Democrats Wield Medicare as Weapon

Democrats suffered huge losses in last year’s elections, largely because of the economy’s sorry state. But now they’ve found an economic issue to work in their favor: Medicare, Politico reports.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan had the courage to call for Medicare cutbacks in the budget, which the Republican-controlled House approved. Experts agree that entitlements such as Medicare must be reduced to make any meaningful dent in the budget deficit.

But Democrats have been able to exploit the fear of seniors that their benefits will be slashed. Medicare played an important role in Democrat Kathy Hochul’s upset victory in the special election for New York’s 26th Congressional District Tuesday.

“Medicare’s going to be a very important part of that overall message and a fundamental referendum for the 2012 election,” Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the pro-Democratic House Majority PAC, told Politico.