Election 2012: Poor voters vs. old voters

On non-health entitlements, the story is similar. Romney pledges no changes to Social Security for people in or near retirement. But he has been critical of the growth of the Food Stamp rolls and has pledged to convert that program into a block grant to the states. As with his Medicaid proposal, block grants would likely entail spending cuts and less generous benefits.

Romney understands who Republican base voters are. They skew older, and while they like “small government” rhetoric, they are not eager for cuts to Medicare and Social Security. That’s why Romney calls for cutting aid to the poor now, and to the old later, at a date when he would no longer be president…

Republicans should be running on restructuring the president’s Medicare cuts, and using consumer choice to blunt their impact. Instead, they are saying that we shouldn’t cut at all now; we can worry about Medicare later. That makes little sense if Republicans are supposed to be the party of small government — but a lot of sense if they are the party for putting the old ahead of the poor.