"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by publius In my ongoing obsession with the Blue Dogs, I've been wondering — why exactly should we expect the 52-member Blue Dog coalition to vote as a bloc? How exactly can the coalition's leadership maintain discipline once Pelosi starts twisting arms? In thinking about all this, I decided to run some numbers on the … Read more
by publius The current GOP line of attack is that the stimulus is a “failure.” Even if you think the stimulus is bad policy, this argument is ridiculous. Maybe the stimulus will ultimately fail, but it’s too early to say anything either way (though it has helped states). In short, the "failure" argument is aimed … Read more
by publius As I’ve noted, the Blue Dogs currently benefit from the Democratic Party’s institutional commitment to health care — both nationally and locally. Nationally, this commitment has helped elevate the Dems into the majority, which benefits every member of the caucus. Health care is a key part of the national brand, and it has … Read more
by publius Here's the basic dilemma on health coverage reform: We've got an imperfect bill, but we've also got a brief fleeting window of opportunity. Given this set of choices, I'd much rather have imperfect reform to nothing. No one is 100% happy with the bills we're seeing. Personally, if I could wave a magic … Read more
by publius I'd give it a big "eh." Tonight's strategy seemed right, but the execution could have been better. My hope tonight was that Obama would focus more on the human side. The debate has been getting bogged down lately in costs, and CBO reports, and new commissions, etc. All that stuff is extremely important … Read more
by publius Generally speaking, I'm all for "big tent-ness." If you have a big majority, you're necessarily going to have diverse interests. That's how Jimmy Madison intended it. (Ghost of Madison to Jefferson — Did that SOB just call me… Jimmy?). But health care is different. On this issue, the Democratic leadership should be less … Read more
by publius Both Von and Mark Thompson have raised some substantive critiques of the Democratic health care plans. So let’s address them. First, Von argues that small businesses will be hurt by the employer penalty – basically the fee companies must pay if they don’t provide coverage. If your payroll is $400,000, you have to … Read more
by publius Yesterday's Progress Report had an excellent rundown of why the House's proposed surtax is a reasonable and responsible proposal. You should read the whole thing for yourself. But the big points are that it's a modest tax, that it's narrowly targeted to the richest 1%, and that tax law has been very kind … Read more
by publius I just heard Chuck Todd say something rather remarkable on Hardball: This surcharge tax idea coming out of the House, Grassley himself said it's dead, and if Grassley says it's dead, Baucus usually goes along. I mean, the two of them are like blood brothers in this on the way they run the … Read more
by publius Retro Bill Kristol got out his flannel shirt and Pearl Jam albums today and decided to go all 1994 on us: With Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible. … My advice, for … Read more
by publius Many things annoy me about the calls to "slow down" on health care coverage. But what most annoys me is the idea that we should wait for a "bipartisan" result, as the latest letter from the "Gang of Moderates Protecting Really Rich People" suggests. In the abstract, these requests sound reasonable. But these … Read more