Last May, the Democratic Party ran a TV ad with the man that looked similar to Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. It was meant to send the message that the GOP had its sights set on cutting entitlements, a message that proved effective Democratic Rep. Kathy Hochul in the New York 26th congressional district special election later that month.
But since then, President Barack Obama has hinted at the possibility of cutting entitlements to resolve some of the debt issues the country is facing. And that according to Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer took a weapon away from the Democrats’ arsenal, which they could have used in their upset loss in New York’s 9th Congressional district special election last week.
In an appearance on this weekend’s syndicated “Inside Washington” program, Krauthammer offered that as a possible reason for the electoral loss. “There’s another dynamic here, which is interesting,” Krauthammer said. “When the Republicans lost a special election a few months ago in Buffalo – New York 26, the theme was – it was a strong one, it was right after the release of the Paul Ryan plan, the Democrats ran hard on ‘Medi-scare’ and succeeded. And Republicans who did not admit that were whistling in the wind. What’s interesting is here we are later in the game, and they tried it again in New York-9, and it did not work, in part, I think, it is because Obama at least gave indications in the debt debate that he might trim Medicare or Social Security.”
And according to Krauthammer, with low approval ratings caused by a bad economy, that line of attack is the only hope for the Democratic Party electorally. So, I think he might have given away a piece of that propaganda, and it really hurt – it scared the Democrats. In these conditions, that’s their only hope is ‘Medi-scare,’” he added.
Watch:
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