The GOP's Medicare Problem

Politico reports that the GOP's stance on Medicare is coming back to bite them:

The Republican Party and its allies funneled millions into TV ads last year accusing Democrats from Pennsylvania to Missouri of "gutting Medicare" and "hurting seniors" — charges that compelled older voters to swing en masse toward the GOP. 

But now, as Republicans move to tackle the country's gaping debt, they are weighing changes to Medicare — from higher premiums to spending caps — that open them to the same attacks they leveled only months ago against Democrats over the health care law. 

And Democrats haven't forgotten it. 

"I can imagine a lot of frustration from the president that when he chose to do Medicare savings that will be less impactful, these guys viciously attacked him for rationing health care and hurting seniors," said Neera Tanden, a former administration aide who worked on the health care law and chief operating officer of the Center for American Progress. "At the end of the day, there is a [campaign] battle plan for attacking Medicare savings, and it was written by Republicans." 

Who could have predicted that defending the country's most fiscally challenged entitlement would turn out to be problematic once the time came for reform?