Yesterday was the 67th anniversary of D-Day, and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum tried to connect those who fought on the beaches of Normandy to his campaign launch. Indeed, as the former Pennsylvania senator sees it, the best way to honor World War II veterans is to privatize Medicare.
… Santorum said, what he and Paul Ryan want to do is “give people the resources to go out and choose for themselves choose what’s best for themselves.”
Unlike Obama, he continued, who is spitting in the face of those Americans who fought on D-Day, 67 years ago today. “Almost 60,000 average Americans had the courage to go out and charge those beaches on Normandy, to drop out of airplanes who knows where, and take on the battle for freedom,” Santorum said.
“Average Americans,” he added. “The very Americans that our government now, and this president, does not trust to make a decision on your health care plan. Those Americans risked everything so they could make that decision on their health care plan.”
Remember, this wasn’t some kind of odd criticism of the Affordable Care Act; this was Rick Santorum arguing that Medicare itself denies seniors choices. And because Medicare denies seniors choices, it means seniors are less free, which means those who fought for freedom don’t want Medicare.
Or something.
Santorum may not realize this, but seniors, like the rest of the country, actually like Medicare quite a bit. I haven’t seen any polling that shows a distinction between WWII veterans on Medicare and the rest of Medicare’s beneficiaries, but I’d be willing to bet that there’s no real difference.
As for Santorum, I realize how desperate he is to be taken seriously on the national stage, but bizarre remarks like these, especially in a pre-written announcement speech, make it awfully difficult.
