Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Social Security used to be called the "third rail" of American politics, implying that any politician that tried to touch it would see their political career shocked to death.
While Social Security is still vitally important to most Americans, a Republican in upstate New York learned tonight that there is a second "third rail" – Medicare.
From Talking Points Memo –
Democrat Kathy Hochul Wins Upset In NY-26, Medicare Vote Key To Victory
Republicans are going to have plenty of questions about their plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program tomorrow morning after Democrats romped to an improbable victory in a special election focused almost entirely on the issue.
Democrat Kathy Hochul lead 48-43 with over 83% of the votes counted and her victory looks to be a strong one — the Associated Press called the race within an hour of the polls closing.
Look for Republican wags across the nation to blame the loss on the presence of a third candidate, a tea party type, in the race.
Just remind them that Hochul received approximately twice as large a percentage of the vote (48%) as the Democratic candidate in the same district received just six months ago (24%).
That's not the fault of the tea party type.
In spite of the loss, look for R office holders and seekers to double down on the "destroy Medicare" plan – they'd rather go down in flames than admit they're wrong.
To those Republicans I say this (and I'm showing my age 🙂 ) –
Keep on keepin' on – 2012 will be here soon.