During Tea Party Debate, 2012 GOP’ers Widen the Gap between the GOP and Most American Jews

David Streeter — September 13, 2011 – 3:40 pm | Budget | Economy | Election 2012 | GOP Presidential Candidates 2012 | Health Care | Republicans | Social Safety Net Comments (0) Add a comment

During last night’s Republican presidential debate—which was sponsored by the Tea Party Express and participated in by Tea Party activists—the candidates who participated widened the distance between themselves and most American Jews by attacking programs and policies supported by most American Jews. Further, many of the claims used to attack the policies have been proven false.

Regarding President Barack Obama’s health care reform package—which was supported by a broad coalition of Jewish organizations, rabbis, and activists—all of the candidates made it clear that they support repealing the legislation despite its benefits to millions of Americans. In particular, Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney wrongfully claimed that health care reform required $500 billion to be diverted from Medicare—despite this claim being repeatedly debunked. The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler wrote:

Bachmann in particular loves to make this claim, but we have repeatedly explained why it just isn’t correct.

Under Obama’s health-care law, Medicare spending continues to go up year after year. The law tries to identify ways to save money, and so the $500 billion figure comes from the difference over 10 years between anticipated Medicare spending (what is known as ‘the baseline’) and the changes the law makes to reduce spending.

The savings actually are wrung from health-care providers, not Medicare beneficiaries. These spending reductions presumably would be a good thing, since virtually everyone agrees that Medicare spending is out of control….

For a more detailed explanation, please see our longer examination of this subject in June, when we gave Bachmann two Pinocchios for making this claim at the first GOP debate.

Bachmann also repeated her false claim that health care reform amounts to “socialized medicine” and alleged that the bill contains $105,464,000,000 in “embedded ... postdated checks.” Kessler debunked this claim as well:

It’s wrong to say the health-care law - which builds on the existing private system - will result in socialized medicine, but apparently some people will never be convinced.

But Bachmann’s assertion of $105 billion ‘embedded’ in the health-care law is another bogus claim for which she has previously earned four Pinocchios. We looked closely at her assertion in March and concluded that her charge that this money was ‘hidden’ does not have credibility. The money for these programs was clearly described and analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office before the legislation was voted into law. And since then, the Obama administration has issued a new release every time it spent some of the funds.

Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) attacked the individual mandate to purchase health insurance and had an interesting exchange with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer about who is responsible to pay for the health care of those who deliberately choose not to purchase health insurance. CBS’ Peter Hendin wrote a very interesting piece about the exchange that can be viewed here.

The candidates also took shots at Social Security, Medicare, and other social safety net programs designed to improve the lives of Americans as they get older and that are supported by large numbers of American Jews. The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne commented:

The leading GOP candidates say they want to cut federal spending in all sorts of areas, but Americans over 65 don’t have a thing to worry about: Their Social Security won’t be touched. To a Tea Party audience that included a large number of senior citizens, the message was: I’ll cut ‘them,’ whoever the ‘them’ might be, but I won’t cut you….

Here’s what’s madding: These days, Republicans can’t stop talking about slashing federal spending so they can keep taxes low. But it’s inconvenient for them that senior citizens are now the strongest Republican group in the electorate and the most conservative group in the country. They play a huge role in deciding Republican primaries. So they get a pass. Better, these conservatives seem to think, to cut student loans or food stamps. Most of the folks who get them don’t vote Republican anyway. Yes, Republicans talk about cutting Medicare, but again, most of the tougher cuts are down the road so today’s senior Republican voters don’t have to be alarmed.

It was striking that when Perry talked about his idea to ‘allow all these young people to get out of Social Security,’ the CNN camera cut to an older Tea Party member who was smiling and applauding. The applause was for a policy that wouldn’t affect him. It’s easy to clap.

I am strongly for Social Security, and I, too, would give a ‘slam dunk’ guarantee to today’s seniors. But I don’t pretend to be a small-government conservative, and I would raise taxes to protect programs that I think matter. I’d also make sure that younger American got a fair shake out of the retirement program. These guys pretend to be for small government except when it is politically inconvenient…

The apparent attitude that Dionne observed places the GOP candidates in conflict with the Jewish concept of l’dor v’dor—passing on a better world to future generations—that is a major source of inspiration for many in the American Jewish community who consider programs like Social Security and Medicare to be vital for America.

Other highlights from the debate included Paul trying to defend a controversial blog post alleging that America’s actions in the Middle East breed Islamic terrorism—and asserting that America in essence brought the 9/11 attack upon itself, Texas Governor Rick Perry flunking a fact check about the stimulus’ effectiveness, and other rhetorical gaffes. Click here to view Think Progresss’ live blog of the debate.

However, attacking a major piece of legislation championed by a broad cross section of American Jewry and espousing an attitude that abandons future generations are not the only elements that displayed just how much distance separates the mainstream Jewish community from the GOP’s 2012 presidential field.

Shmarya Rosenberg explained in The Forward today how the “all-or-nothing tactics” of the Tea Party—a force that is essentially a key component of the Republican Party and whose activists enthusiastically cheered the positions espoused by last nights’ participants—run counter to the lessons of Jewish history from the classical period. Click here to read what Rosenberg wrote. 

 

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