Mike and Don Rounds, two rich men losing no sleep over health insurance.
Marion Michael Rounds will lose an ACA-Medicare debate to Rick Weiland. His "ObamaCare robs Medicare" scare ad is a lie four ways to Friday. And really, Mike? You want working South Dakotans to believe that you with your hefty insurance-salesman income and your dad with his oil-industry money are losing any sleep over health insurance issues? Give us a break.
John Tsitrian wants his fellow Republicans to get over the Affordable Care Act and campaign on issues where they stand a chance of beating the Democrats. He reminds Rounds that his own party thought squezing savings from Medicare was a good idea until it became part of the Affordable Care Act:
Mike Rounds is running against a long-term reduction in Medicare Advantage savings that his own party endorsed and proposed as recently as 2012. This is actually pathetic and in no way resembles the "common sense South Dakota" approach to doing business that he promises to take to Washington if elected to the Senate. If scaring seniors with half-, no, fully-baked, misrepresentations of the effects of ACA is the standard by which Rounds' campaign intends to move forward, I'd say he'll have his hands full when he faces up to the kind of grilling he'll get from his intra-party challengers (are you reading this, Stace Nelson?) during their SDPB gathering next week. Then there's the passionate and articulate Rick Weiland to contend with if Rounds makes it to the general. Then there are the voters themselves, South Dakotans who understand the difference between common sense and common baloney [John Tsitrian, "Pubs Just Got Whacked On Another Anti-ACA Talking Point. Meantime Mike Rounds Is Obsessed With Scaring Seniors About It," The Constant Commoner, 2014.05.08].
Say it again, friends: ObamaCare does not threaten Medicare. The Affordable Care Act makes Medicare stronger by saving money and making people healthier before they retire. Republicans, you just aren't going to win on the ACA.