Discussion: Dem Senator Opposes Price As HHS Nom Over Support For Medicare Privatization

“I am ready to work with anyone who wants to improve access to quality health care for Hoosier families and seniors, but the nomination of Tom Price would put us on a direct path to end Medicare as we know it, which would raise health care costs and break a fundamental promise to seniors…”

Although I am fortunately not a Hoosier I thank you for doing this!

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This is exactly how Democrats should oppose Price: Not on repealing Obamacare, but on the threat to Medicare (and, implicitly at least, to Social Security).

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And remember, this is a Dem Senator that lefty purity patrols tend to be out to get! If ever we need a reminder about why we can’t afford that nonsense right now, this is it.

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Hoosiers won’t get too riled up unless the STD riders on their policies are eliminated.

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Wow good for Donnelly. Dems must (rightfully so) think this is a winning strategy to oppose privatization. Donnelly is one of the most vulnerable senators in 2018. He’s one of 10 or so Democratic senators who are up reelection in Trump states. I don’t see how this doesn’t blow up in the face of the GOP. The entire campaign this rarely every came up. Now they want to privatize everything. Didn’t der führer oppose privatization. Not like that means anything; he contradicts himself every 5 minutes. But how many MAGA voters thought a vote for der führer would mean no more healthcare for grandma?

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Abso-freakin’-loutely! Sure, Obamacare would’ve been better, and there’d possibly have been a public option if there weren’t so many Blue Dogs in the Senate at the time, but were it not for those Blue Dogs, Democrats would’ve never had a supermajority with which to pass anything in the first place. One thing I almost respect about Republican voters is that they vote for their candidate. They don’t sit around navel gazing and protest voting to “teach the RNC a lesson”. They take their asses to the polls and vote for their candidate even if that candidate isn’t the one they supported in the primary.

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Right on the policy, and on the politics for Donnelly. Not sure the PE understands what he’s getting into on this.

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talking about this on kos this morning… one person said that we’d be doing bake sale fundraisers when Medicare is voucherized…

I suggested we could do car washes… topless… people over 65 all look pretty much the same from the top up…

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I don’t recall DT saying anything about Medicare. When I look it up I see references to him saying he did not plan to significantly change it. While this Medicare attack is not surprising to TPM denizens, it is flying directly in the face of what he represented to his base, and I don’t think the press is calling anywhere near as much attention to it as they should be.

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Excellent positioning from a Red state Democrat on how the radical GOP government plans to gut Medicare. All Democratic senators should say the same thing – repeatedly.

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The press is too busy normalizing the Donald and his cabal of Deplorables to point out a looming GOP plan to destroy health care for seniors.

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You betcha! If it would have been up to the lefty purity patrols, Evan Bayh never would have scored his great victory in Indiana this year!

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I think you’re exactly right. I don’t see how this isn’t a big winner for Democrats, but it’s time for Democrats to put niceties and thorough explanations aside and simply go for the jugular. Every time a Republican says something about “repeal and replace Obamacare”, or “protecting Medicare”, the Democrat needs to respond with something like, “No, they want to destroy Medicare, and they’re not going to replace Obamacare with something better. They want to take away your parents,grandparents healthcare and give them a useless coupon, and they want to take away healthcare for millions of people. That’s what they’re doing. Don’t let them fool you.”

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those 110,000 white guys no college no jobs,will lose their medicare, get a coupn get on line! complaining about Latinos, African Americans Gays Wome, American Muslims voting their hate and thier fear reaped them this whirlwind! they will have no Medicare, No Obama Care, no Medicaid and neither will the people who knew this and voted against Trump and the Republicans

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He’s one of 10 or so Democratic senators who are up reelection in Trump states.

Thank you, Sen. Donnelly! Come right out the gate swinging. And please show Sens. Tester, Nelson, McCaskill, Stabenow, Heitkamp, & Baldwin how it’s done.

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Awesome! Will have to express my appreciation to my Senator. And it’s particularly brave for him given that he is facing re-election in Indiana in 2018. I will definitely have his back on this!

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Trump actually promised not to touch Medicare. This puts the lie to his pseudo-populist schtick more than anything, and if the Dems can message their way out of a paper bag, they should be able to crucify the GOP on it.

One line of attack should be: Republicans want to give grandma (or, more accurately, grandma’s middle-aged children) a coupon and throw them to the tender mercies of the insurance companies.

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