GOS’s Laura Clawson is getting here before me, but there’s an overwhelmingly obvious truth unsaid within the now-notorious Politico piece on Republican campaign operatives’ despair over the Ryan pick.
The piece channels keening over the fact Ryan plan screws up what was presumed to be the Republican’s best tactical approach to winning the White House, by shifting focus from Obama’s record on the economy (however distorted or outright BS-ed the Romney characterization of that record was and would be) to one in which we will confront a choice between to sharply distinct policy and moral visions for the future.
That is: the Politico folks take the usual horserace approach to the latest twist in the campaign.
But that approach buries the lead lede. Yes, the economy ain’t that great and Romney could build traction there, again, however disengenously. But the real story here is something that we’ve been talking about more or less overtly for the last several days — and that’s the bit Politico and its GOP sources really want to avoid talk about.
Consider:
“I think it’s a very bold choice. And an exciting and interesting pick. It’s going to elevate the campaign into a debate over big ideas. It means Romney-Ryan can run on principles and provide some real direction and vision for the Republican Party. And probably lose. Maybe big,” said former President George W. Bush senior adviser Mark McKinnon.
Another strategist emailed midway through Romney and Ryan’s first joint event Saturday: “The good news is that this ticket now has a vision. The bad news is that vision is basically just a chart of numbers used to justify policies that are extremely unpopular.”
Republican consultant Terry Nelson is hoping that a big debate on the presidential level will make it tougher for Democrats to mischaracterize the debate down ballot, where many Republican candidates in the House and Senate have already taken votes in favor of the Ryan plan. The more Romney and Ryan have to defend Ryan’s plan in the presidential race, the more they’ll provide air cover for other candidates.
Well, perhaps.
But if that “defense” forces voters to think hard about what the Republican approach to America’s future actually means…well that’s Obama’s job, and ours, isn’t it?
Images: Edgar Degas, Race Horses in a Landscape, 1894
Pieter Breughel the Elder, Portrait of an Old Woman, c. 1564
Martin
‘lede’. If it was anyone but you, I wouldn’t have bothered – but you’ll care about that.
MikeBoyScout
Recommended correction – “buries the lede” Tom.
but right on!
Violet
Pay no attention to the policies behind the green curtain!
Tom Levenson
@Martin: @MikeBoyScout:
Well, yeah.
Type in haste, accept crex at leisure, right?
Xecky Gilchrist
“The good news is that this ticket now has a vision. The bad news is that vision is basically just a chart of numbers used to justify policies that are extremely unpopular.”
Exactly. My summary of the behind-closed-doors reaction to the Ryan pick on the Republicans’ side is “YOU FOOL! Now we’re going to have to discuss our actual policies!” (except, of course, among the upper echelon doofi like Limbaugh and Adelson, where it was cooked up and commanded.)
I wonder to what extent the extreme closeted-gay jubilance over Ryan in the political media is an attempt to distract from what the bastard actually stands for. My suspicion: not entirely, because those folks have weird ideas about attractiveness, but it’s in the mix.
Calouste
When McCain picked Palin, he got all his chips together and put them on the double zero. And of course he lost.
What Romney has done is sell his car to get extra money to go with his last chips and put that on the double zero.
dr. bloor
This is right, except it’s completely wrong. Step one: Obama and Biden repeatedly pants Romney and Ryan on their bullshit budget. Step two: Democratic congressional candidates point out to their constituency “And my opponent voted for it!”
Zach
Man that Paul Ryan is so darned handsome that I won’t mind having to have my parents move in with me should they suffer dementia in old age and have their retirement scammed away by late-night goldbuggery infomercials on Fox News.
This is the big change that’s implied by either Ryan or Romney’s proposals that I haven’t seen anyone talk about yet: they do not leave enough money for Medicaid to cover long-term care for the elderly. Millions of old people will have to burden their children with their care. This is the sort of thing that scares the crap out of anyone who’s ever considered end-of-life consequences. We crossed that bridge a half-century ago and virtually everyone prefers a world where children aren’t saddled with their parents’ medical expenses in old age — especially so today now that medical costs have skyrocketed. Many quite wealthy people have parents collected Medicaid benefits.
Violet
And they’ll be forced to talk about it whereas without the Ryan pick they wouldn’t. Top headline I’m seeing on Google news right now:
Was ANYONE talking about Medicare on Friday? Not that I recall. That all changed on Saturday.
Nemesis
This election is essentially over.
Should romney find it within his skill set to pivot to discussions of the economy and jerbs, his message will meet with swift dismissal from the Obamz campaign. romney effectively neutered his own ability to talk about the economy by selecting ryan, given ryans plan is so incredibly toxic.
Folks, this is how politics is played. The opposition will be ground into dust.
Linda Featheringill
Oooh, love the Degas! I’m not overly fond of paintings of horses [although live ones are nice] but that painting is just beautiful!
I suspect it will work just the opposite way.
Violet
@Nemesis: The more Republicans on any ticket, even down to local election level, can be ground into dust, the better.
Wag
The more Romney and Ryan have to defend Ryan’s plan in the presidential race, the more they’ll provide
air cover for other candidatesworsening of the outcome for down ticket members of the GOP as well.FTFY
NancyDarling
@Zach: And if old folks don’t have families, we can reinstitute the county poor farm. I visited one once in 1947 or 1948 in OK with my family.
We went to see this old man, Tom, who had been a farm hand all of his life. He had worked for my grandfather when my father was a little boy at the turn of the century. Tom had never married and had no family. In the early years of Social Security, farmers and agricultural workers were not covered so when Tom became unable to work, the county had to take care of him. I still remember the house where we visited him—gray siding that had never seen paint, not a blade of grass in the yard. We climbed the stairs to his second floor bed room. In his room was a narrow bed, a straight chair, and a small table. There was a bare light bulb in the center of the ceiling hanging from a cord. I can still see the fly specks on the windows.
Petorado
Maybe this election just needs a better horse analogy: that this economy will only improve if we get more money in the hands of the average red-blooded American than if we continue to shift all our money into the accounts of the blue bloods riding atop their warmbloods.
beltane
@Zach: Under the Romney/Ryan plan we’ll all end up living like the Bucket family in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with all four grandparents sharing a single bed and everybody surviving on thin cabbage soup.
The true wingnuts will be happy though, because no matter how badly they get screwed over they think their next candy bar will contain the golden ticket.
PZ
Something this isn’t pointed out enough-Ryan believed a default on US debt wouldn’t harm the economy-
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2012/08/daniel-altman-on-paul-ryan.html
Bob2
Want a Megan replacement? I mean, he blogged for her while she was out at The Atlantic?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2012/08/13/yes-obamacare-cuts-medicare-more-than-president-romney-would/
NonyNony
@Violet:
No. Up ’til Saturday they were talking about Mitt Romney’s tax returns and Harry Reid’s allegations that Romney had a year where he paid nothing in taxes.
You have to ask yourself – what is in Mitt Romney’s tax returns that he thinks it’s better to get out there and defend Paul Ryan’s assault on Medicare than to talk about his taxes? Because that’s what happened on Saturday – the conversation shifted from Mitt Romney and what he’s hiding in his tax forms to reassuring seniors that just because his running mate is on record as wanting to gut Medicare for the younger people it’s okay because Medicare will still be there for them.
It really is starting to seem to me that if the stark choice were presented to him “release your tax forms or lose the election” he would choose to lose. What the hell is in those tax forms?
Villago Delenda Est
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Policies that actually make the short to mid term budget shortfall worse than it is right now.
The solution is to raise revenue. Cutting taxes for the parasite overclass has demonstrably not helped. It’s only made matters worse, and aside from the fiscal consequences, the social stability consequences are alarming.
NonyNony
@beltane:
That’s more accurate. They don’t think that anything bad will happen to them. Just to those people who don’t deserve to have nice things.
Added bonus for Republican politicians: When the true wingnuts get their nice things taken away from them and they’re living the Charlie Bucket lifestyle, they’ll still blame those people and assume that somewhere those people are eating T-bones and driving Cadillacs on the handout money that those people get that the true wingnuts aren’t eligible for anymore. Because that’s how they are.
Violet
@NancyDarling:
He actually had his own room and bed paid for by the county? Wouldn’t happen today. The counties have no money. Folks like Tom would be living on the street.
Roger Moore
This is called believing your own propaganda. Sorry, dude, but your side is the one that’s been mischaracterizing the debate, and bringing it front and center is not your winning strategy.
Martin
@Linda Featheringill: I suspect so too, but this is a really interesting situation. Here both parties are legitimately angling for a real policy debate – and a big one – on the very nature of government, spending and taxation. And both parties feel they are on the right side of the issue.
That’s somewhat unique in recent history. And it seems like the media are at least slightly not fucking it all up. I’m hopeful.
Valdivia
A-fucking-men Tom. I have been thinking about this since yesterday. If Ryan’s plan is so bold and gutsy why the hell are they lying about it and circulating memos about ow to snooker the population into thinking it’s something else (ie putting Ryan’s mom on an ad saying her cute son won’t take away their medicare). If the boldness comes from telling hard truths about spending then stand up Republicans and tell us how throwing grandma under the train will make our economy and deficit better. Don’t lie about it.
Violet
@NonyNony: I agree and I don’t know what’s in those tax returns. It would be irresponsible not to speculate. Thanks to John McCain for reminding everyone of the topic again today.
Shawn in ShowMe
@NonyNony:
Mitt Romney’s soul?
Dave
The hideous art in this post, as usual, is an utter distraction.
Martin
@NonyNony: The tax return situation didn’t go away, though. Ryan was asked repeatedly about tax returns as were the unselected GOP VP candidates. They’re no where near done with that.
Nethead Jay
Tangentially related: James Zogby tells Paul Ryan to Grow Up and out of his adolescent infatuation with Ayn Rand’s awful ideas. Yes, it’s on HuffPost, but it’s a good column and I’d say applicable beyond Ryan also.
roc
I think they’re taking one for the team. The Ryan pick suggests they’re just trying to gin up turnout among the faithful to hold onto the federal and state house seats they need to keep up their obstructionism and crony capitalism.
Lurking Canadian
@NonyNony: It’s gotta be donations to Planned Parenthood, of like $1M/yr. I can think of nothing else, short of a personal services contract with Bin Laden, that wouldn’t be worth just dealing with.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Normally I’d be your regular doom-and-gloom Dem here because of our inability to frame the message and hammer it home.
After what I’ve seen the Obama campaign do over the last month, I no longer have those fears.
Combine that with the fact that the head of the ticket is simply an awful politician and the fact it shows every time he opens his mouth in an unscripted moment and this will be a landslide for the President come November.
The only question now is the affect it’ll have down ticket. I don’t believe Markos’s rosy prediction about the Senate staying firmly in Reid’s hands or the House flipping but it sure looks better these days than 6-8 weeks ago.
Tom Levenson
@Bob2: Nope. Ain’t got time to point out all the stupidity on the internet. I’ve read Roy a bit; he’s a little slick, but it’s a shame to see any talent at all wasted on trying to pick up crumbs from Big Folks table.
Life is too short; I’ve got stuff I should be writing right now; all that.
Violet
@Nethead Jay: That’s very good. Thanks for the link.
jibeaux
@beltane: This sounds like an excellent visual for a facebook meme…
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
But it’s what they DO. They cannot help themselves.
cls180
Watch this CNBC video of hedge fund manager John Taylor where he spills the beans on the Repubican M.O…..
http://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-funder-john-taylor-mitt-romney-blew-it-by-picking-ryan-and-now-hell-lose-the-election-2012-8
Valdivia
@Nethead Jay:
On the same wave-length but not with much depth this piece in New York Mag about how Ryan is like a creepy libertarian ex. It also happens to be funny and true.
Tom Levenson
@Dave: I do truly enjoy your distress.
NancyDarling
@Violet: Yeah, I forgot. We do let people sleep on the streets today.
danimal
Remember, some high profile Republicans up for reelection (Scott Brown (MA), Denny Rehberg (MT) have publicly distanced themselves from the Ryan budget. They are probably cursing Mitt Romney up and down the street. Now they have to A) flip-flop and claim they always supported the Ryan budget or B) try to obscure their differences from the national ticket. Add to that the multitudes of GOP reps and senators who hate the Ryan budget but voted for it out of party loyalty, and you’ve got a pissed-off, scared congressional delegation these days.
A likely close Obama victory with some GOP congressional control may have morphed into an Obama blowout with Dems sweeping the House and Senate. If you look into the Washington night sky, you can see the GOP bat signal (a $ sign) flashing; only mountains of BS on the airwaves can save them now.
Roger Moore
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Violet
@roc: I’m not sure that’s going to work. Ryan’s plan is going to be analyzed and dissected far more than it would have if he’d not been on the ticket. Older white voters are the base. When they see the Ryan wants to take away their Social Security and Medicare, I’m not sure they’ll be so excited about him.
roc
@NonyNony:
The kind of tax shelter advice people pay firms like Bain millions upon millions of dollars for. He’s running for President, but he still needs to be able to make a living when he’s done, for Pete’s sake.
japa21
I think, if you really look at Romney and his approach to the world, the Ryan pick made all the sense in the world. After the Andrea Saul screw up on RomneyCare, he had to believe that maybe the base wasn’t as secure as he thought it would be. The only person likely to secure the base was Ryan. At the same time, one of the tells of the Saul screw up is that Romney did want to pivot more towards the middle, knowing the base would not, of itself, be enough.
I think his plan was one of, throw Ryan out for the base, try for the middle and have Ryan assure the base that things were all right.
The problem is that Romney is truly unable to conceive of anything he thinks of going wrong. (Ryan is much the same.) He is used to totally controlling the situation, either through his position (as head of Bain) or his money (the primaries).
Plus, he cannot look beyond himself, thereby totally ignoring the impact a Ryan pick would have on down ticket races. To him those races just aren’t important.
The GOP as a whole has totally underestimated the ability of the Obama campaign, and increasingly the Dem campaigns to actually, you know, not cower in craven fear when attacked by them. What Obama’s biggest accomplishment this year may be is to serve as a model for other Dems. Be proud, be loud and don’t take any prisoners.
catclub
@Valdivia: “Don’t lie about it.”
1. There is well known internet post to the effect that good ideas do not need to be lied about in order to appeal to people. Similarly, if his idea of vouchercare is so good, why postpone it for 11+ years?
2. Actually, Ryan is one of the few anti-abortion zealots who comes close to saying that women who have abortions should be prosecuted for said crime, if they had their way. Usually it is just the person who performs the abortion that they demonize.
JWL
Terry Nelson: “The more Romney and Ryan have to defend Ryan’s plan in the presidential race, the more they’ll provide air cover for other candidates”.
Me (if I paid his salary): “You’re fired”.
.
Violet
@japa21:
God, I hope so.
Valdivia
@catclub:
This is my whole point right there. They are getting points for boldness when in reality they are cowards. Having their cake and eating too.
Romney lying his ass off about medicare, scared republicans running around with Luntz like memos telling their members to not use the word voucher and then some study with a prepared ad that shows granny soothingly telling old people that the candidate will be alright because nothing happens til later. Why do they need to say that if the program is so damn good?
Because as Obama said–no one would buy what they are selling.
jl
@Bob2: Avik Roy is one sad ass economic and health care columnist. He misrepresents Lucentis as some miracle cure for macular degeneration. NICE, the UK cost effectiveness panel, was correct, and many doctors and health care analysts agree that Lucentis is NOT the most cost effective approach to treating macular degeneration and there are substitutes.
NICE was probably correct to restrict reimbursement for Lucentis except when it was last resort for cases where blindness could result.
One little item Roy leaves out is that Genentech, the maker of Lucentis, tried to restrict availability of a much cheaper and almost as effective alternative. Ophthalmologists had fit at meetings and were able to preserve some availability of the cheaper and also effective alternative.
So, IMHO, his analysis of UK health care rationing is bogus, and then when it comes to the alternative market based approach, he just quotes Ryan/Romney promises. Not any analysis for facts or figures, just quote Romney and says because the liar Romney says so, it must be true.
From what I saw in your link, it is just garbage analysis.
So, is Roy a shill, or just ignorant?
Anoniminous
@japa21:
That’s where racism landed them. They cannot conceive of an intelligent, competent, black man.
japa21
@danimal:
The problem is that all of a sudden, that mountain of money, which was going to be laser focused into say 35 Congressional races, will now have to be spread over at least twice as many which dilutes its value.
I have a hunch that some GOP candidates that were counting on the Koch/Adelson/Rove money machines may find themselves considered lost causes and tossed up on the rocks by themselves. I would include, for example, Joe Walsh in that category.
Linda Featheringill
@NancyDarling:
That’s a cheerful image. Depressing as hell, actually.
Villago Delenda Est
@japa21:
He’s a ni*CLANG*. It is absolutely unpossible that he’s out-thinking and out-maneuvering them. He’s not smart enough. If only we had the college transcripts to prove that he got all his grades on affirmative-action cheating rather than merit, we’d nail his black ass!
catclub
@Lurking Canadian: “It’s gotta be donations to Planned Parenthood, of like $1M/yr.”
Nope. In the 2010 return it says the amount of charitable donations. It does NOT itemize them.
I go with either Reid ( zero taxes paid) or the 2009 amnesty.
Either way, he is NOT releasing them, ever.
catclub
@japa21: I don’t understand your reasoning. It seems to me that the big money is much more effective in selected House/Senate races, and it would be even more likely to go there as soon as they decide Mitt has little or no chance. In that case, horse race up till later, increases the chances of down-ticket democrats.
EconWatcher
@catclub:
The Planned Parenthood donations idea never made any sense. If he had done such a thing to shore up his pro-choice credentials, he would have publicized it–that would have been the whole point, after all–so we wouldn’t need the tax returns to prove it.
Regardless of whether he was part of the 2009 amnesty, the answer has to be that his tax avoidance strategies were really creative and–to the average joe and jane who work hard and play by the rules–slick and offensive.
roc
@Violet: The Tea part is older white voters. They _love_ privatizing Social Security and vouchers for Medicare. Most assuredly, because none of them currently drawing benefits will live under the changes.
Under the plan, no-one over 55 will experience the new regime. And the younger conservatives were raised to believe Social Security and Medicare were never going to last long enough to provide them benefits anyway. Nevermind the well-studied long-term planning shortcomings of the human mind. (People routinely accept lesser benefits when they’re concrete [6k voucher] as opposed to amorphous [healthcare].)
And let’s not forget the way they love to think about austerity for the people they look down on (minorities and the poor) and rewards for the people they look up to (tax cuts for the rich).
So, yeah, the base will absolutely eat up the notion of the GOP putting Ryan and the Ryan Plan up front. They exist in a fact-free alternate universe. They’ll rejoice at the vision and values.
Steeplejack
@Martin, @MikeBoyScout:
As a former newspaperman, I can tell you that “lede” stuff is pretty recent, dating only from about the mid-’70s. One of those “atmospheric” things that newbies and wannabes use more than do real journalists. Although maybe they do now, since everything has been Hollywoodenized and meta-ized.
Now, “-30-”, there you’ve got something.
Turgidson
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Ryan’s granny-starving is an abstraction to the Villagers. They’re by and large wealthy enough and have secure enough jobs, given that the village is a revolving door no matter how much of a fuckup you are. They don’t need to worry too much about the future of Medicare and can’t imagine a world where they would.
To them, draconian policy choices that don’t interfere with their charmed existence are just part of a big political game. And policies that squeeze the middle and working classes are “serious” by definition. Because, well, just because.
James E. Powell
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
I’m a native of Cleveland, Ohio, spent most of my life there, and am an irrational fan of its sports teams. As a result, I’ve learned that I should never be optimistic, that I should always play as if I am behind, and that I don’t believe that I’ve won any game until I read about it in the next day’s papers.
I react to overconfidence like my skin is on fire. I douse it in ice water.
And the ice water for Obama Optimism consists of the millions that will be spent by right-wingers sworn to defeat him, the reliability of the right-wing voters to turn out, the lack of same in liberal voting blocs, the corporate press/media’s determined efforts to equalize the race, the impervious ignorance of most of the electorate, the so-far fairly successful efforts to suppress the vote in key swing states, the fact that the economy is still shitty, the possibility that something will happen in Europe to make things worse, the possibility that something will happen somewhere else that will be blamed on Obama, the fact that Dianne Feinstein is still on “our” side, and there are no doubt a few more that I can’t think of right now.
The election is a long way off.
Linda Featheringill
@danimal: #42
I think it’s possible, not a foregone conclusion but downright possible. [Hope, what a strange sensation!]
wrb
@catclub:
Or he used Son of Boss himself
Or he used every single other tax avoidance scam
Or he invested in businesses that did illegal or just unacceptable things (see Stericycle)
Or he didn’t pay gift tax on the money he slipped his kids
Or he undervalued the assets he transfered to his IRA
Or additional opportunities came along to partner with the death squad/ drug families that provided Bain with initial capital
Or he’s deducting for 72.3 additional wives and eleventy gazillion kids.
or all of the above.
EconWatcher
@catclub:
I can’t speak for japa21, but if there’s a full and fair airing of what was in the Ryan bill–passed almost unanimously by House Republicans–many, many apparently safe GOP seats could come into play.
How can you really assure old folks that you’re only going to gut Medicare for people younger than them? Even if they don’t care about the younger generation, why would they believe that the younger folks will cheerfully continue accepting those massive payroll deductions, for a program that won’t really take care of them?
I thought it was potential political suicide when they all voted for that bill. But without the Ryan pick, the whole thing may have stayed under the radar and remained deniable. Not now, I think.
James E. Powell
@japa21:
At the same time, one of the tells of the Saul screw up is that Romney did want to pivot more towards the middle, knowing the base would not, of itself, be enough.
I think you are on to something. I also think that Romney believed that Obama-hatred was so strong that once he was the nominee, he’d be able to say whatever he wanted without alienating his base. He found out otherwise.
Roger Moore
@Linda Featheringill:
How about “change”? ;-)
japa21
@roc: Except for one thing. Most of them have children and grandchildren and dote upon them. They are not as greedy and self centered as the Republicans believe. Remind them how much they love their Medicare and mention that it is too bad that their kids and grandkids won’t have the same benefits and they will respond.
Not necessarily the majority, but enough to matter.
Valdivia
@jl:
devastating analysis of Avik Roy. And yes, he is a total hack.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Villago Delenda Est: Sorry, not sure what you’re saying with your reply. I’m not disagreeing with that quote or anything.
Linda Featheringill
@Anoniminous: #52
You’re probably right in that a large part of that miscalculation is racism or at least white supremacy if you want to split hairs.
But I never understood why they never recognized the amazing accomplishments of Team Obama in 2008. They defeated the Clinton machine, one of the best before that time. They defeated the Republicans [okay, maybe not too hard]. AND they got a black man elected to the office of President of the US.
Any team that could do all of these things has to be very, very good at running campaigns. They might be beaten in the right circumstances but it would never be easy.
japa21
@EconWatcher: You did a good job speaking for me. As I mentioned, I think they probably were going to really focus on about 35 races. They will have to try to protect a lot more now. There is a finite amount of money, as large an amount as it may be. By necessity, they can’t put as much into each district.
P>S> I think they pretty much gave up on Romney a while ago and didn’t plan on m ost of their money going for him anyway. No evidence to back that up, just a gut feeling.
catclub
@wrb: I read that article, too!
I did unfairly limit the options.
Violet
@roc: I know that teabaggers are excited about privatizing Social Security and Medicare. But when the Ryan plan was first floated, it was not well received by older folks. Republicans in Congress have been distancing themselves from it due to its unpopularity.
People have kind of forgotten about it until now, when Romney picks Ryan and it’s suddenly front and center again. All the analysis of it has been done and it’s not favorable. But no one was talking about that. Until now. It’s not like people are ginned up to “reform Medicare” with some new plan that has to be analyzed. All the analysis is done and the Democrats and media just refer to it, like Soledad O’Brien did this morning and Obama and Biden have been doing.
It’s much easier to discuss a plan that’s already been determined to be a bad idea by most people than some new plan that people get a chance to define.
So if some older person thought the Ryan plan was a great idea, they’ll get a chance to really look at it now. I think some of them, when they do that, will not like what they see. Even teabaggers.
Turgidson
@Martin:
I’m not sure how true that is. Sure, Ryan may believe his own bullshit, and a fair number of the braindead 2010 teabaggers in the House are with him, but I think the Republican establishment (to the extent there even is one anymore) wants Ryan’s granny-starving policies simply to enrich themselves and their buddies. And many of them are probably somewhat aware of the consequences of granny-starving and simply don’t care, or think anyone who needs to rely on Medicare simply deserves that fate.
Plus, of course, if they really believed they were on the right side of the argument, they’d stop fucking lying about every detail of it. But maybe it’s just so ingrained into their habits that they can’t help it.
wrb
@EconWatcher:
It is important to repeat that Ryan’s original plan gutted SS and Medicare for everyone.
A politician’s goals are more important that his promises of the moment, made for the purpose of interim success through compromise.
The Thin Black Duke
@Linda Featheringill: Again: racism. Sometimes things are that simple. Or stupid.
Ben Franklin
He doesn’t have a choice but the muzzled attack dog, Sununu tried to make the point that Romney is the POTUS candidate, making Ryans Plan moot. He dashed Tweety’s hopes for a scoop and useable soundbyte, but his dilemma is tangible. How can he hope for anything except incredulity from Tea Partiers, AND mainstream GOPers?
Shawn in ShowMe
@Roger Moore:
I dunno, Mitt had to be human at some point if George Romney was his father. Maybe selling his soul to the devil was the price he had to pay to become Bill Bain’s favorite son.
Villago Delenda Est
@Xecky Gilchrist:
I’m saying that Ryan’s budget plans make the deficit worse in the short and mid term than it is now.
So it doesn’t even pretend to address the teabaggers’ asserted concerns about the deficit.
But then again, the teabaggers didn’t get concerned about reckless borrowing and spending until a few moments after 8PM PST on 4 November 2008, when “that one” was declared the winner of the Presidential election.
japa21
@Linda Featheringill: They probably felt it was an anomaly, based upon people wanting to be able to say they voted for the first blah President. Plus, Hilary is a real shrew who couldn’t have won anyway. Plus, pure luck was involved. It has been a long time since a Dem has run this type of campaign and they just didn’t believe any Dem, much less a black Dem, could or would do it.
Valdivia
And now Romney is out of the gate with an ad accusing Obama with stealing from medicare to pay for Obamacare. I think they are running with the 2010 playbook on this one no?
I hope the O team has an ad in pipeline soon, not let this lie fester.
tamied
@James E. Powell: Dude. Move to Pittsburgh.
Linda Featheringill
@The Thin Black Duke: #77
Republican miscalculations:
“Again: racism. Sometimes things are that simple. Or stupid.”
How about racism and stupidity? I’d agree to that analysis.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m saying that Ryan’s budget plans make the deficit worse in the short and mid term than it is now.
So it doesn’t even pretend to address the teabaggers’ asserted concerns about the deficit.
True.
…my comment was about how, with the Ryan pick, the Repubs are going to have to discuss *specifics* of their plans, exposing the fact that you’ve articulated there, and that’s why Republican strategists are shitting themselves. They’d rather have it so that the candidates can just say “Obama BAD! I have lots of IDEAS!” and leave it at that.
Shawn in ShowMe
@James E. Powell:
That’s why the Browns are the Browns and the Steelers are the Steelers.
Roger Moore
@Linda Featheringill:
Yes, they defeated Clinton, but Hillary was unpopular because of the Clenis, and anyway she’s a woman. And he beat McCain, but that was because the economy melted down and everyone blamed the Republicans for some unknown reason. It was those circumstances that gave Obama the win, not his qualities as a candidate or the hard work of his team. At least that’s the way you’ll see things if you’re incapable of giving a black man credit for anything.
Nethead Jay
@Valdivia: Yeah, quite parallel and it’s both funny and deliciously cutting.
jl
@Valdivia: Roy calls himself the Apothecary? Real docs and pharmacists I know would laugh themselves to death from his ‘analysis’.
Who is this guy? Is he a pharmacist? If so, there is no excuse for what he wrote.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
G*d damn but that’s my favorite Degas. I once got a box of cards called “Degas at the Races” and only sent that to my favorite people.
Villago Delenda Est
@Xecky Gilchrist:
Well, of course. What Rmoney has done is made the Ryan plan front and center in the discussion, even if he tries to disavow parts of it. It’s like his taxes…as long as they’re not released, they’re in play. Now the Ryan plan is in play. He’s shooting himself in the foot, repeatedly, with a howitzer.
If you look at the details of the Ryan plan, not just the executive summary, which they’re counting on the lazy cocktail weenie swilling vermin of the Village to do, suddenly you discover that the executive summary is bullshit.
Just as you say, they want do the “Obama BAD! I have lots of IDEAS!” thing. Did we mention that he’s got a heavy tan, too?
Roger Moore
@Shawn in ShowMe:
Are you sure he wasn’t put together from spare parts from a 1947 Hudson? It would explain a lot.
Linda Featheringill
@Roger Moore: #87
Republican miscalculations:
You’re saying they allowed their racism make them stupid?
Thin Black Duke, agree?
I have often suspected that people who blame the “other” for problems don’t try to fix their problems. They aren’t exercising their brains in that way and so become dumber with time.
Valdivia
@jl:
I know he subbed at McMegan’s (so that gives you a sense of where he comes from) and that he writes about health issues for the big righty publications. I have no idea as to his background but simply assumed (I know, lazy of me) that he was a hack. Has never proved me wrong! :)
@Nethead Jay: I laughed out loud because I had that happen to me once on a date. At some point I put on my OKCupid profile: ‘if you dig Ayn Rand please don’t contact me’ :D
Turgidson
@wrb:
Yes indeed. Ryan’s first budget, the really really really bad one, was a reflection of his preferred goals. That he later moderated it a little bit to be somewhat less obviously and immediately destructive does not change the fact that he wants to take down the whole social insurance enchilada at first opportunity.
The Thin Black Duke
@Linda Featheringill: True. I humbly concede to your gracious wisdom, m’lady.
Nethead Jay
@Valdivia: Gad, that must have been quite a moment of realization…
Good idea putting that on the profile
Valdivia
@Nethead Jay:
I never made it past the restaurant and bar with the dude because by the second hour I could tell where his politics were. But I kept having these Randians contact me so I made it clear I wasn’t interested. Also: tons of evangelicals trying to convert me. Weird.
Bob2
@Valdivia:
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/roy.htm
assuming he didn’t graduate from med school
The Other Chuck
I was going on to a friend about how seniors weren’t buying the whole “if you’re over 55, you’re not affected” nonsense, and I had several points that have all been said here, but she gave me a new one:
“A lot of people who are 55 still have friends who are 54”
Valdivia
@Valdivia:
and he used to work at Bain Capital.
Thanks for the link.
The Other Chuck
@Steeplejack: I thought it was because “lead” referred to linotype slugs. Not that you see any of that now of course.
Calouste
@The Other Chuck:
“A lot of people who are 55 are married to people who are 54”
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Valdivia:
Got you beat: Back in my single days, found out about two hours into the date that she had worked on Phil Graham’s 1996 Presidential campaign in college.
Not thinking, I blurt out that I never understood why anyone would want to vote for a man who looked like an evil child-molesting turtle.
Yep. That went well.
Steeplejack
@The Other Chuck:
Even in that primitive time we were able to keep homographs straight in our minds.
And here’s the thing: back in the old days the term would have come up verbally, not so much in writing, i.e., the city editor would yell at you across the newsroom: “You buried the goddamn lead!” So you pretty much got his drift without needing him to spell it for you.
I’m not saying lede hasn’t come into use, but it is definitely not an old-school thing, and it smacks of faux tradition, like a fake Irish pub that wants to look 50 years old but is really a refurbed Applebee’s. Levenson’s use of lead certainly didn’t deserve the tut-tutting corrections.
/coot grumble off
El Cid
@Steeplejack: I too endorse letting “lede” lapse into history as being important for a certain era of printing technology.