Blogs: Health Care for All

I wish I knew why the GOP has suddenly gone kamikaze on this Ryan plan, but I guess I don't care. They've been so close to the edge of insanity for so long now that it's a good thing for the country if they self-immolate before they are able to somehow seize total power again.

But it really can't be overstated just how self-destructive this attack on Medicare really is, on so many levels. It's bad on the politics and on the merits, of course. But ask yourself why a political party would spend many, many millions of dollars to spread a message that a very popular program among their most valuable constituency is in danger from their opponents as the Republicans did last November, — and then allow their opponents to piggyback on it immediately and turn it back on them? more »

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Finally — the Democrats have awakened to the fact that Paul Ryan's plan is the best thing that ever happened to them, a major overreach of the kind that perfectly characterizes the Republicans' greatest weakness: hubris.

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It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for Republicans. Almost. The mess the GOP finds itself in, after appointing itself to Medicare's "death panel," would be laughable if it weren't also so pathetic.

Especially since it's a mess of GOP's own making, and they know it. That's why Republicans pitched a collective hissy fit when — and this is the beauty part — Newt Gingrich told them the truth.

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Some House Republicans are responding to the outrage over their vote in favor of turning Medicare into a private insurance racket in sadly predictable fashion, reports The Huffington Post's Sam Stein: They're ducking tough questions from their constituents. more »

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The Republican plan for Medicare "cuts government spending" by shifting the cost of old-age health care directly to the middle class and poor. (I’ll explain below.) Here’s the thing: someone is going to get that $34 trillion. (I’ll explain below.) And that someone (the Supreme Court thinks corporations are "someone") is fighting hard for it. They'll say whatever it takes. more »

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You are a congressperson. You just voted for a budget that would destroy Medicare. Then you traveled home this week to meet with your constituents. Most of them like Medicare. What do you tell them?

Tell them you want to "save Medicare." more »

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I think this quote wins The International House of Pancakes Award for Most Creative Waffle: more »

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The President speech on the Federal deficit marked a brilliant return to what might be called his "holographic" style. Like a hologram, the President's speech was beautiful and evocative and shimmered with light. But like a hologram, what you see depends on where you stand.

Many progressives will hear a brilliant defense of government's role in the economy, and of the role that progressive taxation plays in a fair-minded economic system. Conservatives(those who aren't absolutely nuts) will hear a ringing endorsement of a plan that would downsize government and benefit the wealthy. And they'll love the President's "debt triggers," which could force the government to enact drastic cuts if targets aren't met.

This holographic quality, the ability to present himself as all things to all people, is the President's unique gift - unless, in the end, it turns out not to have been a gift at all.

What were the positives in the President's speech? It made a long-overdue case for government's vital role in society. It skewered the conservative notion that taxing the rich is unfair. And it took the right approach to Medicare by emphasizing the need to cut costs, not benefits.

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When conservatives start talking "welfare reform," progressives usually respond one of two ways. We either: (a) start inching towards the exits; or (b) stand in open-mouthed wonder, asking one another "Wait, they're not serious, right?"

Oh, they're serious, alright. In fact, that's why we start making for the exits — because they're serious. And none is more serious than the current poster boy for "serious" conservatives, Rep. Paul Ryan, who took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal touting his "Path to Prosperity" as an effort to build upon the welfare reform of the late 90s.

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Sometimes I think that the best thing that the only way our country is going to survive is if all of our political elites are forced to live like an average American for the next two years. And by average, I don't mean the delusional upper middle class, highly educated, well-connected professional kind of average. I mean the world of the sandwich shop owner, the garage mechanic, the office supply salesman and the corporate clerical pink collar ghetto office assistant. People who make between 30 and 60k a year and don't have a lot of expectations that they will make much more. The middle class workers who don't get to go on TV or have anyone but their closest families and friends ever tell them how great they are and encourage them to believe they will accomplish great things. The people who are just living their normal lives in their normal communities, doing normal, everyday, unremarkable things. In other words, most people:

If they did they would find that observations like this are totally absurd: more »

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