nytimes: The New Republican Landscape

[spanone]

Six months after voters sent Republicans in large numbers to Congress and many statehouses, it is possible to see the full landscape of destruction that their policies would cause — much of which has already begun. If it was not clear before, it is obvious now that the party is fully engaged in a project to dismantle the foundations of the New Deal and the Great Society, and to liberate business and the rich from the inconveniences of oversight and taxes.

At first it seemed that only a few freshmen and noisy followers of the Tea Party would support the new extremism. But on Friday, nearly unanimous House Republicans showed just how far their mainstream has been dragged to the right. They approved on strict party lines the most regressive social legislation in many decades, embodied in a blueprint by the budget chairman, Paul Ryan. The vote, from which only four Republicans (and all Democrats) dissented, would have been unimaginable just eight years ago to a Republican Party that added a prescription drug benefit to Medicare.

Mr. Ryan called the vote “our generation’s defining moment,” and indeed, nothing could more clearly define the choice that will face voters next year.

His bill would end the guarantee provided by Medicare and Medicaid to the elderly and the poor, which has been provided by the federal government with society’s clear assent since 1965. The elderly, in particular, would be cut adrift by Mr. Ryan. People now under 55 would be required to pay at least $6,400 more for health care when they qualified for Medicare, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Fully two-thirds of his $4.3 trillion in budget cuts would come from low-income programs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/opinion/18mon1.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

[al_liberal]

1. A NY Times post.

To me is close to the same thing as a freeper posting something uttered by the very fat pill popper; it's preaching to the choir.

[spanone]

2. ?

[Wilms]

9. Have you read any articles that had, you know, more fair and balanced coverage?

It would be interesting to see how others view this. While the bill was defeated, it was otherwise a stunning victory for the Tea Party, if not it's future.

[cali]

13. oh for pity's sake.

that's ridiculous. now go away.

[msongs]

3. so where is the dems media campaign telling seniors that repubs want to "destroy medicare"? nt

[spanone]

4. last paragraph in article....

President Obama, after staying in the shadows too long, is starting to illuminate the serious damage that Republicans are doing. Their vision, he said last week, “is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America.” Other Democrats are also beginning to stand up and reject these ideas, having been cowed for months by the electoral wave. Their newfound confidence will give voters a clearer view of this bare and pessimistic landscape.

[Old and In the Way]

5. Republicans will now spend 100's of millions over the next 18 months trying to confuse and obfuscate

the real meaning of this blueprint. Will the corporate media oblige and help provide the cover by misinforming the public on the real impact the plan will deliver to the bottom 90%?

[spanone]

6. you bet they will

[bermudat]

8. In a word, yes

[PSPS]

11. Yes, and the media will be rewarded handsomely for saying "that's what the people want."

[999998th word]

12. They heard our chants loud and clear

----THIS IS WHAT DYSTOPIA LOOKS LIKE':sarcasm:

[AsahinaKimi]

7. Republicans real goal is to dismantle America...

and if not watched, they will.

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. the rx drug benefit was never about helping people.

It was entirely about sending tax dollars to RX companies.

[DCKit]

14. Thanks to the Supremes, Drug Companies are now people too. nt