We already told you, we could Medicareless, Part 1

There has been much talk about how George Bush & Co., Inc., is going to use the Medicare prescription drug "benefit" Congress just passed (kind of like what you do with gas) to flay Democrats and sweep the senior vote in 2004, even though many seniors will be hurt, not helped, by the "reforms."

A great deal of that talk has been punditizing - a word I intend to introduce into our political vocabulary which means "making authoritative pronouncements about events when actually you don't have a clue what you're talking about and saying something only because that's what you do:say things; political bloviating." The fact is, this may not be the slam-dunk some are predicting, as indicated by the November 30 NY Times:

"Florida Elderly Feel Let Down by Drug Benefit"

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Nov. 29 - In the condominiums and on the palm-shaded beaches here, where Medicare is a frequent topic of conversation, few people expect to get much help from the new drug benefit just approved by Congress.

They express disappointment but little surprise because, they say, they never had high hopes. They say they feel they were sold out, by Republicans and AARP, which endorsed a Medicare bill drafted mainly by Republicans. But the Democrats, they say, did not fight hard enough for a better drug benefit.

Now, while it's true the Dems didn't fight hard enough - they barely fought at all - the contenders for the presidential nomination clearly opposed to the bill; some, like Kerry for example, went out of their way to make sure everyone knew they were against it. So I'm not at all sure this will play out the way the Bushites are hoping it will.

What's interesting is that it appears that younger voters were in favor of the bill even as the elderly it was supposedly designed to help opposed it. Some suggest that's because they want their parents to have the drug benefit because it will reduce their own out-of-pocket assistance to them. More likely, it's because, as the Times said, the elderly residents of Hollywood, Florida "display a formidable knowledge of Medicare." That is, unlike the pundits and their own children, they know what they're talking about.