Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

The House vote today that’s expected to pass Paul Ryan’s proposal to end Medicare as we know it will be looked back on as the day the GOP lost the House, DCCC chair Steve Israel vowed to me in an interview moments ago.
 
“When we win back the majority, people will look back at this vote as a defining one that secured the majority for Democrats,” Israel said.
 
Israel said that Dems plan to use the Medicare vote today to go on the offensive against Republicans from now all the way until Election Day 2012. Crucially, Israel said it would be used in every district, even ones that are marginal or conservative — suggesting that on Medicare at least, Dems are hoping to maintain a united national front, rather than letting the messsage be watered down in conservative districts that may be more receptive to GOP messages about fiscal conservatism.
 
“All the polling tells us the same thing,” Israel said. “Voting to terminate Medicare is a bad idea politically in every district.. Republicans oppose it. Democrats oppose it. And Independents oppose it.”
 
Israel said the party was going to use the Medicare vote to hone a national message based on “choices” that ties the GOP drive to end Medicare as we know it to the desire for tax cuts for the rich.
 
“We’re creating a national framework on choices,” Israel said. “The choice I hope our members talk about at home is a budget that gives you a $100,000 tax cut if you earn over $1 million a year, and a $12,000 cost increase if you’re a senior on Medicare. That contrast is very compelling.”

but they're not ending it..

they're 'transforming' it... ;) ;)

WASHINGTON -- House Democrats showed Friday that they, too, have it in them to pull the kinds of parliamentary tricks on the House floor that Republicans mastered when they were the minority.

During a series of votes on alternative budget proposals, Democrats made a play to sucker GOP lawmakers into passing a proposal from the conservative Republican Study Committee that calls for dramatic cuts that even some GOP Members would find too drastic.

At one point during the vote, a majority of Republicans were on record in favor of the RSC budget. Democrats then began casting votes as “present,” rather than “no,” as they would be expected to do. Without the Democratic "no" votes, the amendment would be adopted and would supersede Budget ranking member Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) ballyhooed budget.

After time for the vote expired, Republicans held it open so that enough of them could switch their votes to prevent the RSC budget from passing.

In the end, only 119 of the 176 RSC Members voted for their own budget proposal, authored by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.). Because so many Democrats voted "present," meanwhile, the final tally was 136-119 against – a bizarre total in a chamber with 435 members. Had nine Republicans not switched sides, the measure would've passed. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) switched her vote from "aye" to "no" at the last minute, as did Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Rules Committee.

A total of 172 Democrats ended up voting "present" instead of "no."