the big lie has worked in propaganda and politics for ages and works again now. what s the game? suppose more documentation comes out and he says i ll shut out now. some think that s his theory, that he has no real entree so he s chosen this. the trouble is, he s riding a tiger and if you fall off the back of the tiger, the tiger eats you. what s his exit strategy? after last night, what is it? does he quit? i think he ll go all the way with this. all the way to the presidency? it will be a litmus test. is the republican party about lower taxes i m with you. i think the republican party that you represent as chairman is not the george will party of the cerebral let s look at the issues and reduce the deficit. it s become, not a ethnicity
handled this politically and putting ryan out there to bake? very, very skillful in the short term. i think the challenge for him is that people believe two contradictory things. they don t want to cut medicare, but they do want to cut the deficit, so he has to appeal to that part of them, too, with a credible deficit reduction planç that maintains his ability to take a whack at these republicans who voted for the ryan bill. the word about that bill that passed the house last week has not yet filtered down to the public. so people don t yet understand that republicans last week in the house voted not to reform medicare, not to have a little nip and tuck here and there, but to end medicare to turn it into a voucher program where instead of knowing where the check is coming from, seniors within ten years would have to shop on the open market like everybody else. which they don t want to do and they shouldn t have to do, be at that not so tender mercies of the insurance companies.
welcome back. keep that government off my medicare.ç it is a government program, but that s a cry you hear a lot of. but a new poll out today ask if people support cutting medicare and medicaid to deal with the big government deficit right now. 92% say no way. 73% of republicans say leave it alone. and 75% of independents say leave it alone. and get this, the people who come out against government spending and they do care about it, 70% of tea partiers say leave it alone. but get these add up to about 22% of the federal budget. how can president obama and the republicans ever cut a deal with the public is so unwilling to even consider talking about that as part of a deal? susan page and jonathan alter.
again. and it s a political advantage for president obama, but it s a policy problem because the fact is we ll have to do something with medicare. you can t deal with the exploding deficit politically was he smart to play possum on this? absolutely. and get through the re-election campaign perhaps with this. i like numbers that are clear cut. i don t like 50 sh/50 numbers. number of democrats, 5%. that s it. and he knew this months ago. what do you make of the way he s handled this it politically and putting ryan out there to bake? very, very skillful in the short term. i think the challenge for him is that people believe two contradictory things. they don t want to cut medicare, but they do want to cut the deficit, so he has to appeal to that prt of them, too, with a deadable deficit reduction plan can that maintains his ability to take a whack at these
i want to start with susan. and i want to get to the question. it seems to me that nobody really has a solution. even the poll says modest cuts in medicare and modest increases in taxes. no. they don t want to get hurt again. they are paying big gas taxes, they just paid their taxes, they don t want to get hurt again. and it s a political advantage for president obama, but it s a policy problem because the fact is we ll have to do something with medicare. you can t deal with the exploding deficit politically was he smart to play possum on this? yeah, absolutely. and get through the re-election campaign perhaps with this. i am amazed by this. i like number that is are clear cut. i don t like 50/50 numbers. number of democrats, 5%. that s it. and he knew this months ago. pollsters are working way ahead of this poll. what do you make of the way he s