As we wrote about last week, the Republican Party’s new strategy is to agree to raising revenue from ending token tax deductions — essentially, Mitt Romney’s plan — in exchange to getting Democrats to agree to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week yesterday, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) explicitly said that Republicans want Democrats’ help in order to enact “entitlement reform” — code for cuts — so that they could not be blamed in the next election:

COLE: To be fair to Leader McConnell, he’s always been very forthright, entitlement reform takes both sides — and then it’s not an issue in the next election, because they both did it.

Watch it:

To be clear, Cole is part of the House Republican leadership teamAi??that just sent a proposal that would cut Medicare benefits by raising the eligibility age and Social Security benefits by adjusting the Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA). This is what the Republicans mean by “entitlement reform.”

This is more evidence that Democrats should not fall for Republicans’ trap. They are seeking Democratic cover to move to their real goal: cutting Medicare and Social Security benefits.