - typically a GOP bastion - and many baby boomers as well. Just how toxic is the Ryan approach to Medicare with voters? A new CNN poll suggest that it is incredibly toxic and one has to wonder WTF John Boehner was thinking when he forced House Republicans to vote on the proposal. Here are highlights from CNN on the poll results:
*
A new national poll indicates that a majority of Americans don't like what they've heard so far about congressional Republicans' plans to change Medicare.
*
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, a majority also don't think the GOP has cooperated enough with President Barack Obama and, for the first time since they won back control of the House last November, the number of Americans who say that Republican control of the chamber is good for the country has dropped below the 50 percent mark.
*
The poll indicates that 58 percent of the public opposes the Republican plan on Medicare, with 35 percent saying they support the proposal.
*
"Half of those we questioned say that the country would be worse off under the GOP Medicare proposals and 56 percent think that GOP plan would be bad for the elderly," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Opposition is highest among senior citizens, at 74 percent, suggesting that seniors are most worried about changes to Medicare even if those changes are presented as ones that would not affect existing Medicare recipients."
*
"A majority of all demographic groups don't favor the GOP Medicare proposals," Holland adds. "That includes conservatives - 54 percent of them don't like the plan. As a result, rank-and-file Republicans are split right down the middle, with 48 percent favoring the GOP plan and 50 percent opposed."
*
The poll is another sign that the House Republicans’ Medicare proposal could be politically damaging to the party.
*
The poll also indicates that most Americans continue to believe that Obama is doing enough to cooperate with the Republicans in Congress. But fewer than three in ten say that congressional Republicans are doing enough to cooperate with the president.
*
The GOP's main problem is that they fail to listen to those outside the most lunatic circles of the Tea Party and the Christian Right. At some point ideological "purity" needs to engage with practical reality. The fact is that the so-called GOP base is untethered from reality while in a general election moderates and independents will be swayed by pragmatic reality, not extremism. The GOP leadership refuses to get that message.