The Associated Press: Tempers flare as Senate debates health care: "A Republican senator asserted Tuesday during a rancorous floor debate that President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shorten the lives of America's seniors by cutting Medicare.
'I have a message for you: You're going to die sooner,' said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an obstetrician-turned-lawmaker..."
Reagan on Medicare:"...The problem with the quote was that Reagan was, at the time, condemning the very idea of Medicare. In context, Reagan actually said, "[I]f you don't [stop Medicare] and I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free." The line wasn't about "freedom," it was about a program to provide seniors with health care..."
Gingrich and Dole on Medicare: "Was it not Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House, leader of the Republican revolution, that said he wanted Medicare to, quote, 'wither on the vine'? Was it not Sen. Bob Dole, the [Republican] standard-bearer for president in the 1990s, who said he had fought against Medicare and was proud he voted against it?"
Why The GOP Has Switched Horses: "If there was ever a more glaring example that the Republicans in Congress are simply against anything the Democrats come up with, it still couldn’t compete with this health care reform debate. Since the passing of Medicare in 1965 and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Republicans have demonized it and made it their number two whipping dog, right behind the welfare program, as the cause of deficits and national debt. But over the past week or so they have suddenly become the champions and defenders of Medicare..."
When confused by position changes, when bewildered by contradictory rhetoric and improbable action, remember to always follow the money. Greed is the only principle, the dollar the only real patriot.
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