Accuse People of Killing People More, People!

Apparently, Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman, said that President Obama has "blood on his hands" regarding Medicare cuts. The Huffington Post appears to have reacted to this as if it's some horrific over-the-top accusation of murder on Priebus' part. What Reince actually meant was that, whereas Paul Ryan has merely proposed cutting Medicare, Obama has actually done so, in the form of the roughly $500 in Medicare spending reduction in the Affordable Care Act. Now, one can bicker and argue all day about whether that counts as Obama cutting Medicare, since he mostly cut the wasteful spending that got added to Medicare during the Bush Administration (with much support from that noted deficit hawk, Paul Ryan). And I certainly think it's fine to use colorful metaphors in describing things like this; as with Obama's "you didn't build that" line, it's clear from context that Priebus wasn't saying anything about Obama being a murderer, having blood on his hands that all Neptune's oceans couldn't wash out like Macbeth.

But my point in writing this blog post is a stronger one than simply that colorful metaphors are okay. I think it should be much more common for politicians to say when they think their opponent's policies would result in people dying unnecessary deaths. After all, public policy is important, and lots of people die when it gets done wrong. That's important! Arguably it's the most important thing about public policy. Elections, therefore, might sometimes want to focus on it. So saying, "my opponent's policies will result in people dying" should be, when factually accurate, fine. Desirable, even, since it should help prevent person-killing policies from getting enacted. Now, actually using the word "murder" could be a little too intense/inflammatory, and there's always the general desire not to have people running around saying false things. But when you honestly think, with good reason, that your opponent's policies will lead to people dying, say so, please. If Reince Priebus thinks that Obama's Medicare cuts will kill old people, which is a defensible claim though I doubt it's true, he should say so, explicitly. If he wants to say that Obama has "blood on his hands" because of his Medicare cuts killing old people, good for him. Don't let's freak out because he dares talk about the idea that electing the wrong person gets people killed.

(Oh, and for the record, of course I believe that electing Mitt Romney will get lots of people needlessly killed, compared to re-electing Obama instead.)