Real Democrats Don't Compromise Away Social Security And Medicare

That Fox News poll that came out yesterday had some interesting findings beyond just Trump's skyrocketing disapproval ratings (53%). One was that, even after all that poison the GOP spread about Obamacare-- and all that cash they spent trying to persuade voters that the GOP tax cuts for the rich would trickle down to the rest of us-- Obamacare is still more popular than the only GOP legislative "accomplishment" since Trump took over the White House.

• Obamacare approval- 51%
• Republican tax cuts approval- 40%

One of the reasons the GOP Tax Scam is so unpopular is because voters are savvy enough to understand that it will have to be paid for by cutting essential progress-- the social safety net. Steve Stivers (R-OH), a former bank lobbyists who heads the NRCC, told John Harwood in a CNBC interview yesterday spent the whole interview defending failed Voodoo Economics. He admitted the conservative masterplan has always been cutting Social Security, Medicare and other programs that help working families.

Stivers: "What I think we need to do is get some people who are now on government programs jobs, we have more open jobs than we have people on unemployment. So if we could get people to go from unemployment, or a government program, to become a taxpayer, it's a twofer because not only are they getting less government assistance, they probably have a better life economically and they're actually paying taxes... I'm talking about a lot of programs. A lot of those people, there's a skills gap. You have to give them the skills they need for the jobs that are available today. I don't want to be, you know, mean and kick people off of programs, but the way I'd like to see us do it is in the benefit cliffs and create ramps where the more people earn. It might cost them a little more for their social subsidy, but they actually can keep their Medicaid expansion, or they can keep their housing, but they actually have an incentive to take that pay raise and do better and pay more taxes."

Harwood: Your speaker, Paul Ryan, has said the biggest spending issues are in those big entitlement programs, Medicare and Social Security, as opposed to food stamps or welfare or that sort of thing.

Stivers: They are. And we have 10 million people on Social Security disability now-- actually, 11 million-- more than any time in history. And some of those people can't work at all, but many of those people can't work in the job they used to be in. And if we gave them some training, let them keep making a portion of the Social Security disability, but put them back to work, it would be a net win for the individual.

Harwood: But also Social Security and Medicare, right?

Stivers: The only way we're going to be able to fix Social Security and Medicare is for the two parties to come together-- the way that Ronald Reagan did with Tip O'Neill-- and figure out how to fix them together. I hope we can do that, I believe it's the right thing to do.

Harwood: Retirement age?

Stivers: We need to come together. I think we need to say, "You give a little, we give a little," and figure out how to sustain Medicare and Social Security into the future. The other thing on Medicare is we have to bend the cost curve on health care.

Harwood: Do you like the Ryan proposal on premium support for Medicare?

Stivers: I voted for it. I think it's a way forward. It's not the only way forward. Instead of dictating the ideas that are acceptable, I'd rather work with Democrats and Republicans and say, "What can we all come together to find acceptable?"

"Coming together" in Stivers' world means getting conservative Democrats-- the Blue Dogs, New Dems and No Labels characters that make up the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- to join the GOP in cutting Social Security and Medicare. That's why I worry so much when Schumer recruits right-wing Democrats like Kyrsten Sinema and Jackie Rosen and when the DCCC backs corrupt conservatives disguised as Democrats and willing to talk about cuts. The worst of those are Jeff Van Drew (NJ), Darren Soto (FL), Kathy Manning (NC), Ben McAdams (UT) and Anthony Brindisi (NY). Real Democrats are campaigning on protecting and expanding Social Security and Medicare, not protecting and expanding tax cuts for the rich by cutting Social Security and Medicare.

Yesterday, Ro Khanna tweeted "Fresh off the heels of a tax plan that helped investors and corporations, Republicans want to index capital gains to inflation to give another tax cut to the 1%. Really? How many voters do you know that are crying out for a capital gains tax cut?" If the Democrat in your district can't agree with Ro-- 100%, without any verbal acrobatics-- he or she is a Democrat, not a Democrat.

Randy Bryce has built a winning political brand by straight-talking on behalf of working men and women-- like himself. Early this morning he told us that he "completely agrees with Congressman Khanna. The Republicans have taken off their masks and shown us what they are. Less than a full week after passing their tax scam to reward wealthy donors with 1.5 trillion dollars we were told we can’t afford Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. They were also bold enough to admit that the tax scam needed to be passed or their donors would cut them off. Priorities."

Iowa progressive J.D. Scholten is on team Khanna when it comes to this. There's nothing that's going to get him to cut Social Security or Medicare. Period. "Rep. Khanna," he told us earlier today, "is right. We would be cheating folks from an aging working class district like IA-04 to pay for these tax cuts. Not only did my opponent, Rep. Steve King, vote for these horrible tax cuts he also boasted that it was his 'best vote.' Another example of an out of touch career politician.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who the conservative establishment is busy/busy trying to destroy... the way they destroy all left-of-center heroes (don't be a sucka), tweeted yesterday that "At this point, any candidate or official who doesn’t support Medicare for All could be seen as holding a “fringe” stance in the Democratic Party. Americans overwhelmingly want single payer. We know it has the power to transform life for working people. Let’s make it happen."

Oklahoma progressive Tom Guild has his primary runoff is this coming Tuesday. Today he told us that "After squandering $2.2 trillion on a tax cut for the wealthy and big corporations and screamingly running up the national deficit and debt, Trump Republicans like Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK) claim that we need to tighten our belts and cut vital programs. The wealthy elitists need to loosen their vice grip on the lives and fortunes of working people and the middle class. We need to expand Social Security benefits along the lines of legislation proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren and adopt Bernie’s Medicare for All plan. Trump and the Republicans are like fiscal junkies looking for another fiscal fix. Ro Khanna is right that indexing capital gains to give yet another irresponsible tax cut to the political ruling class is going in the wrong direction. We need to throw the big donors and huge corporations out of the American political temple and give control back to hard working and long suffering American workers. Enough is enough. We may be getting close to a breaking point where non violent political revolution may soon be afoot. It reminds me of a book I used in teaching my Contemporary Workplace Issues Seminar, 'The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison,' by Jeffrey Reiman. We need to get this runaway train back on the tracks and going in the right direction to effectuate desperately needed and genuine change in America."

"And speaking of "real Democrats," there are an awful lot of Democratic candidates who do not support Medicare-For-All-- the DCCC tells them not to. Among 41 House battleground districts polled, DCCC recruitment-and-support policies has made sure only a miniscule dozen candidates support Medicare-For-All. This is a disgrace and it is 100% the fault of the DCCC leadership and the very conservative staffers who run that hellhole. And yet... the new poll from Reuters by Ipsos shows that 84.5% of Democrats support Medicare-For-All. The DCCC might say, "we have those voters anyway." They might but "those voters" might stay away from the polls if the candidates aren't offering them what they want. And besides, Medicare-For-All is very popular with independents as well and even a MAJORITY (51.9%) of Republican voters support it! Overall, 70.1% of voters want Medicare-For-All. What is the DCCC's problem? Are they trying to throw the election again? The Democratic electorate is far more progressive than the Democratic leadership and the scumbags in Congress are busy talking about replacing Pelosi with someone far to the right of her. What a shit party! And it's either them or Trump's damned kleptocracy!