A couple of months ago, Sen. Rick Scott pushed a line of attack that was ridiculous, even by his standards. Democrats, the Florida Republican insisted, had just successfully “cut $280 billion from Medicare.”
Part of the problem was with the messenger — Scott used to oversee a company that committed Medicare fraud on a massive and historic scale — but the message itself was about as offensive. The GOP senator was referring to the Inflation Reduction Act, which included provisions that empower the Medicare program to negotiate lower prices for consumers on prescription medications.
Because seniors will pay less, and taxpayers will save money, Scott described it as a “cut.” As we discussed soon after, in the English language, there is no credible definition of “cut” under which this falls, but the Floridian pushed the line anyway.
What we didn’t know in August was that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Scott leads, would soon package this bizarre claim into attack ads. CNN reported yesterday:
One of the National Republican Senatorial Committee ads shows a senior sitting alone, looking sad, as a narrator claims Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia supported “deep cuts in Medicare spending.” A second ad shows a senior receiving help moving his legs as the narrator claims, “Warnock voted with Biden to slash Medicare spending.” A third ad features a claim that Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona “went along with nearly $300 billion less in Medicare spending for seniors.”
Routine dishonesty is an unfortunate part of practically every campaign, but it takes real effort and talent to deceive the public like this. Most decent people just don’t have the wherewithal to come up with duplicity like this.
The Democratic measure will save taxpayers billions of dollars, while making it easier for consumers to afford prescription medications — and according to Scott’s National Republican Senatorial Committee this constitutes “deep cuts in Medicare spending,” as if the popular Democratic success would somehow hurt seniors, despite reality. This is spectacularly dishonest. It’s also fresh evidence that GOP operatives recognize Medicare’s popularity, to the point that the party is trying to use deliberate deceit to swipe the issue away from Democrats by running ads that treat Americans like fools. But Scott and his party also have to be careful what they wish for — because a debate over which party supports Medicare more isn’t likely to do Republicans any favors. Indeed, the Florida senator has a plan that would put all government programs — including Medicare — up for renewal every five years, necessarily putting its future on unstable and uncertain ground. If the NRSC chair really wants to have a conversation about who Medicare’s true champions are, he might not like where the discussion ends up.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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