I decided today that I would submit myself to the not-always-comfortable task of following David Frum's New Majority blog. Why? Because generally his conservatism is principled and intelligent. And because of his recent defense of Cass Sunstein from the explosion of crazy right-wing blog posts.
http://www.newmajority.com/gop-surrenders-to-becks-mob-rule.
Key points: Professor Sunstein is "admired by economic conservatives worldwide, [a] market-oriented economist, ... endorser of Republican Supreme Court nominees, and – by the way – ... constitutional scholar who has endorsed the Heller case expanding Second Amendment gun rights.
" We conservatives are submitting our movement to some of the most unscrupulous people in American life. This submission disgraces conservatism, discredits Republicans, and damages the country. It’s beyond time for conservatives who know better to join us at NewMajority in emancipating ourselves from leadership by the most stupid, the most cynical, and the most truthless."

I tried posting this comment on LCP's blog.

I Know Your Are, but What Am I?

Left Coast Rebel suggested on Sunday that Nancy Pelosi was "stupid" for suggesting that substantial savings could be wrung out of Medicare and Medicaid. I am a little surprised that someone who wants to eliminate Medicare is so dubious about the possiblity that the program has substantial wastage. In any event, I sent the following response, which has not been posted on his site, and likely never will:



It looks like you have misinterpreted what Ms. Pelosi said, which is completely consistent with the President's proposals. Ms. Pelosi said that substantial savings could be achieved throughout the entire health care system, not just Medicare and Medicaid. That is what the President has said all along, so I am not sure why you find this so shocking. For example, there is no reason for the size of current government subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans. But it requires a system in which everyone is brought under the health care umbrella. For example, when families have health insurance, they do not need to use hyper-expensive hospital emergency rooms as primary care clinics. Public exchanges can exert pressure on provider groups to adopt the "medical home" service model in place of fee for service arrangements. There are dozens of savings ideas that flow out of trying to create a rational system that covers all Americans. This isn't fanciful speculation - the ideas were reviewed in depth in the Dartmouth Atlas medical cost project that was reviewed in the February 26, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine. So, as far as "stupidity" is concerned, seems to be more up to date in the academic research on health care economics than others one might name.

Teabagger sign

lcp on the teabagger march

in Washington.

Here is the comment I sent him:

"what did you think of those signs that said "Bury Obamacare with Kennedy"? And the confederate flags?"


We will see if he posts it! Don't get your hopes up!

"left coast rebel" and congressional decorum

Our pal LCP has been praising Joe Wilson for his boorish behavior Wednesday evening. I tried to leave the following comment on his blog:

Does this mean that the next time a Republican President addresses a Joint Session of Congress it will be O.K. as a matter of decorum for Democrats to yell out 'lier'?"

Of course, LCP refused to post my comment!

So. Now vee may perhaps to begin. Yes?

This afternoon LCP decided hat Congressman Joseph Wilson' boorish breach of Congressional rules of decorum during the President's speech to a Joint Session of Congress was equivalent to William Buckley's angry words towards Gore Vidal in a televised debate at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. I tried to leave the following message on LCP's comment thread:

"Your attempt to equate Joseph Wilson' boorish breach of Congressional rules of decorum during the President's speech last night to Bill Buckley's angry riposted to Gore Vidal in their famous Issues & Answers debate in 1968 ignored the following key distinctions between the two situations:

1. Gore Vidal unforgivably called Buckley a "crypto-Nazi". Buckley had every right to be outraged at Vidal's contemptible personal attack.
2. The President, in addressing Congress, did not call Congressman Wilson a crypto-Nazi.

Why "leftcoastnotsoreble"?

Earlier this week I submitted a series of comments to a "
a right-wing blog. I had a great deal of fun, kept my comments clean, non-pejorative and too the point, and enjoyed tying the blog proprietor and his fellow denizens of the right-wing echo chamber tied up in knots. Imagine my surprise when "leftcoastrebel" responded by deleting my politely-worded posts, merely because they exposed the often comically absurd fallacies in his thinking. Within less than a day, LeftCoastRebel moved to an even more extreme form of censorship - he turned his blog into a "moderated forum" and refused to accept my posts. Because leftcoastrebel's actions reveal him not to be a real "rebel" in any meaningful way, I have decided to call my new blog "leftcoastnotsorebel" I will, from time to time, use this blog to comment on LCP's own posts. (Perhaps I should instead call this blog "fish in a barrel") Who knows? Perhaps I may even find something else to write about.