David Frum On Paul Ryan's Bad Math

April 27th, 2011
Our previous dissections of the Path To Poverty can be found HERE and HERE

The numbers in the Ryan Path To Poverty still just don't add up. I have pointed out (along with just about every non-elected Republican who has actually read the thing) the absurdity of the Heritage numbers in particular. Rather than respond to these revelations as an alarm bell, many members of Rep. Ryan's fanclub have doubled down on it. I am not the only one who thinks this is nuts.

David Frum writes:

"Well, we all sometimes get our math wrong. But here's the strange thing: the invalidation of Heritage's job predictions has had no impact whatsoever on Republican advocacy of the Ryan plan.

Suppose I presented you with a plan to land an astronaut on Mars. You check my numbers and discover a mistake: my trajectory will instead send the astronaut hurtling into outer space. If I answer, "Well let's use that trajectory anyway," wouldn't you conclude that I was less than totally committed to the Mars mission? That perhaps I had some other goal in mind instead?"

Indeed. 

Quote Of The Day - Here and Now Edition

April 19th, 2011
Damn straight.

"By the way, Heritage is always like this. Whenever there’s something the G.O.P. doesn’t like — say, environmental protection — Heritage can be counted on to produce a report, based on no economic model anyone else recognizes, claiming that this policy would cause huge job losses. Correspondingly, whenever there’s something Republicans want, like tax cuts for the wealthy or for corporations, Heritage can be counted on to claim that this policy would yield immense economic benefits." -- Paul Krugman on the Heritage Foundation's now discredited numbers used by Paul Ryan to promote his Path To Poverty

A Note To Angry Readers

April 15th, 2011
Again, you can read just some of the reasons why the Ryan plan is nonsense both HERE and HERE

As my inbox has flooded with defenses of Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) "pamphlet" ranging from the spirited to the spiteful, one fact has become abundantly clear; the vast majority of its defenders have not only not read the Ryan plan, they have also not read the CBO analysis or the Heritage analysis. This may not be surprising but it is disappointing.



I know it's asking an awful lot, but unless and until you folks have spent the time reading these documents... you are making fools of yourselves

Here they are. It's not that hard to read them.
The Path To Prosperity

Congressional Budget Office Analysis of the Ryan plan

The Heritage Institute Analysis of the Ryan Plan

McConnell's Vulgar Plans

Nov 4th, 2012

The Republicans are bing quite clear that there is currently no intention of getting anything meaningful done in the next 2 years.

Speaking before the Heritage Foundation this morning, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) laid out the reasons, in his view, that making the defeat of President Obama the number one priority for the Republican Party is both essential and responsible. He  frames the elevation of politics above policy as pragmatism.

"We have to be realistic about what we can and cannot achieve... On health care, that means we can and should propose and vote on straight repeal repeatedly. But we can't expect the President to sign it."

He goes on to describe the ways health care reform can be crippled through parliamentary denials of funding.

That's the priority.