I agree with Lawrence Tribe that the legal challenges to the PPACA are “a political objection in legal garb” but the Republican refusal to engage in any kind of serious dialogue on health care outside a courtroom means that it’s up to us to ask them questions on what they have in mind. When I …
Election 2010
Grass Roots Need Sunlight, Astroturf (Apparently) Does Not
After losing the 2004 Presidential election, a group of us here started a state-registered PAC. The point of the PAC was to find, promote and elect local candidates who share our views. The PAC works like this: we collect twelve dollars a year from anyone who wants to join. We spend the money to promote …
Grass Roots Need Sunlight, Astroturf (Apparently) Does NotPost + Comments (29)
The GOP Bill To Cut Medicare is Past Due
Paul Krugman does a beautiful job demolishing Republican arguments on health care reform before they hit the floor: We are, I believe, witnessing something new in American politics. Last year, looking at claims that we can cut taxes, avoid cuts to any popular program and still balance the budget, I observed that Republicans seemed to …
The GOP Bill To Cut Medicare is Past DuePost + Comments (23)
Nancy
I’m missing Nancy Pelosi already. I called my daughter when Pelosi was elected Speaker to discuss the historic nature of the event, but she didn’t pick up, and I had moved on by the time I saw her. If she had picked up, I’m sure I’d have some profound yet spontaneous exchange to share with …
Incitatus in the Legislature
There is a story that Caligula had his horse Incitatus declared a member of the Roman Senate because Caligula was an insane tyrant with a deep, quite possibly perverse, affection for his favorite beast of burden. There is a competing story that Caligula was less interested in enobling his pet than in humiliating his Senate …
Maybe This Time Someone Will Call Her On It
Let the lying begin: When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over “death panels,” Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1. Before the grifters, charlatans, flim-flammers and political opportunists that make up …
Maybe This Time Someone Will Call Her On ItPost + Comments (36)
Great Lakes Governors
Interesting, if true: On the same day that President Obama met in Washington with the nation’s new governors earlier this month, he also met privately in the Oval Office with Ohio’s outgoing leader, Democrat Ted Strickland. The special treatment for Strickland — the leader of a large, politically crucial state — originally was interpreted as …