Ad campaigns against the GOP vote to end Medicare

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In a significant escalation of the progressive campaign to make Republicans pay a political price for voting to end Medicare, the progressive advocacy group Americans United for Change will run broadcast TV ads in the districts of Reps. Steve King (R-IA), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Chip Cravaack (R-MN), and Paul Ryan (R-WI). Significant New Progressive Ad Campaign Targets Republicans For Voting To End Medicare:

"What are House Republicans thinking asking millions of seniors, the less fortunate and the disabled to make more sacrifices and the richest among us to make less," says AUC executive Tom McMahon in a statement.

If Republicans have their way, there would be no more guaranteed Medicare benefits for America's seniors, only a guarantee of paying more and more out of pocket for less care after being left to the mercy to the private insurance industry. There would only be a guarantee that millions of Americans would lose their jobs – only a guarantee that America's poor and disabled will live sicker and die younger while millionaires get another tax break they don't need and the nation cannot afford. This is not a path to prosperity, only a path to bankrupting seniors so Paris Hilton and BP can have another tax break. And there's nothing courageous about that.

The five-figure buy will begin Tuesday and run through the end of the week. [Here is the ad running in Rep. Paul Ryan's district:]

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is running a paid advertising and grassroots campaign to hold 25 vulnerable House Republicans accountable for choosing to end Medicare rather than end taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil making record profits or tax breaks for the ultra rich. DCCC Launches Latest Drive for 25 Campaign | DCCC:

“This is a defining moment for House Republicans: they chose to end Medicare rather than end taxpayer giveaways for Big Oil or tax breaks for the ultra rich. We will go district by district to hold Republicans accountable for the wrong choice they made,” said DCCC Chairman Steve Israel. “Seniors who pay a lifetime into Medicare deserve the benefits they’ve earned. Under the Republican plan, if you make over a million dollars, you win the lottery. If you’re a senior, you lose your Medicare. That’s not right.”

The ad is scheduled to air in the district of Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ – CD1).

UPDATE: This morning, the DCCC has a new web ad video emphasizing a related but distinct message: "House Republicans promised to protect Medicare. They lied." The Washington Monthly:

The point of the video is to emphasize an angle the GOP would prefer voters forgot about: Republicans spent much of 2010 running on a pro-Medicare platform, with the party's candidates vowing to be Medicare's protectors and champions. Three months into the new Congress, these same Republicans voted to eliminate the program altogether and replace it with a privatized voucher scheme.

The video is pretty compelling — high-profile Republican candidates really did say one thing and almost immediately after getting to Washington, did another.