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June 16th, 2011 4:34 pm
Medi-Choice Can Be a Winner
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At NRO today, Yuval Levin has an incredibly important analysis of a new poll on Medicare. The money paragraph is here:

At the very least, this suggests that at this point the Republican Medicare proposal is far less of a problem for Republicans than Obamacare is for Democrats. Like a slew of other polls, it also suggests that public opinion about Medicare reform is undefined and malleable. Maybe that means the Democrats will be able to work people up into a rage about premium support, but that certainly doesn’t seem all that clear so far.

But do read the whole thing.  It explains an incredibly important thing that I and a number of other conservative analysts have felt in our bones and sensed from the public: Medicare reform along the lines of Paul Ryan’s plan is not the surefire loser that the Democrats and the media seem to think it is, and there are even scenarios that could make it a slight net political winner. Even if it is a wash or very close to a wash, that means conservatives and Republicans should embrace it, because the country needs the reforms in order to remain solvent. In other words, doing right is also doing good, politically and ethically.

As I argued here the other day, taking the initiative by accurately redefining reform as “MediChoice” could really turn the tables politically and make it a winner. (Again, credit for this idea goes to former longtime Hill aide Jim Guirard, via columnist Deroy Murdock.)

FreedomWorks also has a good piece on how to sell Ryan’s plan. It’s one of those handy “10 Reasons” sort of lists.

Look, the cow is out of the barn.  All but four Republicans in the House had the guts to vote for Ryan’s budget. Republicans are now politically tied to it, hip to hip, for at least the next two years. On policy, they are right to be tied to it. If they can’t escape it, and they are right on policy anyway, they darn well ought to go out and sell it with every political skill and every bit of enthusiasm they’ve got. The only way to win a debate is to engage in it.

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