Top Republican: We’ll Only Give In On Bush Tax Cuts If You Let Us Cut Medicare Benefits

[Report1212]

Let's keep in mind that the Bush tax cuts are already set to expire even if we do anything. So why would any Democrat consider Corker's bad deal?
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Senior Republican Senator Bob Corker (TN) made headlines this weekend when he said he would be willing to let the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans expire. But Corker wanted something else in return — major cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits. He has laid out a plan that not only includes so-called “means testing” but also a hike in the eligibility/retirement age for both programs.

Read more: http://boldprogressives.org/republican-senator-let-us-cut-medicare-benefits-and-well-agree-to-let-bush-tax-cuts-expire-like-theyre-going-to-anyway/

[Horse with no Name]

1. Although there are many reasons they want to cut Medicare and Social Security

the main reasons are political.

It is a noose that they want to tie around the Democrats neck for eternity.

IF any harm comes to SS and Medicare under the presidency of Obama, we will not see another Democrat in the White House for the rest of our natural lives.

The republicans could care less about these programs...they see them as trophies.

If the Democrats are dumb enough to fall into their traps--they will doom our country to the most fascist and RW agenda that ever existed.

[Scuba]

13. +1 on the idea that any cuts to these programs will cause long-term harm to the Democratic Party.

[Jackpine Radical]

29. Absolutely.

The low-information types already think Obama has increased their taxes & wants to cut SS as well as Medicare benefits (the $760 billion savings Ryan was mischaracterizing). All we really need to sink ourselves is for any of this stuff to actually manifest in reality.

And the end of the Democratic Party is the least of the terrible consequences that would come from this austerity-for-the-bottom shit. Many people who are already suffering will suffer all the more.

I also don't get why any small businessman selling goods or services to the public would think cutting benefits for the elderly is a good idea. Whether it's groceries or a needed new furnace or roof, potential customers with a little more money are a little more likely to spend some of it.

[nenagh]

32. Thank you for explaining the thinking of the low information voter...

"They think Obama has already increased their taxes and wants to cut SS and Medicare benefits..."

Quite sickening...

[librechik]

2. holding the country hostage AGAIN!!!!

if this happens, no senior will ever vote for a Republican again.

This is insane!!!!

[GoCubsGo]

4. It's like a kamikaze mission.

Take out as much of "the enemy" as you can, while killing yourself in the process.

[freshwest]

12. I agree with the first part of the sentence, not the second. They don't care about their party...

The GOP is merely a front for corporatists. All of these scumbags are already in the pockets of those waging war on the lower economic brackets forever. No matter what they destroy for the rest of us in this country or abroad, they'll still be sitting pretty. None of these guys ever go broke, even when they've gone bankrupt. There is a system outside that which most of us have worked in most of our lives, and they are set on feasting on our livers, so to speak.

[John2]

22. I think you are right,

and you really can't trust any Democrat that would advocate this. They are attached to Wall Street also. Many are Blue Dog conservative Democrats in red Districts. Just because they have Democrat beside their names, doesn't mean they support Democratic ideas. They attack the whole base by calling them extremists. When they do so, they are talking about me. I don't consider myself a leftist extremist at all. I'm in the main stream with most of the people that elected President Obama, and I don't like to be lied to. The extreme right can be lied to by corporate interests but I can't. I'm too educated and believe in science. I know how to balance a check book too. This is a scam by my math!

[freshwest]

25. I consider the problem as not the blue dogs, etc. They do represent their districts. It's the voters

that put them in office they are representing. These are real people who vote consistently.

In terms of committee assignments and technical majority, they have their value. In most votes, they will go liberal, but I've had to deal with the voting block that put them in office and it's like open heart surgery without anesthesia.

It's less the representatives and more the people they must represent, who are not in favor of Demcratic Party economic plans. I've been unable to convince voters who know how to profit by eating up the Commons and putting that money into their own pockets.

They are liberal in all social issues, spouting their super leftist dogma to shame all dissent about their profits and are adamant in cutting up all functions of government. As far as extreme, they take the cake in their hypocrisy. They are workers and business owners in privatized agencies or getting contracts for other work.

Nothing is going to get between them and that money and they are very aggressive. They meet all year long with Democratic representaives and hound them for what they think is fair. To them, not everyone else.

They are supported by national corporations who fly in lobbyists to harangue representatives and get media to manufacture consent for their service by demonizing public systems. It's damn nasty out there.

I don't hold with this Wall Street bought 'em off and the parties are all the same meme. Sorry.

[John2]

31. I live in

North Carolina. The people that vote Republican in North Carolina are mostly over 95 percent white, and a lot of them are poor and in the middle class. There are other things at play when you look at many people that support the Republican Party in the South. A lot of it has nothing to do with money either, why the Republican Party maintain their hold on these red districts in the South. I think you know what it is too. Boehner, nor many in the GOP would stand a chance of winning in a more diverse district period. These people in less diverse areas, vote against their interests for other reasons. Boehner comes from a District in Ohio, that is 90 percent white and mostly rural too. He takes care of the farming district pretty good with federal earmarks while he obeys his corporate doners, like Sheldon Adelson. Boehner was one of the important players behind Tarp and believe it or not, the food stamp program in his rural district from farm subsidies. This includes negotiating prices through the Federal government for a Farm Bill he pushed in the 90s. His friends in the media never reports this information about Boehner.

[freshwest]

34. They don't report hypocrisy in red or blue states. That's just 'business as usual' to them.

Nothing of a high level of analysis in the media except the alleged analysis from conservative and/or libertarian think tanks.

They just read scripts and it's almost hilarious when the facts or real life film clips they're talking over don't even remotely fit the script. You can see the cognitive dissonance leaking out their ears while they try to stay on the rightwing narrative they're paid to say.

It's tragic that we don't get any better information than this drivel when We The People need data to make decisions in a democracy. I don't expect anything after watching them during the Invasion of Iraq. Pom-poms in the air, now cheer!

[AlbertCat]

26. holding the country hostage AGAIN!!!!

With a gun that isn't loaded!

....because if we do nothing, the Bush tax cuts will disappear anyway. Then the Dems can introduce NEW tax cuts for those who actually need them.

And then we can watch the GOP vote against tax cuts!

[Jackpine Radical]

30. If the Republicans go over the cliff, that's right.

If the Dems cave on "entitlements," then they're the ones who will take the hit.

[Atman]

3. They HAVE NO CHOICE but to "give in" to Bush Tax Cuts!

This is what I don't get. They can hold their breath and stomp their feet, but the tax cuts WILL expire on January 1st. Then, their only "choice" is whether or not they tell the rest of America -- whom they presumably need to be re-elected in 2014 -- "Sorry, we won't give you a tax cut because rich people want one, too." or "Sorry, your kid's school is shutting down, you're losing your Medicare, the local military base is closing, the bridge you drive over on the way to work is going to fall down, etc., unless you give in to our demands." This is insane. Sadly, I don't think our Dem "leaders" have the spine to stand firm. After all, they're all amont The Rich, too.

[Report1212]

7. Exactly

The cuts expire either way. So why give in to Corker's demands?

[kiranon]

35. Agree. Let them expire and then negotiate from a position of strength. Repubs will then be able to

claim that they "lowered taxes" rather than raised them. To cut Medicare - end the no negotiation provision on drugs so drug prices will be competitive - something Repubs supposedly like. Leave the age and amount the same. There is no reason why getting the upper 2% to pay their fair share means that the rest of the people have to pay more than their fair share.

[jsr]

5. Dems should just let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Let them DIE.

[Report1212]

8. Yup

Don't even have to do anything!

[librechik]

9. Oh, absolutely! The trap meant to snare Dems should slam shut on the Repubs instead!

after all, the Repubs themselves designed those cuts to expire. And Obama gave them an extra 2 years already!

Step up and REPAIR MEDICARE!!! take your medicine!

BTW, I'm outraged that they have already negotiated rates down to 2%. Don't give in!

[Panasonic]

6. Not only no, but FUCK NO.

Stop focusing on Social Security and Medicare. They are locked for the time being.

Now focus on your god damn defense and oil&gas budgets. That's where the majority of the problem is.

[Coyotl]

10. How to alienate the last demographic you still have? LOL suicide plan for Republicans.

I can hear it already, "Remember when people over 65 voted Republican?"

Attack the very poorest and needy, kill a few of them in the process, who cares as long as billionaires don't have to give up their fair share in taxes.

Yeah, that's a really good plan to bolster a political party's future! Go ahead, shoot yourselves

[JEB]

11. The gop

is pushing the whole country over the cliff. Might just be the best deal possible.

[Downtown Hound]

14. Then over the fiscal cliff we go

Because we shouldn't negotiate with terrorists.

[nolabels]

18. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seat belts, we will about to enter into an area of turbulence

[SCVDem]

15. Dear Sen Corker

Please fornicate thyself!

Thank you!

[1ProudAtheist]

16. But.......But......But

wait for it...........here it comes...........Bernie where are you...........Medicare and Social security have nothing to do with our budget deficit nor our National Debt. All savings for either of those programs goes into their respective Trust Funds and cannot be used to pay down deficits or pay off debt. That is why neither of those programs should even be in any discussion about deficit reduction or debt reduction. Military spending and decreased tax revenues are the 2 driving forces behind our huge deficits and mammoth debts.

[joeunderdog]

33. This post is all very much The Point.

But why bring it up in the Liburl Media?

[Canuckistanian]

17. Dems should give a STRONG response that SS is off the table

And Obama should go a special address to the nation explaining that SS has ZERO to do with the deficit.

And why are they targeting social safety net programs so vociferously? They don't even have any specific proposals with numbers - they only want it cut and cut NOW.

Cut the bloated military, there's more than enough cushion there to save as much or more than slashing Medicare would.

[sarcasmo]

19. They have such a hard on to cut programs that help.

[BadgerKid]

20. Dems should be trending into 2014 already.

I think cutting SS or Medicare will reverse that.

[Shrike47]

21. What Canuck...said.

O needs to explain loudly and frequently.

[Swede Atlanta]

23. The Rs have no leverage...

I am happy to let the country go off the fiscal "bump"...it is not a cliff as some have suggested.

Then the 98% will inundate Congress to do something about their tax increase. The pukes have no leverage here.

Further, if they are going to demand those cuts then the pre-requisite will be that ANY current or former member of a federal agency, administration, department (including military generals, etc.), Congress, federal Court, etc. will have their medical and retirement benefits terminated. This includes former Presidents, etc.

They will begin to receive SS and Medicare, the same as the average American. They are no better than any of us.

Then let's see who starts screaming.

[Squaredeal]

24. Fixing Medicare

Just progressively increase the co-pay on those retired whose income is more than $50,000 a year. The rest should have no copay.

[AlbertCat]

27. Fixing Medicare

Well, they could start be putting back the money the "borrowed" to pay for the 2 wars we started.

It can come from the Pentagon!

[Report1212]

37. It seems like a good way to turn Medicare into a welfare program

I think the best ways to improve Medicare are to expand it and get more young people into it rather than turn it into something the rich pay for but don't get meaning they have an incentive to try to kill it. Also more than $50,000 a year is decidely middle class.

[LongTomH]

28. Hoist by their own petard?

I should hope so; but, the Repubs are a wily bunch of bastards!

[pansypoo53219]

36. kill ALL THE BUSH TAX CUTS. we will survive.

zombie reagan needs to die + prevent zombie bush from living.

[forestpath]

38. My only question is - just how much is President Obama going to

let us get screwed?

Because this script is awfully familiar and I have not heard one peep from the White House about the safety net being off the table.

[Thinkingabout]

39. To Corker, before cutting Medicare we will cut your benefits.

Expense account cut to zero, travel to and from your home on your own. The medical premium will be paid by the Congress members. The vacation you enjoyed in 2012, forget about all but two weeks the rest of the time will be spent working for a change in 2013. Your office staff will be paid out of your salary, won't have any money left, oh well, breaks of life, we need to get the spending problem under control. By the way, all the bribe money you have been receiving will now be donated to a charity. This is just a few of the perks which you will lose until the debt is paid off.