In The Blogs

Fake Plan, Real Score

| Thu Nov. 5, 2009 8:27 AM PST

House Republicans released a "healthcare plan" of their own yesterday, but I didn't bother blogging about it because it pretty transparently wasn't a real plan at all. It was just a few thousand words of miscellaneous text designed to stop people from saying that Republicans don't have a plan.

Still, it has to be kind of embarassing to send if off to the CBO for scoring and have this come back. Glurk.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

Republican Talking Point: CBO is obviously biased

Submitted by daryl_mccullough on Thu Nov. 5, 2009 8:47 AM PST.

I don't think this will faze the Republicans in the least. They'll just say that the CBO is obviously biased towards Democrats.

Daryl McCullough
Ithaca, NY

Republicans' plan

Submitted by E L (not verified) on Thu Nov. 5, 2009 9:42 AM PST.

The Republican line is: "Yes, but our plan is not socialism. So there."

Sigh...

Submitted by TLM on Thu Nov. 5, 2009 9:58 AM PST.

Very disappointed there were no crayon drawings of Jesus high-fiving a bald eagle. Otherwise pretty much what you would expect from a group of people whose core philosophy -- using that term very loosely -- is completely at odds with the nature of the problem.

Klein: "But maybe, you say,

Submitted by MacGruber on Thu Nov. 5, 2009 12:12 PM PST.

Klein:

"But maybe, you say, the Republican bill does a really good job cutting costs. According to CBO, the GOP's alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit."

So, to save that extra 36 billion, you have to spend a trillion more.

That's some great math, Klein. No wonder you're a reporter at WaPo.

Of course, the Dems numbers don't include the doctor's fix. Different bill. Nor do they take into account three years of higher taxes and fees before the actual bill kicks in.

"This is a major embarrassment for the Republicans"

No, your article is a major embarassment for WaPo. No wonder reporters and editors are resorting to fisticuffs. Those poor editors can't find a decent reporter.