Greg Sargent at his Washington Post blog has a long interview with She Who Knows. Worth reading both parts of the whole thing, but I particularly liked her summary of the horrible Ryan-Wyden Medicare-gutting plan:
… Republicans have argued that the new Medicare plan embraced by both Paul Ryan and Dem Senator Ron Wyden will blunt Dem attacks over Medicare, because the plan now has “bipartisan cover.” Some Dems have privately worried about this, too. But Pelosi scoffed at the idea, arguing that Ryan-Wyden still would ultimately end Medicare as we know it, as we know it, and that this is a case Dems can take to the American people.
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“What they’re trying to do is put lipstick on a pig — that would be Ryan — and call it Monique — that would be Wyden,” Pelosi said. “But it’s still a pig.”…
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Asked to respond to the Republican argument that Dems are imperiling Medicare by not offering a plan of their own to shore up its finances, Pelosi said: “They want to break the Medicare guarantee. Period. It’s about them. They’re in power in the House. They want to break the guarantee. The public doesn’t support that.”
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In 2005, Pelosi helped engineer the defeat of George W. Bush’s Social Security plan by insisting that Dems not offer a plan of their own. Speaking about the Dem Medicare message, she advised: “Keep it simple.”…
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Asked if she would run for Speaker if Dems take back the House, Pelosi said: “That’s up to my colleages. But we have to win first.” Asked if she’s open to another run, she said: “Sure.”
Good news for all proud Democrats!
debit
I love Nancy SMASH!
Jerzy Russian
That’s funny.
Yutsano
In the same paper, George Will haz a sad.
16 Novembers from 1964. Are they that eager to purge Nixon and Ford from their True Faith memories? Or is Will just pining for Ronaldus Magnus again?
SarahT
“What they’re trying to do is put lipstick on a pig — that would be Ryan — and call it Monique — that would be Wyden,” Pelosi said. “But it’s still a pig.”…
Why drag Rudy Giuliani into this ?
Ben Franklin
“Disclose” has a ring to it; like ‘Contraception’.
But isn’t there some issue with transparency in ACA? Could be a trap we lay for ourselves.
Martin
@Yutsano: Yeah – Nixon and Ford froze wages, price fixed, and did a ton of things that made supply-side Jesus cry. Reagan pushed the free market message and delivered. If you believe the message, he’s worthy of the praise. And that message created a fuckton of wealth in this country, so its an easy one to believe.
bootsy
@Martin: Well, to be more accurate, St. Reagan’s message transferred a fuckton of wealth from the middle and working class to the upper classes – a trend that continues, unfortunately.
Keith
And while she was saying this, she was shelling a bowl of walnuts with her bare hands.
Frankensteinbeck
Yutsano:
Ronnie convinced the public that policies that would hurt them were actually helping them. That made him their messiah, and they desperately want a second coming right now.
Aaron S. Veenstra
“We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.”
David Koch
Wyden has always been corrupt on this issue.
Back in 2009, he created a healthcare bill designed to give conserva-dems time to derail the Public Option.
As Ryan Grimm of HuffPo reported, “Backers of the [Public Option] see Wyden’s bill as an obstacle preventing centrist Democrats from fully jumping aboard the public-option train.”
So it’s no surprise that once again he stabbed the base in the back on healthcare.
The Ancient Randonneur
Now if she can just get that half-bright atavist Steny Hoyer to STFU about his transparently phony call for deficit reduction …
Some Guy
This is, of course, news that both parties are the same.
Darrelle Newport
Hey what’s happening when I click on the “Older Entries” link at the bottom of the home page?
I’m taken to a screen with some horrid blue formatting and every post scrunched into some bizarre single paragraph teaser format.
This is simply wrong.
I hope this isn’t the sign of something to come.
And if I’m late to the party in noticing this, then shame on me.
I catch up on BJ at least once a week, and when I was last here on Monday, it didn’t look like this.
slightly-peeved
@6: in what sense? The ACA standardizes plans, as well as standardizing what constitutes ‘medical care’ for insurers. To be on the exchange, insurers are required to publish a large amount of info on how much they pay out. I haven’t seen anywhere where the ACA does anything other than increase transparency.
Ben Franklin
Disclosure is what ACA seeks….it’s already starting to break into the open.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/why-an-mri-costs-1080-in-america-and-280-in-france/2011/08/25/gIQAVHztoR_blog.html
Ben Franklin
@slightly-peeved: @Ben Franklin:
David Koch
Pelosi is wrong. She should have listened to her progressive betters in the blogsosphere and killed the bill.
Watusie
If this Fall were to result in the Democrats holding the WH and Senate and taking back the House, and Madame were to become speaker again – well, that would be the most awesomest thing ever.
mb
I wish Harry Reid and Obama would call Pelosi every morning and ask her: “What should we do today, Nancy?”
Then do it.
Jonny Scrum-half
I accept that the Ryan plan would “end Medicare as we know it.” But isn’t Medicare, in fact, something that will need to be addressed over the next several years, if we want to reduce federal spending?
David Koch
@Jonny Scrum-half: I guess this means you’re for Death Panels.