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The Naive Opposition
Ross Douthat —
Ezra Klein, on Paul Ryan's alternative budget: It's not what you do when you're responsible for running the
government. It's what you propose when you're responsible for running
the messaging. I understand what he's getting at, but this phrasing makes it sound like the House Republicans' budget is an exercise in cynicism and partisan political calculation - which is exactly the wrong way to look at what's going on with the House GOP. Sure, there may be some cynicism involved in how the Ryan proposal makes its numbers add up. But the overall outline - an across-the-board tax cut and a flatter tax code, substantial means-testing for Social Security ...
The GOP Supports Rationing?
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
Ezra Klein looks closer at that GOP budget and how they make the red line go down: Currently, Medicare's costs rise as the demand, and price, of care rises. No rationing. Under Ryan's proposal, its costs will rise by whatever the federal government says its costs will rise by. The question will simply be how quickly the subsidy grows. And if subsidy growth slows, we'll have...Rationing! It will take the form of individuals being unable to pay for treatments rather than the government making people wait for treatments, but it'll largely be the same thing. And it's nearly the exact same mechanism. But rationing is the only way to bring down healthcare costs. ...
Uninformed Comment
Weekly Standard Blog —
... I don't often weigh into health care issues on this blog because I don't understand the subject well enough. Sometimes I get the sense that bloggers who do write frequently on the subject also don't understand it well enough to offer any real informed commentary. As a test case I sent the following paragraph from this post by the American Prospect's self-styled health care guru Ezra Klein to a genuine health care expert (this one over the age of 25) who prefers to remain anonymous. Klein's overall post is an attack on GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, who Klein says is ...
4/3: Abandoning The Dodd Ship
Blogometer —
April 03, 2009 4/3: Abandoning The Dodd Ship How much longer are the netroots willing to stand by embattled Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)? Not much longer, it appears. After yesterday's Quinnipiac poll showed ex-Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) leading Dodd by 16 pts, liberal bloggers have begun to talk about either pushing the five-term senator to retire or fielding a primary challenger. Arjun Jaikumar declares that Dodd is "screwed" and warns that "if [Quinnipiac's] polling numbers are legitimate, we need a new candidate." Several bloggers are mentioning CT AG Richard Blumenthal as a potential replacement, while Nate Silver suggests CT Reps. Rosa DeLauro , Chris ...
WATB
Eschaton —
What's so amusing about the absurdity that is Evan Byah is that he doesn't realize that it isn't 1994 anymore. While I agree that this doesn't have much to do with pleasing the voters of Indiana, I also think he believes it's a way to increase his relevance and importance. ...
Evan Bayh
Corrente —
Ezra Klein
Yesterday, Evan Bayh broke with his party on a vote besides the budget: He was one of nine Democrats to support the Kyl-Lincoln estate tax bill reducing the estate tax on rich families at a cost of $250 billion over 10 years. The tax change is not paid for, and so that $250 billion is borrowed. Read more…
