Republican Credibility On Health Care MIA

Republicans never had a health care plan any deeper than "shovel money to the insurance companies." So the death of any right-wing brand on health care isn't much of a death because there wasn't much of a brand. But by proposing to alternately 1) tax health care benefits from employers and 2) cut Medicare to pay for insufficient vouchers to purchase individual insurance, John McCain has destroyed Republican credibility on health care so utterly that his fellow Republicans won't touch it:

A reporter tries hard to see whether Sen. Norm Coleman's spokesperson will acknowledge that his boss supports Sen. John McCain's health care plan.

It's an obvious question, given that Democratic candidate Al Franken spent the day praising Barack Obama's plan and even sent out a press release asking "With McCain's Health Care Plan Coming Under Scrutiny, Franken Asks: Would Norm Coleman Vote For It?."

Coleman spokesperson Luke Friedrich won't say. Four times. Turning routine tit-for-tat into something more damaging for Coleman.

Even business groups are wary of McCain's plan because taxing health benefits would impact their balance sheets negatively, and dropping coverage would potentially decrease their ability to attract a solid workforce and stay competitive with those companies who retain benefits.

McCain is trying to shock the system. He wants to throw people onto the individual market without any infrastructure for them to navigate it successfully. Meanwhile, Senator Obama, who recently signed on to the progressive principles of Health Care for America Now, wants to create that infrastructure through a public option and cost controls to make insurance more affordable. This would gradually move us away from the employer-based system in the right way.

For years, conservatives railed against "socialized medicine" through fear. But with their own ideas now so discredited, it's hard for them to argue against something different.