Okay, it’s getting embarrassing. First, Freshman Republicans sent a letter to President Obama acknowledging they couldn’t take the heat over their vote to end Medicare as we know it. Then, they held a press conference to make sure everyone was in the know. Now, Senate Republicans are following suit and complaining directly to the White House. The Washington Post:

[Senator Mitch] McConnell and other Republicans described their 75-minute meeting with Obama as “productive,” with several urging the president to tell Democrats to stop bashing the House GOP Medicare plan, which polls show to be deeply unpopular.

The GOP should save their breath—Americans will not forget a vote to end Medicare in order to reward Big Oil with tax breaks. Paul Krugman writing in the New York Times:

This has to be one of the funniest political stories of recent weeks: On Tuesday, 42 freshmen Republican members of Congress sent a letter urging President Obama to stop Democrats from engaging in “Mediscare” tactics — that is, to stop saying that the Republican budget plan released early last month, which would end Medicare as we know it, is a plan to end Medicare as we know it.

Now, you may recall that the people who signed that letter got their current jobs largely by engaging in “Mediscare” tactics of their own. And bear in mind that what Democrats are saying now is entirely true, while what Republicans were saying last year was completely false. Death panels!

Well, it’s time, said the signatories, to “wipe the slate clean.” How very convenient — and how very pathetic…

…Last year, older voters, who split their vote almost evenly between the parties in 2008, swung overwhelmingly to the G.O.P., as Republicans posed successfully as defenders of Medicare. Now Democrats are pointing out that the G.O.P., far from defending Medicare, is actually trying to dismantle the program. So you can see why those Republican freshmen are nervous.

But the Democrats aren’t engaging in scare tactics, they’re simply telling the truth. Policy details aside, the G.O.P.’s rigid anti-tax position also makes it, necessarily, the enemy of the senior-oriented programs that account for much of federal spending. And that’s something voters ought to know.