On Thursday’s Morning Edition, NPR reporter Andrea Seabrook said most Republicans don’t like the Paul Ryan Budget (except the "far right") and "most Republicans like Medicare, and they don’t even want to tinker with it around the edges." Then anchor Steve Inskeep played up Charlie Cook suggesting Republicans have a "death wish" if they want to try and reform Medicare spending.
STEVE INSKEEP: What exactly is it that some Republicans don't like?
ANDREA SEABROOK: Well, one of the main ways the Ryan budget saves money over the coming decades is by shifting the Medicare into a private program with commercial insurance companies - in essence, ending the Medicare program as we know it today, as Mara was just talking about. That's OK with a lot of the far-right social conservatives and Tea Party-backed Republicans.
But for those middle-of-the-road people, the moderate Republicans, and especially, Steve, the ones in districts with a lot of seniors, they are unhappy about this....
INSKEEP: Is this partly a function of polls that have come out since Ryan announced his plan?
SEABROOK: Absolutely. There are polls that show that the majority of Americans like Medicare. In fact, most Republicans like Medicare, and they don't want to even tinker with it around the edges. They would like it just to stay the way it is, and that's making this whole plan a lot harder to swallow.
Seabrook added that the conservatives are seething mad at Ryan over his vote for Project Labor Agreements:
INSKEEP: How do Republicans like having Paul Ryan as, effectively, their leader on this very important issue?
SEABROOK: Well, let me tell you a little story about Paul Ryan, Steve. A lot of Republicans are really, really angry with him right now. It has to do with a vote he made about a month ago that kept an anti-union bill from passing. It was about federal construction sites, and Ryan's vote is the one that made this fail.
Later, a reporter [Quin Hillyer at the Washington Times] asked Ryan: Why did you vote for the unions? And he said oh, no, no. That was a mistake. I didn't mean to make that vote. And it looks a lot like duck and cover to those other Republicans who voted for it, the ones in states like Michigan and Wisconsin where all the union upset is.
And then the Tea Party is angry at Ryan and the Republican leadership for letting the anti-union bill just die. They're looking like what they call RINOs, Republicans In Name Only, and a lot of Republicans are getting attacked on this.
INSKEEP: And, of course, none of that has to do very much with the deficit, but it's a reminder that politics is a personal business, as well as a policy business. Will Republicans have the votes to pass Paul Ryan's plan?
SEABROOK: Well, it has to do with that. I mean, a lot of those Republicans are asking themselves: Are we going to follow this guy off the plank for a bill that would cut Medicare, upset a lot of Americans after he ducks and covers from a vote he made? It really is personal, Steve. I mean, it comes down to that and the fact that this is such an unpopular idea.
Seabrook portrayed the GOP in dramatic disarray, and Inskeep underlined that they may have a "death wish," according to pundit Charlie Cook:
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask one other question, Andrea Seabrook. Charlie Cook, the noted political analyst, was one of the first who said that Democrats looked like they were going to face trouble in 2010. He said that more than a year in advance, I believe. And now he is questioning the early signs for Republicans in 2012. He even uses the phrase death wish in a recent column. He asks if they have a death wish. How much are the politicians thinking about next year's election in all of their maneuvering now?
SEABROOK: A lot. Steve, I've never seen Republicans act so much like Democrats. I mean, they're fractioned. They voted for leaders who are the old institution after an anti-institutional wave. They're just in disarray right now. They're still in disarray at the same time that they're pretending they've got it all together, and they're in serious negotiations with the president.
Cook's "death wish" column for National Journal was colorful:
No one can doubt the courage or sincerity of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. But it’s little short of suicidal to drop a Medicare reform package—even a voucher plan that would be optional for those currently older than 55—into tough budget negotiations stymied over Republican demands for deep spending cuts. Democrats have some experience with older voters going ballistic, even with changes that wouldn’t affect them.
For many seniors, doing anything to Medicare that can’t be portrayed as an increase is essentially a cut, and they will fight it to their last breath. From a political standpoint, Medicare reform is very dangerous territory. House Republicans are not just pushing the envelope—they are soaking it with lighter fluid and waving a match at it.
