Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Paul Ryan Inspires a Return to Goldwater 1964

The blogosphere is alive today with commentary on the Democratic victory in the special election in the heavily Republican district of NY 26.

Despite initial Republican denials, the key factor clearly seems to have been the losing Republican candidate's public endorsement of Paul Ryan's plan to finance marginal tax cuts for the wealthy by privatizing Medicare and substantially reducing benefits.

From the left-of-center Chait explains this huge blunder by the Republicans. From the right-of-center, David Frum offers similar remarks here and here. For a good sense of how delusional the conservative movement has become on this, please read Jonah Goldberg's NRO article that advocates doubling down on the Ryan plan.

The contemporary conservative movement offers a peculiar mix of blind partisan hackery devoid of any interest in public policy (Health Care Reform, Cap and Trade, Climate Change, etc.) along with a suicidal devotion to politically toxic policy prescriptions.

No comments:

Post a Comment