Hands Off My...Wait A Minute

It turns out Tea Party Seniors (you remember those folks yelling "Hands off my Medicare!" while calling health care reform "government socialism") aren't too fond of Paul Ryan's plan to change Medicare at all.  Some 70% of them are opposed to the Ryan Unicorn Plan's provisions cutting Medicaid and replacing Medicare with vouchers that don't cover the cost of health care for seniors at all.

In a McClatchy-Marist poll released this week, 70% of registered voters who identify with the Tea Party opposed making cuts to either Medicare or Medicaid -- the government-run health programs for the elderly and the poor -- to help reduce the nation's deficit. Meanwhile, only 28% of tea partiers said they'd be willing to cut spending on those two programs.

Tea partiers were not alone in opposing Medicare and Medicaid cuts. An overwhelming 80% of all respondents said they opposed such cuts, with a majority of every demographic measured in the survey lining up against them.

Ninety-two percent of Democrats opposed cutting Medicare and Medicaid, as did 73% of Republicans, and 75% of independents.

The survey only broke down the age of respondents into two categories -- above or below 45 years-old -- and found that both groups opposed the proposed cuts by a similar margin. Respondents under 45 years-old opposed the cuts by an 82%-17% split, while older respondents opposed them by an 80%-18% split.

But it's the Tea Party finding which sticks out as the most glaring. The Tea Party has led the charge to slash government spending, but the Marist poll suggests they're loathe to touch what amounts to about 20% of the entire federal budget.

Which means at best, the Tea Party isn't serious about reducing the deficit if it means any of them have to make any sort of sacrifice...that's for the rest of America to make.   At worst, it means they want to throw everyone under 45 under the bus to make sure they get theirs.

Seems about right.