We Have to Save Medicare in Order to Destroy It

Brian Beutler gets his hands on a Democratic graphic meant to encapsulate the Republican position on Medicare. After months of appealing to seniors — who, according to polls, are the toughest critics of health care reform — over theoretical cuts to Medicare, the GOP is in the position of campaigning against an expansion of Medicare. The graphic:

This is mostly a message problem for Republicans, but it’s one that’s been a long time coming. Much of the conservative movement has honed in on “Medicare cuts” as a killer argument against health care reform. This led to even the 60 Plus Association, a conservative group more or less founded to campaign for the privatization of entitlements, running TV ads to demand that seniors get all the Medicare benefits they were promised. It was not hard to find Republicans who’d admit that a spirited defense of Medicare was not in their long-term interests — Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told me as much — but they expected immediate short-term benefits.