What I'm Hearing From Candidates-- Preexisting Conditions

Dana Balter, the progressive woman running against Trump enabler John Katko in NY-24 (Syracuse), called yesterday. Although the 538 forecaster only gives her a dismal 2 in 7 chance to win, and the severely flawed NY Times-Siena poll shows Katko leading her 54-39%, we're betting on her winning this D+3 district where Obama won comfortably both times he ran and where even a Democrat as weak and unsuitable for the district as Hillary eked out a 48.9% to 45.3% win over Trump. Bernie won Cayuga County and the Oswego and Wayne County portions of the district and Onondaga County went narrowly for Hillary.

Dana is an avid and well-spoken Medicare-For-All supporter and Katko and allied PACs have been twisting the very meaning of healthcare to attack her for it. The DCCC isn't spending to defend her-- they hate progressives-- but Pelosi's SuperPAC just jumped in with some decent attack ads against Katko, albeit not on the healthcare issue, which is what Balter really needs. By the way, you can contribute to the Get-Out-The-Vote efforts of Dana and the other candidates who fully back Medicare-For-All by clicking on the Blue America healthcare thermometer on the right.

We're hearing minor variations of this story everywhere in the country from Democratic candidates. Since their bullshit Tax Scam is impressing no one except their own partisans, the GOP has started campaigning on healthcare-- or, better put, healthcare lies. They claim they, not the Democrats have been protecting the very popular protection against insurance companies discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions. It's a farce, but not all voters pay attention closely enough, especially when the lies are endlessly repeated on TV and radio. Watch that video CAP did up top. Those are Republican members of Congress you hear over and over hootin' and hollerin' and clapping as Republicans in Congress passed bill after bill after bill to repeal pre-existing conditions.

Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Beltway Democrats are trying to counterattack. They "are seizing on a report-- "Families & Seniors Foot the Bill for GOP Tax Cuts-- detailing a nearly dollar-for-dollar balance between two decades of tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest one percent and proposed GOP spending cuts" to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, etc.

It could provide new fuel to Democratic candidates just two weeks before the midterm elections and comes on the heels of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s comments last week about the need to overhaul entitlement programs in order to reduce the federal deficit.

Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee issued the study, based on calculations by the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, late last week. It shows that the estimated $2 trillion cost of the Bush and Trump-era tax cuts through 2025 is the same amount which Republicans have proposed cutting from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and Obamacare.

"It is a dollar-for-dollar transfer of benefits to those who need help the least paid for by those who need help the most," said Phil Schiliro, a Democrat who’s served in several government positions including as President Obama’s legislative director... [It] concludes that the average beneficiary from social safety net programs would stand to lose $1,500 a year under proposed cuts. And it comes as President Donald Trump is teasing another potential tax cut ahead of the midterm elections.

The House Budget Committee vote in June proposing $2 trillion in entitlement cuts got little attention, but the new report comes as Democrats are trying to short-circuit a surge in GOP enthusiasm around the midterms that could hinder their attempt to win back control of the House and, especially, the Senate.

...In House races, Democrats are seizing on the issue in affluent areas like the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. as well as working class Trump strongholds in the north (Maine’s 2nd congressional district); the south (Arkansas’s 2nd district) as well as the industrial Midwest.

For instance, in central Ohio’s 12th district that voted for Trump by 11 points, O’Connor is running an ad attacking incumbent Republican Troy Balderson for protecting "big corporations" by backing "their huge tax giveaway."

"Now the bill is due, and you’re going to pay for it. A two trillion dollar increase in the debt, left to future generations and deep cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits," the ad says.

At rallies on Saturday and Monday, both Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama pressed the message.

"You guys paid for this. But what’s happening now, not a joke. Mark my words, if we don’t win back the House and Senate, they’re going to drastically cut Social Security," said Biden.



...According to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the majority of the TV ads this cycle focusing on Social Security and Medicare cuts make a connection to the tax bill.

In the past few months, the House Majority and Senate Majority PACs, the major outside groups supporting Democratic congressional candidates, have cut numerous ads on health care and the tax cuts.

Due to the demographic pressure of the retirement of the baby boom generation, the nation would have to make changes to federal entitlements regardless of the tax cuts, said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Yet two decades worth of unfunded tax cuts "hastens the timeframe and it increases the size of the (necessary) cuts," he said.

...An internal study commissioned by the Republican National Committee and completed in September found "special attention should be paid to the messaging regarding Social Security and Medicare," and it says "most voters believe that the GOP wants to cut back on these programs in order to provide tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy."



Earlier this month, Trump himself placed an editorial in USA TODAY arguing that Democrats’ plan for "Medicare for All" would "take away benefits" from seniors. The nonpartisan FactCheck.Org found it contains several "false and misleading statements." And the president has been claiming, falsely, in rallies in critical Senate races like Montana that it’s Democrats who want to "destroy" Medicare and Social Security.

A number of Republicans have also tried to preempt the attacks by pointing a finger at Democrats.

For instance, in California, an NRCC ad in southern New Mexico warns the Democratic candidate, Xochitl Torres Small, would support a government-run system "ending Medicare as we know it" and "raiding the trust fund."

Yet, according to polling, Democrats have a decisive advantage on health care. Among those voters who rank health care as a top issue, Democrats have an 18-point advantage, according to a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

McConnell’s comments, say Democrats, just allowed them a final chance to break through with their messaging weeks before the election.

"I’m calling it the full McConnell," Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic consultant who’s been developing ads on the tax cuts and entitlement cuts and says McConnell’s comments are helping Democrats.

"It should be declared an in-kind contribution to Democrats on the Federal Election Commission" reports, he said.

It's ironic that the Republican cuts planned if they win will be most devastating to this half dozen states, hitting the indicated percentage of households. And remember, crooked conservative lawmakers pay more attention to lobbyists than to their own constituents:

West Virginia- 63.3%
New Mexico- 62.2%
Arkansas- 60.7%
Kentucky- 58.6%
Florida- 58.4%
Mississippi- 57.6%

Only one, New Mexico, isn't a red state, but even New Mexico has a Republican governor. If you missed this yesterday, let me reiterate: Mitch McConnell to Bloomberg News October 16: "I think it would be safe to say that the single biggest disappointment of my time in Congress has been our failure to address the entitlement issue [Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid], and it's a shame, because now the Democrats are promising Medicare-for-All... There's been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs. Hopefully at some point here we'll get serious about this. We haven't been yet." McConnell was making the point that cutting these popular programs can only be done in a bipartisan way so both parties share the ire. That's why I oppose Blue Dogs and New Dems so vehemently. They're the ones willing-- eager-- to share the ire.