'Do Not Give Them Ground By Debating Details'
(Update: please see this Editor's Note, from me, about the memo and its origins.)
As Democratic momentum continues (Sam Farr is now a yes vote, for example), a bit of a scoop for House Republicans, though it probably won't be enough: they've obtained a memo from senior Democratic spokespeople to other Democratic spokespeople urging them to avoid talking about parts of the health care debate that are a mite inconvenient to the notion that the overall reform will be deficit neutral.
(Read it here: 20100319100051579.pdf) Specifically, of course, the "doc fix" -- known internally as "SGR," for "sustainable growth rate." Basically, Medicare's physicial reimbursement system will create liabilities of more than $330 billion over ten years. So the Democratic document warnspress secretaries in boldface type: "The inclusion of a full SGR repeal would undermine reform's budget neutrality."