I know, I know. The big cheeses are out of town, grilling, being grilled, and probably getting a bit baked. But the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup is simply too valuable to let go. I told DemfromCt that I'd attempt a humble replacement. I'll do this today, Wednesday, Friday, and next Wednesday.
So without further ado, here's what the bloviating, hot air crowd has to say. Add your favs in the comments section.
Everybody ought to read Paul Krugman. Sorta like a "Required Reading List" to be human. Not just today, but every time he writes something. Today it's a demolition of the financial industry and their system of bonuses.
EJ Dionne, Jr., thinks that things are going just peachy for Republicans, except that polls show that nobody likes them. Among the many reasons is that
this has something to do with how few positive things Republicans have to say. As a result, the party is being defined by extremist voices who have faced little push-back from its leaders.
Robert Samuelson says that the lessons from California's budget problems are that we ought to become more like Republicans! Cause everybody loves them, right?
The state's wrenching experience suggests that, as a nation, we should begin to pare back government's future commitments to avoid a similar fate. But California's experience also suggests we'll remain in denial, prisoners of wishful thinking, until the fateful reckoning arrives in the unimagined future.
The Congressional break gives Tim Pawlenty a chance to spew his wingnuttery. Guess what? He doesn't like health care reform. No, seriously. Play "Tim Pawlenty Bingo" and see how many rightwing talking points he hits.
The New York Times Editorial, on the other hand, urges Congress not to
slow the push for near-universal coverage while it looks for ways to apply the brakes to the growth in costs. We can be virtually certain that the reforms enacted will be deficit-neutral over the first 10 years. President Obama and Democratic leaders will find cuts in Medicare and raise sufficient taxes to offset the initial cost of insurance expansion.
It's an excellent framing of the issue, and a call to act.
John Doerr and Jeff Immelt remind us that the environmental problem isn't separate from our other problems. There is opportunity, but we need to act.
There is still time for us to lead this global race, although that window is closing. We need low-carbon policies to exploit America's strengths -- innovation and entrepreneurs. We know that building such policies is a heavy political lift. But, without doubt, bad energy policy has cost our country dearly, and the costs of continuing it are incalculable.
Michael Hiltzik reminds us that the health insurance industry is a bunch of lying, scheming, thieving, den of rats. Among their achievements?
The firms take billions of dollars out of the U.S. healthcare wallet as profits, while imposing enormous administrative costs on doctors, hospitals, employers and patients. They've introduced complexity into the system at every level. Your doctor has to fight them to get approval for the treatment he or she thinks is best for you. Your hospital has to fight them for approval for every day you're laid up. Then they have to fight them to get their bills paid, and you do too.
One Wendell Potter reminded a Senate committee in June that health insurance executives had assured Congress in 1993 that they would work to secure universal medical coverage and end denials of coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Then they moved heaven and earth to kill reform.
John David Lewis, Professor of "Libruls Suk Studies" at Duke University thinks that the current health care crisis was caused by getting health care to the poor. No, really. And health care reform will make it harder to get your car fixed. Or something like that.
Historically, the huge rise in health care costs began in the 1960s with the Great Society programs, especially Medicare.
[...]
Again, even a cursory look at the evidence shows the cost problem beginning in the late 1960s, when the government began its massive increase in programs designed to make us all equal by legislative decree.
[...]
Imagine car repair shops having to go through a 10-year approval process -- as pharmaceutical companies must -- before offering a service that the government will then provide to millions of people as a "right." Then ask what the response would be if some people broke with the consensus and said that car repairs were a service to be paid for. They would be shouted down as immoral -- while people demanded that their insurance pay for oil changes and ripped seats.
Apparently, Sarah Palin is a terrorist bent on destroying America, and should pal around with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Even if she's not.
"Mom! Billy's kicking me!" "No I'm not." "Yes he is. "Well, he's doing to too." "Neener, neener, neener!".
Someone at the Washington Times doesn't like Obama. I swear.
Someone at the Wall Street Journal doesn't like the "Cash for Clunkers" program. I swear.
Afghanistan is just like Vietnam. Except that we're actually committed to winning the war there.
There ya go. I hope this humble replacement helps.