Brunner Still Unable to Give Straight Answer on GOP Plan to Phase Out Medicare

Does John Brunner have substantive answers about any substantive issues yet?  Check out this glorious non-answer in the News-Leader to a direct question about the House GOP plan to eliminate Medicare as we know it: 

Q: Would you support transforming Medicare into a voucher program in which seniors purchase insurance in the private market, instead of the current government program, as proposed by House GOP Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.?

Akin: Yes, he is on record supporting and voting for the Ryan plan.

Brunner: "What I am looking at is, can you give people a choice -- the Ryan plan or keep their current program? Or even a third option? ... Or combinations of those plans to bring some choice, so you can have that incentive to lower costs?"

Steelman: "The cost of living (increase) that's factored into the (voucher proposal) each year is different, and I'm afraid it wouldn't cover the cost of increasing health costs from year to year... And then I also worry about how, if you have that age population, if you can actually get reasonably priced insurance. It's difficult to insure the senior population" in the private market.

Meanwhile, Brunner is begging voters to believe he believes exactly what Todd Akin and Sarah Steelman believe, even though it's clear he doesn't know what he believes.  In a larger News-Leader story about how voters are not responding to the GOP candidates for Senate: 

Brunner remains an unknown, with only vague policy positions outlined on his website, whether on taxes (he's for a smaller, flatter tax rate) or abortion ("Nothing is more precious than human life"). Asked whether he would support an extension of the payroll tax cut and the extension of unemployment benefits -- something Congress currently is debating -- he said he wasn't sure.

Brunner said he didn't see any substantive differences between himself and his Republican rivals on key issues.

The GOP budget outline crafted by Paul Ryan and Todd Akin that would transform Medicare into an unrecognizable voucher program is only the most important GOP policy proposal put forward since the last election.