As has been noted, the Democrats have reverted back to a standard talking point on the campaign trail – Republicans want to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. Bill Clinton has been deployed to the campaign trail to join in on the scare tactic. Democrats are panicked so it’s time to drag Bubba out of his quiet retirement.

We don’t see much of Bill Clinton these days. We see way too much of Hillary but not so much of Bill. He hit the campaign trail for Democrat Josh Riley who is running against Republican Marc Molinaro in New York’s 19th Congressional District. It is one of 33 House races considered a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report. Biden won the district over Trump by 4.6 points in 2020. Times have changed thanks to Joe Biden’s disastrous time in the White House.

Clinton spread the same trope that Democrats have used in election years for as long as I can remember. He said that Marc Molinaro wants to help Kevin McCarthy become House Speaker after the midterm elections. Republicans and Democrats alike know that the House will be in Republican control in January, it’s just a matter of how big of a majority they will have. We’ll find that out next Tuesday, election day. So, when McCarthy is speaker, as it is assumed he will be, Clinton said McCarthy will cut Social Security and Medicare.

“He said if you vote for us, you didn’t cause this inflation, but you’re going to pay for it because here’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to cut Social Security, we’re going to cut Medicare,” Clinton said.

Talk about a Big Lie. Listen, Bill Clinton has been spreading that scary trope for decades. He used the same tactics against Republicans back in the 1990s when he ran for president. Both times. All Democrats who run for president do the same thing, as do Democrats in races further down ballots. Midterm elections are no different. Democrats have a limited playbook, especially in this election cycle. Joe Biden is deeply unpopular. You’ll notice they dusted off Bill Clinton instead of sending Joe Biden to campaign in New York’s 19th district, a toss-up race. Biden is limited to non-toss-up races because Democrats can’t afford to lose any more voters.

Kevin McCarthy’s office pointed reporters to McCarthy’s Commitment for America plan when asked for a comment about Clinton’s remarks. The plan specifically calls for saving and strengthening Social Security and Medicare.

On Saturday, Barack Obama campaigned in Wisconsin and was yelling about Republican Senator Ron Johnson’s alleged desire to axe Social Security and Medicare. Johnson, the incumbent, is running against Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor, Democrat Mandela Barnes. The race is labeled a toss-up by Real Clear Politics. The aggregated averaging has Johnson up by 3.0 points. So, Obama used the predictable playbook and delivered the standard talking points.

In response, Johnson said Democrats lie because they can’t defend their own policies.

“All they do is they trot out the same old lies, you know, the Republicans want to end Social Security, we want to put it on the chopping block. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Johnson told Fox News. “We want to save Social Security. We want to bring down inflation. We want to reduce massive deficit spending that sparked inflation.”

Republican Senator Rick Scott distributed his “Plan to Rescue America” last winter and Democrats went wild over his call to sunset all federal legislation after five years. Upon review, if the legislation deemed worth keeping, Congress can vote it back in. No Republican signed on to Scott’s plan and it was quickly shelved but Democrats are trotting it out now to make their case that a Republican majority in Congress with be dangerous for those on Social Security and Medicare.

When Biden was in Florida to campaign for Charlie Crist and Rep. Val Demings, both Democrats who are losing their races, he mocked Scott. “A senator from Florida going after Medicare and Social Security?” Crist is losing to incumbent Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Demings is losing to incumbent Republican Senator Marco Rubio. When asked about Biden’s lame accusation, Scott denied he planned to eliminate Social Security and Medicare.

“Absolutely not,” he said. Pressed on whether he supported reducing Social Security or Medicare benefits to keep the programs going, he similarly said, “No, and I don’t know one Republican who does,” adding that President Biden did support such an idea when he was in the Senate.

Republicans have held the majority in Congress in past years and never tried to eliminate either entitlement. Everyone knows that. They won’t when they take back the majority in both the House and the Senate next week. It won’t stop Democrats from trotting out the trope in 2024, though. It’s like clockwork.