and then there s president obama reportedly reading nixonland and standing up for social security and medicare, which the republicans are calling a ponzi scheme and trying to dismantle. there s the president doing stuff like this. what some of the folks on the other side are proposing is actually to turn medicare into a voucher program. so instead of fixing the system, they would just completely overhaul it. it was estimated that under their plan, the average senior would pay about $6,000 more per year for their medicare. i think that s a bad idea. i think there are better ways for us to manage the medicare problem than to put a burden on seniors. they passed a budget that basically called for voucherizing the medicare system. there s the republicans and the house of representatives. and basically what they say is here is a flat rate that you get for medicare. and you know what?
it should always get covered when it happens. it should be a scandal for coburn, frankly. but mr. obama himself, since his great single race speech during the campaign, mr. obama has chosen to deal with this recurring issue by mostly letting other people deal with it. the white house does not tend to take it on head-on, and i do not expect them to in this case either. we will see what other democrats do about senator coburn s comment. but what may get more of a comment from the white house, believe it or not, i think may be the chickens for checkups part. yeah, it harks back to sue louden. we all remember that. but what tom coburn is essentially saying, and why that is more important, when he says that he is nostalgic for an america without medicare, that is something that republicans are working on. 98% of the republicans in the house voted to end medicare this year. tom coburn was one of the 85% of republicans in the senate who voted to end medicare.
aside from ron paul, all of the presidential candidates who anybody has thought to ask about it, including mitt romney, have also said they too would have voted for the republican plan to kill medicare this year. author rick pearlsteen wrote about this at time magazine today, among rumors that he is reading his brilliant book nixonland. he wrote about how exactly jfk beat nixon in 1960. he said in part because he made richard nixon sweat, literally, over the hard truth that democrats created medicare over republican objections. that the american people love medicare and social security. don t want anybody messing with them. that republicans continually try to mess with them or abolish them, and that democrats are the ones who can be counted on to protect them. so there are two things going on right now in what is effectively the national campaign to either re-elect president obama or to elect a republican to replace him. one is that the president has been proposing a series of smal
earlier i said that jfk won in part by making richard nixon sweat over the fact that it was democrats who created medicare and social security over republican objections. what i should have said is that during that campaign, jfk was defending the legacy of social security and promising medicare. medicare came five years later. as he notes, jfk enhanced new deal programs like social security and a promise to extend that legacy with medicare. so to be specific, and i m sorry for the overreaching adlib but do i make corrections when i make them, no matter how embarrassing it is to make corrections. jfk was a remarkable politician but etched not defending a program that did not yet exist. we will be right back. excuse me? my grandfather was born in this village. [ automated voice speaks foreign language ] [ male announcer ] in here, everyone speaks the same language. in here, forklifts drive themselves. no, he doesn t have it. yeah, we ll look on that. [ male announcer ] in here, friends
part by making richard nixon sweat over the fact that it was democrats who created medicare and social security over republican objections. what i should have said is that during that campaign, jfk was defending the legacy of social security and promising medicare. medicare came five years later. as he notes, jfk enhanced new deal programs like social security and a promise to extend that legacy with medicare. so to be specific, and i m sorry for the overreaching adlib but do i make corrections when i make them, no matter how embarrassing it is to make corrections. jfk was a remarkable politician but etched not defending a program that did not yet exist. we will be right back sthxt this . it s pro-cool technology releases armies of snowmen masseuse, who cuddle up with your soreness and give out polar bear hugs. technology. [ male announcer ] new bengay cold therapy. the same technology used by physical therapists. go to bengay.com for a 5-dollar coupon. dr. scholl s custom fit orthotic