John Sununu Accuses CNN Of Pilfering Talking Points From the 'Democratic Blog Boards'

Aug 14, 2012

So here's what appears to be the Romney-Ryan camp's plan for combatting accusations that Paul Ryan wants to gut Medicare through couponization and Mitt Romney endorsed that plan during the primaries: Saying that Mitt Romney has his own plan that has nothing to do with Paul Ryan , while claiming that it's actually the Democrats who gutted Medicare by ending an estimated $700 billion in overpayments to Medicare Advantage providers. Shorter version: It is the Democrats who want to destroy Medicare, not the Republicans who have put Paul Ryan on their presidential ticket. Hmm, seems a bitthin; perhaps a bit more thought should have gone into this "let's put Paul Ryan on our presidential ticket" thing. But if that messaging fails, Republicans do have a backup plan: Get dear old New Hamphire coot John Sununu to go on the teevee and holler at the host.

Last time we heard from John Sununu, he was playing Hitman and going on about President Obama smoking marijuana cigarettes in high school. He later apologized. Today, he went off on CNN's Soledad O'Brien for hinting that his campaign's Medicare messaging was full of crap. Leave Paul Ryan alone! He has nothing to do with this campaign; that is just something you read on the "Democratic blog boards."

I can tell you what it says, yes,” said O’Brien. “It cuts a reduction in the expected rate of growth, which you know. Not cutting benefits to the elderly. Benefits will be improved. The focus is on hospitals. The focus is on health insurance.”
“He gutted the program by $711 million,” said Sununu of Obama. “And the fact is he reduces services to Medicare beneficiaries currently on the package. What the difference is, is that Romney says no impact to anybody 55 or over. It is clear in here that the reduction in services start on January 1, 2013 and Obama stole that money to put it into programs under Obamacare…”
“The hospitals agreed to that,” O’Brien countered. “The drug providers agreed to that because their theory is that what they’re going to be able to do is make up by the number of people who come into the system. It doesn’t reduce or cut the benefits. Right….”
“Soledad, stop this!” said Sununu. “All you’re doing is mimicking the stuff that comes out of the White House and gets repeated on the Democratic blog boards out there….”
“I’m telling you what FactCheck.com tells you,” she insisted. “I’m telling you what the CBO tells you. I’m telling you what CNN’s independent analysis does.”
“Put an Obama bumper sticker on your forehead when you do this,” Sununu shot back.

What other evil things is CNN picking up from the Democratic Blog Boards?