Month: May 2011

That was one Republican congressman's lament as the House majority stormed ahead with its endorsement of the abolition of the entitlement and its replacement by a voucher for private insurance. Scott Brown's opposition is rooted in, so far as one can tell, a belief that the vouchers would not keep up with the cost of healthcare (but that was a feature, not a bug, remember) and that "seniors should not have to bear a disproportionate burden." Well, seniors have it pretty great right now compared with many younger than them. Brown's proposal to cut the cost: fraud and abuse. Yep: we're back to those.

Digby looks ahead:

This is a huge political problem for the GOP. It could fade if the Democrats allow them to take it off the table. (The Politico article says that Joe Biden's bi-partisan group may do that, but it's hard to see how they can unless Democrats are total fools. Oh wait …) But there's nobody to blame except for Boehner, Cantor and Paul Ryan for this mess. And I have a sneaking suspicion that they'll pay for it with their jobs. The Democrats may be fools, but the Republicans are ruthless when their leadership fails them. Just ask Newtie. He knows all about it.

I've been wrestling with this for a while now.

I've come to agree with Gingrich that just ending the entitlement, after grandfathering in the entire boomer money-suck, is indeed too drastic an attack on an institution that has become welded to the public's understanding of their lives. That's called conservatism. But I can't merely suggest a war on waste can get us anywhere near where we need to go. Means-testing is an obvious answer, but if it goes too far, it discourages thrift. Some blend of more means-testing and brutal rationing seems to me the only way to go at this point. Which means doubling down on Obama's cost-control experiments, reducing free care for the wealthy retirees, and increasing the retirement age at a faster clip than we have thus far.

The demagoguing by the Democrats is predictable, sad, but also so powerful it's hard to see how any party could practically resist it. Alas, Mediscares may work for short term political advantage (we'll see how strongly in tomorrow's special election) but they have delayed real reform for far too long. I wish the GOP were able to work with Obama on this. But that was ruled out well before his election.

A tumblr of complaints.

From PPP:

Congressional Republicans have just a 26% approval rating with voters in this district to 59% who disapprove. Only a bare majority of GOP voters (50%) think their party's doing a good job in control while Democrats (84%) are pretty unanimous in panning the new Republican majority and independents split against it by a 19/64 margin as well. Only 34% of voters think the new GOP majority is doing a better job than the Democrats did to 38% who think they're doing worse and 27% who think things are the same. …

-Barack Obama's not popular in the district…but John Boehner is even less popular. Obama's approval is a -9 spread at 42/51 but Boehner's is -17 at 28/45.

"In my experience with print journalists, the distinction between remarks being uttered on- or off-the-record is held sacrosanct, but the distinction between truth and falsity sometimes isn’t," – Sam Harris.

Jim Fallows digs up Jon Huntsman's 2008 convention nomination speech for Sarah Palin:

Fallows says he's doing Huntsman a favor:

Getting this into circulation is a magical double-duty favor. It's a favor for Huntsman within the party, as a reminder that he has been willing to advance the straight conservative line when duty calls. (He was McCain's national campaign chairman.) And it's a favor for him with the general electorate, because getting it out now means it will be tired old news by next year, rather than an embarrassing potential "surprise."

As one winces.

From last November 11. Money quote:

The Prime Minister and the Secretary agreed on the importance of continuing direct negotiations to achieve our goals. The Secretary reiterated that "the United States believes that through good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state, based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements."

What a bald-faced liar Bibi is; and how pathetic that so many fell for his hissy fit yet again.

After a valiant effort, in which almost no actual arguments were made to discriminate against gay couples in civil marriage, Minnesota’s legislature approved a ballot measure to discriminate against gay couples in the state constitution. Dale Carpenter writes, with confidence:

Eighteen months from now, on November 6, 2012, Minnesota will become the first state to reject one of these amendments.

Alex Koppelman believes the Pentagon.

Jonathan Cohn hasn't caught the Pawlenty bug:

If you want to put it investment terms, Romney’s problems are priced into his stock. Shares for the other candidates are probably trading too high. Keep in mind that Romney has been through a presidential campaign before. He knows how to deal with attacks–and how to attack back. Plus he has a huge fundraising advantage.

I suspect Jon is right. And it may be that Obama-hatred outweighs Romney-Skepticism among the Christianists and Tea Partiers. But the field is still open – and the Bachmann-Palin bus has yet to leave the station.

A fatal combination: bad royals and eBay. The money will go to charity, though.