Thursday, November 29, 2012

Elsewhere: Filibuster, Fiscal Cliff, Social Security

A few from this week...

At PP Tuesday, I argued that the evidence from nominations showed that Mitch McConnell's claim that increased cloture was a result of Harry Reid "filling the tree" and blocking GOP amendments is wrong.

Then today at PP I tried to explain the bizarre Republican habit of insisting that they should pick the Democratic negotiating position -- now, demanding that Democrats propose Medicare cuts, and earlier, insisting that Barack Obama should support Simpson-Bowles.

And yesterday, I had one about Dick Durbin's proposal for a special commission on Social Security -- or, all about what special commissions can and can't do.

By the way -- in case you missed it last night, I'm back to Watergate blogging. So if you enjoy those, I did two last night, with more to come. Much more. Truth is, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to handle it as it goes along. Things are still going to be fairly slow for a while, but then it starts getting pretty hectic. Oh well; I'm enjoying it, and perhaps some of you are too.

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE your Watergate posts, please keep them coming.

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  2. Any desire to comment on George Will's insipid column? I saw it while on the Post's site (it was the most popular), and, I mean, wow. He simply doesn't understand liberals one tiny little bit.

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  3. I adore your Watergate posts too. One way to look at them is that they're offering value that no other blog does anything remotely like. I learn things I had no idea about (I was born in 1970 but my family talked a lot about Watergate.) Please keep doing them!

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  4. The Watergate posts are great. I was just a kid when Watergate was unfolding so I did not fully understand it in real time. Your posts have been enlightening. For those who want additional detail, I recommend Rick Perlstein's excellent book Nixonland.

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  5. One interesting aspect (there are many) to all the fiscal cliff rhetoric is the Democratic contention that allowing the Bush tax cuts on the middle class to expire would cause an unthinkable economic calamity. Their actual thinking on the debt/deficit goes something like this:

    Plan A) Inflate a new tech/stock/housing/consumer spending bubble. Plan B) Raise taxes on everyone, run the printing presses, rebase the currency...

    I like the Watergate stuff -- brings us back to a simpler time when people were genuinely surprised and appalled that their leaders would lie to them.

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  6. Keep the Watergate posts coming. You got me hooked into it and I have bought a few books on the matter. It's all fascinating stuff.

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  7. Please keep the Watergate posts coming! I'm reliving my childhood through it!! This is great stuff, updated. I read Woodward and Bernstein and Ambrose's bio of Nixon, Bill Safire's book Before The Fall, it is always good to have a fresh perspective as new information comes out.

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