Democrats haven’t wasted any time using Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget as a political bludgeon after all but three House Republicans voted to pass the plan on Friday. This week, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee launched an attack ad campaign in more than 24 GOP-controlled swing districts, focusing on the Ryan plan’s radical overhaul of Medicare and Medicaid. Since the GOP unveiled the budget, the party’s refrain has been that Republicans want to “end Medicare as we know it.” In the new DCCC campaign, that’s now been shortened to “Republicans voted to end Medicare”—full stop.
The Dems have also resorted to less, uh, conventional messages to drive the message home. The DCCC has released an ad on Tuesday as part of its new Medicare campaign, showing an elderly man who’s forced to do menial labor to pay for health care under the Republicans’ budget plan. The ad’s crowning moment? Grandpa shows up as a Chippendale-style stripper at a bachelorette party. “Did someone call the fire department?” he asks. “Because it’s about to get hot in here!”
Will Americans think it’s funny? Outlandish? Gross? It will depend on whether the Democrats can convince Americans that the GOP is pushing a plan that’s even more over the top.
