Is McCain trying to lose? What other answer can there be to the latest terrible, self-defeating spin on his abominable health care plan? He's actually talking about cutting the Medicare budget. Per Kevin Drum, here's how he got here:
1. We're going to eliminate the tax deduction of healthcare insurance and replace it with a $5,000 tax credit for families.Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias have more on this. The latest round of pro-Obama swing state polls don't even take this into effect yet, and they still show Obama leading in Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, and, yes, Florida—what will those polls look like once the slashing-Medicare issue hits the airwaves?
2. Oops, that means a lot of families will end up paying more in taxes. Can't have that. So what we're really going to do is eliminate the income tax deduction, but not the payroll tax deduction. All better now.
3. Oops again. The new plan saves middle class families from a tax increase, but by doing so it blows a huge hole in the budget. $1.3 trillion over ten years, to be exact.
4. What do do? Cut Medicare! Hooray!
What is his team thinking? FiveThirtyEight is even arguing that Georgia's still in play.
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