Before, during, and after Democrats voted to reform the health-care system in 2010, Republicans made it their mission to scare seniors about the death panels and rationed care that would await them in the grim dystopia that their twilight years had now become. Along with the terrible economy, it was a pretty effective message — you will recall that the Republicans achieved one of the biggest landslides in history. Now, however, the tables have turned. Last month, it was the Republicans who nearly unanimously backed Congressman Paul Ryan’s plan to turn Medicare from a guaranteed insurance program into a voucher program in which seniors would be given a subsidy to help them cover the cost of private insurance, and the Democrats have been bludgeoning the GOP with their own “Mediscaring” campaign ever since. It is at this point that Republicans have suddenly decided that the problem of rising health-care costs is just too important to play politics with. TPM reports:

Nearly a dozen House Republican freshmen held a press conference outside the Capitol Tuesday morning to “wipe the slate clean,” and “hit the reset button.”

“Yeah, I mean there’s been – again, this is a both-sides issue,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) when asked if GOP candidates and the NRCC had engaged in ‘MediScare’ tactics last year. “To say that one side is blameless in trying to use issues to win votes is just dishonest.”

And this just in: The Democrats sent back a reply letter consisting entirely of the letters “F” and “U.”

GOP Freshmen On Medicare Attacks: Let’s Let Bygones Be Bygones [TPM]