Medicare
Romney, Ryan, and Etch-a-Sketch
The Washington Post's Overly-Credulous Take on Boehner
On Sunday, The Washington Post published a long, blow-by-blow of last summer’s negotiations between Barack Obama and John Boehner over a $4 trillion deficit deal. The take-away from the piece is that Obama had a chance at a deal involving $800 billion in tax increases and trillions in spending cuts (including cuts to sacred programs like Medicare and Social Security), but that he got cold feet and backed away. READ MORE >>
The Ryan Budget: New and Not Much Improved
Imagine a politician held a press conference in order to boast about a plan that would take health insurance away from tens of millions of people, while effectively eliminating the federal government except for entitlements and defense spending. You probably can’t, because no politician would ever do that. Except Paul Ryan just did. READ MORE >>
Rick Santorum, Senador Puertorriqueño
[Guest post by Molly Redden] For Rick Santorum, there’s one benefit of being the underdog: Mitt Romney’s flip-flops and establishment ties are so numerous and distracting that his own contradictions and Washington connections often go unremarked upon. READ MORE >>
Obama Needs to Reform Entitlements!
Yes, we know we’re tempting fate. But we figure there’s a 50 percent chance Obama will get reelected, and in any case he needs an agenda to campaign on. So we’ve asked a number of TNR writers to explain what they think Obama should focus on for the next four years if he wins in November. Click here to read the collected contributions. READ MORE >>
Romney Doesn’t Need Medicare? Lucky Him
Mitt Romney’s latest campaign statement won’t get the same attention as “Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs.” But maybe it should. READ MORE >>
No Enemies to the Right: The Defining Element of the GOP Primary
Carbon Copy
Payroll Tax Cut: Floor Wax And Dessert Topping
House Speaker John Boehner has finally learned that if he wants to get something done he has to stop trying to please his own Republican majority. READ MORE >>
Our Budgets, Our Selves
President Obama is catching some grief, because the budget proposal he released on Monday predicts that the deficit will be more than $1 trillion next year. That’s represents a large number, whether you measure it in dollars or as a proportion of the nation’s wealth. It also represents a broken promise, since Obama, after taking office, had promised to cut the deficit in half by the time this first term was over. He’s not going to meet that goal. READ MORE >>
