Joe Biden Is 'Dangerously Close to Using Republican Talking Points', Says Ex-Clinton Adviser

[HerbChestnut]

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-using-republican-talking-points-clinton-adviser-1449559

A former adviser to 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said that 2020 hopeful Joe Biden is "dangerously close to using Republican talking points" and sounds like President Donald Trump when he discusses Medicare for All.

Appearing as part of a panel discussion on CNN's New Day on Tuesday, ex-Clinton aide Jess McIntosh shared her perspective on the former vice president's healthcare pitch. Biden has criticized the proposal of several 2020 Democratic candidates to create universal healthcare for all Americans by expanding Medicare. Biden, who served under former President Barack Obama, prefers instead to expand the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare.

"The risk he [Biden] has here though, is he comes dangerously close to using Republican talking points when talking about Medicare-for-all," McIntosh said. "There was a lot of 'Medicare as you know it will go away, seniors will be left with nothing,'" she said.

"That sounds suspiciously like Donald Trump, and as long as Biden is trying to appeal to the Democratic base during the primary, they're not going to like him engaging with this topic using that kind of language," she asserted.

[hedda_foil]

1. She's right and if we have another candidate, Biden will be in heavy rotation in Trump ads.

And that will only help Trump.

[Hortensis]

53. Oh, brother. :) We're not turning against speaking facts and truth

just because Republicans also occasionally find them useful. America knows Biden is for healthcare for all, while Trump and RepubInc are not. Pretty simple.

[emulatorloo]

54. Trump wants to destroy Obamacare (which is popular with voters) and GOP has zero interest

in universal healthcare. Biden is not ‘the same as Trump’ any way shape or form.

[left-of-center2012]

2. Who is "ex-Clinton aide Jess McIntosh" ?

“She was the Vice President of Communications for EMILY’s List,
an organization devoted to electing pro-choice progressive women”
https://politicon.com/speaker/jess-mcintosh/

Gee, maybe that's why she doesn't like Biden.

[Skya Rhen]

27. CNN OP-ED (by Jess McIntosh) Elizabeth Warren is the star who may eclipse Bernie Sanders

Her current title appears to be "Elizabeth Warren Supporter". She is ultimately trying to help Warren out by weakening Biden...


https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/23/opinions/sanders-warren-mcintosh/index.html

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Jess McIntosh is lying and she should be ashamed of herself.

Especially after equating Biden to Trump when she blatantly lied about what Biden said.

Biden never once claimed seniors will be left with nothing. This is 100% not true - it's a fabrication. There is no quote from Biden's mouth where he utters 'seniors will be left with nothing' under Bernie's plan.

THIS is what Biden has been saying:

"I don't want to start over. Because look, you know, how many of you out there have had someone you've lost to cancer? Or cancer yourself? No time, man. We cannot have a hiatus of six months, a year, two, three to get something done. People desperately need help now," Biden said Friday.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287205595

And it's absolutely a valid argument - Bernie's plan will require a complete overhaul of the US healthcare system. Not tweaks - a total overhaul. That is not likely to happen in the first-half of his administration. Pointing that out is not saying 'seniors will be left with nothing'. What a disingenuous statement and, frankly, not only should McIntosh be ashasmed of herself - she she be embarrassed.

[HerbChestnut]

5. It's true.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-mimics-gop-medicare-for-all_n_5d30d289e4b020cd9940ca6b

“Medicare goes away as you know it. All the Medicare you have is gone,” - Joe Biden

[Drunken Irishman]

6. Nope. It's a lie.

You just posted an entirely different quote than what is being parroted.

“Medicare goes away as you know it. All the Medicare you have is gone,” Biden said as he leaned down toward moderator Kathie Obradovich from the Des Moines Register for effect. “The transition of dropping 300 million people on a new plan ― totally new ― is, I think, kind of a little risky at this point.”

He did not say - seniors would be left with nothing. The context of your own quote proves this. He said they would be dropped to a new plan and that's factual. Bernie's Medicare plan completely overhauls Medicare. It's not the same Medicare plan any senior is on right now.

[HerbChestnut]

9. What do you think people hear when he says, "All the Medicare you have is gone."

He's just trying to scare people.

[Drunken Irishman]

17. I'm smart enough to read the entire quote in context.

This is a nasty, petty underhanded attack by Bernie and his failing campaign. It's so utterly dishonest and shameful that no Democrat should support it. The fact is, Bernie's plan gets rid of the current Medicare system. It's not just expanding the current system to including everyone - it's creating an entirely new health system. It's only Mediocre in Name Only. Sanders is savvy, he's calling it Medicare For All because that's less divisive than 'universal healthcare' but, it is, in fact, universal healthcare. It does away with Medicare and replaces it with a universal healthcare system.

It's Sanders' campaign who's being dishonest here because they're not very vocal about that part. I'd assume many voters hear 'Medicare for All' and assume it's just expanding the current system - and it's not. Biden, in the whole context of that quote, said: “The transition of dropping 300 million people on a new plan ― totally new ― is, I think, kind of a little risky at this point.”

And it is. Good luck convincing seniors when it's realized they will LOSE their current Medicare coverage under Bernie's plan. Their coverage will change as the Medicare system as we know it is dropped in favor of this new system.

[HerbChestnut]

19. "Good luck convincing seniors when it's realized they will LOSE their current Medicare coverage"

And there it is.

Btw, Newsweek wrote the article in the OP, and HuffPost wrote the article in an earlier response. Your outrage should be directed at them.

[Drunken Irishman]

25. And there what is?

Are you suggesting seniors' Medicare coverage won't change under Bernie? Do you even understand Bernie's Medicare for All plan? It does not just expand Medicare, leaving those currently on it untouched. It completely overhauls the system, establishing an entirely new health plan that is all but Medicare in Name Only. So, yes, seniors will lose their current Medicare coverage. You know this is a fact, right?

This is exactly why Bernie's plan is a potential landmine - even those who support it won't admit to the actual reality of the plan: it does away with Medicare as we know it and replaces it with a universal healthcare plan. Those who currently use Medicare will have an entirely different health insurance plan under Bernie Sanders. It's just fact.

[HerbChestnut]

32. Again, just scare tactics.

M4A would provide everyone, including seniors, with arguably a better healthcare insurance plan than what people currently have. Yes, I've looked over the legislation. Just saying, "YoU'lL LoSe YoUr MeDiCaRe!!1" completely misses the point and does a disservice to the hundreds of millions of people who would benefit from the plan.

[Cha]

37. BS' Scare Tactics on ACA!

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Drunken Irishman]

47. Bull.

You can't debate on transparency so you resort to silly attacks. It's factual that current seniors will lose their current Medicare coverage. Highlighting that fact is not disingenuous, but a reality. Moreover, you want to talk about disservice? Call your plan Medicare for All when it is, in fact, not Medicare. Sanders is not being transparent with his plan. The term Medicare for All suggests it's just an expansion of Medicare - that is not factual. It's a complete overhaul of the healthcare system in the United States. Pointing that out is not doing anyone a disservice. It's being real. Sanders is advocating for replacing ALL health insurance with universal health care- private plans AND Medicare. But he won't call it universal health care because he knows he'd receive more blowback for it.

[Celerity]

29. +1

I think that M4A is an election loser but this method of attack is not the way to go at all. It is over the top and uses a fear-style messaging paradigm. It certainly is not a way to expand our electoral footprint. The people it is being aimed at already turnout at a very high percentage and vote in droves for our candidates.

[George II]

50. According to YOUR OP, the quote is:

'Medicare as you know it will go away'

That's true. Sanders' "Medicare" is entirely different, but using the "Medicare" label. Medicare as we know it WILL INDEED go away. Even those who are bashing Biden on this issue agree that "Medicare as you know it" will go away.

How clearer can that be?

[Thekaspervote]

16. You are doing what the republicans are doing ... posting what he said completely out of context

[R B Garr]

4. This is laughable. Sanders sounds anti/union if he thinks

union workers are going to walk away from their benefits. Biden has it exactly right.

No need to piss off half the world for a politician’s ego trip, which is about all these promises amount to when there is no way to get them passed. Enough.

[Vegas Roller]

7. Many people have serious objections to MFA

Those objections are shared by republicans and Democrats.

Nothing wrong with that.


This is why MFA will never materialize. The opposition is 80% of the people in this country.

[HerbChestnut]

22. Objections are one thing if you can argue them on the merits of policy.

But that's not what's happening here. Biden is using scare tactics.

[Vegas Roller]

44. Bernie people think anything negative about the unworkable

slogans and platitudes is "scare tactics"

[Cha]

55. NO Biden is NOT. BS is Using SCARE TACTICS.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[wyldwolf]

8. Joe Biden: "C'mon man."

[Peacetrain]

10. Don't worry Jess.. I will drag him back from the precipice.. ROFL

Lord have mercy .. take a chill pill .. you were so successful with Sec. Clinton's campaign (not).. so let me think on this about taking your advice..

[jalan48]

11. Talking like a Republican to beat a Republican is a losing strategy.

[Cha]

12. I don't care who she is. the fact

that she and BS are trying to smear Biden with trump's fucking name says more about them than anything about Joe Biden.

This is on them.

Link to tweet

FYI Tom Watson is Definitely Not a Biden Supporter but he does care about our Country and Planet.

Bernie Sanders Says Biden 'Is Sounding Like Donald Trump' on Medicare for All

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1287&pid=204945

Wasn't BS heralded as the "First one to sign the Unity Pledge!!!!"

2020 Candidates Begin Signing Unity Pledge, With Sanders Taking the Lead

https://www.democraticunderground.com/128793259

[Cha]

18. Biden is Not.. BS is Desperate.. just

because those two want to Smear says everything about them and nothing about Joe Biden.

[George II]

13. What Biden said isn't even close to a "republican talking point", it's true.....

According to the bare bones "plan" we've gotten, Medicare as we know it will go away and be replaced with something using the "Medicare" label, but it will be completely different.

At least McIntosh didn't call Biden a "liar", as both Nina Turner and BS have done.

[HerbChestnut]

15. He's using scare tactics and language to frighten people away from M4A.

He can't win the healthcare debate on policy.

[George II]

23. Again, simply not true. So criticizing a quasi-plan is "scare tactics"? A candidate can't win...

....the healthcare debate on slogans or catch phrases, either.

[Cha]

24. What the Hell do you think BS is doing

about ACA?

Yeah, that's right.. Freaking Scare Tactics..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[R B Garr]

28. He's already won the debate. The ACA is law, slowly

being dismantled by Republicans. The real lie is ignoring the very real damage being done to the existing law in favor of selling hype.

[Cha]

48. No, Biden is telling the truth and BS is

using Tactics to Scare People from ACA.. if you want to talk "Scare Tactics".

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Cha]

26. BS is the one "using scare tactics"..

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[R B Garr]

30. Exactly, Cha. It's Sanders who is using scare tactics. nt

[TSIAS]

20. Hogwash

The only question is for whom she is laumching this hit. Very unlikely McIntosh is doing this on behalf of Sanders or Warren. The best bet is that Harris is behind this.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

21. She's correct. It's disqualifying.

[ucrdem]

35. It qualifies her for a job on Team B.

[Cha]

40. I say the F team.. she smeared with trump..

This is from Drunken Irishman..

This is a lie. Biden has never insinuated Bernie's plan would leave seniors with nothing.

Biden did mention a hiatus period, but later clarified the remarks:

What Biden was saying, Bates said, was that Sanders' plan for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system would take much longer than Biden's own plan to be approved by Congress -- so, under Sanders, there would be a hiatus between the status quo and the possible future arrival of an improved system.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/18/politics/biden-sanders-medicare-for-all-fact-check/index.html

Drunken Irishman https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287205595

ucr

[ucrdem]

43. Just another RW stooge on CNN.

They are a dime a dozen.

[ucrdem]

31. AOL-HuffPost is not a reliable source

and never has been.

[HerbChestnut]

33. How about Newsweek?

[bluewater]

51. unskewing the news?

not a good look

[Autumn]

34. Yes he does, and that is rather sad. I trust Obama on this not Joe.

“Democrats aren't just running on good old ideas like a higher minimum wage, they're running on new ideas, Medicare for all,” Obama said.

[ucrdem]

36. Notice that Barack distinguishes between "good" and "new."

[Autumn]

38. Notice Obama touted "Medicare for all" as evidence Democrats are proposing fresh policy ideas?

Notice fresh policy ideas.

[ucrdem]

39. New, not good. Yes I noticed. nt

[Autumn]

42. IMO Fresh is better.

But many Democrats are frustrated by the law’s shortcomings. Premiums have skyrocketed for Obamacare plans and competition has dwindled, while nearly 30 million Americans are still uninsured.

[ucrdem]

45. But that isn't what Barack said. nt

[Autumn]

46. Those are facts, like it or not. nt

[FloridaBlues]

41. We haven't had this type of large scale change of MFA no one

Really knows what exact outcome will happen. Changing our entire healthcare system no easy task even if it could get passed in congress.
Don't think biden is using RW talking point maybe he's using a bit of realism.

[silentEcho]

49. I appreciate what Biden said. Got me reading that it is not expanding medicare.

I thought Sanders plan was an expansion of Medicare. Not getting rid of medicare to create something totally new. That matters. Thanks Biden.

[NBachers]

52. Sanders & his cult hangers-on, desperately trying to say something that'll make them appear relevant

[stonecutter357]

56. #fakenews !

[msongs]

57. making such accusations is just an opinion nt