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Aug 24 2009, 10:18 am by Chris Good

Republicans Pick A Target Demographic: Seniors

Sensing that President Obama has had a tough time selling his health care reforms to seniors, the GOP is going after that group with a Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights, to be released today; Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele outlines it in an op-ed in this morning's Washington Post. A Gallup poll released late last month showed seniors to be less supportive of Obama's effort than any other age group. Setting aside the merits of the proposals--one of which is to ban the government from "dictating the terms of end-of-life care," e.g. no death panels--that seems to be the tactical genesis of the GOP's initiative: Obama is vulnerable among seniors on health care, and the GOP wants to seize that ground. Democratic National Committee Communications Director Brad Woodhouse, meanwhile, blasts the GOP's "feigned interest in Medicare and the plight of seniors," calling Steele and the GOP sudden converts to the cause. Steele's op-ed is, essentially, a smorgasbord of lies that seeks to scare seniors, the DNC suggests.

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Comments (7)

Stephen

of course, if I thought a bill was going to lead to my extermination I would be against it too. The provision allows the patient to have a say in the matter, so its not left up to the next of kin or the government to decide what to do. So its actually taking the government out of the process.

Steele is not a credible figure head for the RNC, so he should continue talking.

AlchemyToday

The irony being that the fact that seniors are so adamant about keeping their Medicare benefits as they are (despite the bill raising and not lowering Medicare standards of care) is a ringing endorsement of single-payer care or at least a public insurance option.

jennis psycho

For decades the Dems terrified seniors into voting for them with lies that the alternative was having their benefits cut.

It's hilarious to see the shoe now on the other foot.

If Dems lose seniors, RIP.

Deborah (Replying to: jennis psycho)

If Dems lose seniors, RIP.
Huh? Seniors have always trended more Republican than the nation at large. In recent years they're the only group the Republicans are managing to hang onto.

If Dems lose a group that has always trended to the other party, it will not exactly be a death knell.

jennis psycho (Replying to: Deborah)

Huh?

Seniors have been one of the most consistent Dem voting blocks.

Don't you remember when Bush tried to privatize S.S. and the Dems sacred the elderly, and the seniors wouldn't have it? Don't you recall how nearly every election the Dems scare seniors by claiming the Repubs are going to cut Medicare?

Seniors are the most vital voting block for the Dem party, because they vote more consistently than minorities and the young (except perhaps the unions, but there are a lot more seniors). Without them, Dems are through.

Deborah

The Republicans have seniors already. I thought old people were the only group that was not showing steep declines in Republican support over the last couple of years.

It's a weird slide. Several month ago the college republicans (and others) were talking about how they had to get new people into the party, especially women, Asians, and Hispanics. Then came the Sotomayor hearings. So now the plan is to try and make crazy people and old people into a base so motivated that it will let them hold some ground? That's not the base of a party that looks too stable for the future.

Kirsten

Not sure where you're getting your info from, Jennis. Obama lost seniors to McCain in the last election. Here's a page that shows breakdowns of the vote by age and other demographics: http://www.democracycorps.com/strategy/2009/01/obama-and-the-senior-vote/?section=Analysis

From that page:
"The senior vote has been fairly volatile over the past thirty years. While Republican presidential candidates “swept” the senior vote in the 1980s, in 1992, Bill Clinton dramatically reversed that trend and won seniors by a convincing margin of 50 to 39 percent. That proved to be the high point for Democratic candidates as the margin among seniors steadily declined before flipping back into the Republican column in 2004. Obama’s vote among them was essentially stable from 2004."