How the Democrats painted themselves into corners on health care and Medicare

When Rich Lowry put Rachel Maddow on the spot for the president’s $700-billion-plus reduction in Medicare spending to fund the president’s Health Care Plan 9 from Outer Space (Newsbusters)…

… I had a feeling we’d see an ad like this.

Why is this ad so devastating? Let’s count the ways.

First, we have a Democrat already on record enacting hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicare, with his Republican challenger vowing to restore them (NRO). This turns the Mediscare routine upside-down so thoroughly that I’m inclined to call it Eracsidem.

Secondly, it brings back the aforementioned HCP9OS as an issue, always a problem for the Democrats.

Thirdly, there are many things HCP9OS and “Romneycare” have in common. You know what they don’t have in common? About $700-billion-plus in Medicare reductions.

Fourthly, any attempt by the Democrats to explain this just opens the door for ads on IPAB (otherwise known as “death panels”), which would bring the absolute worst about “single-payer” medicine (services approved and declined by political fiat).

The irony of all this is equally delicious: what made this political ambush possible was the Supreme Court decision this summer. If HCP9OS had been struck down, this ad is never produced.

Talk about “Be careful what you wish for” . . .

Cross-posted to Bearing Drift

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