Exploding Cost of Drug Benefit Should Wake Up Conservatives

Detroit News ^ | 2/1/04 | n/a

[cksharks]

"Likeley purposefully" Why put this in there ? Why not say that nogood sob bush lied about the cost.

[chris1]

I agree 100%. I voted for W in 2000, Voted straight GOP in 2002, and am shocked at what has happened in the last years. I do not intend to vote for a Dem, but I am still in a state of depression over how deep the GOP and the President has strayed and failed to setan agenda that is fiscally sensible.

[dts32041]

So and you have a problem with the Republican process because?

[NittanyLion]

"Likeley purposefully" Why put this in there ? Why not say that nogood sob bush lied about the cost.

Well, there's a possibility the administration incompetently underestimated the cost. I wanted to allow for that in my statement. Not that either option gives me a comfortable feeling...

[xrp]

That isn't ignorant.That is a fact.

Then maybe Bush should do more to earn my vote. Otherwise, it is Constitution Party for me.

[Dane]

I have to make the observation that your rather transparent attempts at avoiding the conversation (via changing the topic, erecting strawmen, attacking me) do your side little justice.

IMO, ignoring real world political facts does your side little justice.

[NittanyLion]

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I suppose little remains to be said; I'll leave it to third-parties to decide who among us is making an earnest attempt at considering the facts at hand.

[FreeReign]

NittanyLion: Kerry's policy is not the topic of this thread...

Dane: Kerry's policy is germaine to the real world we live in.

Kerry's policy DOES put the president's policy in full context in relation to the real world.

To critique the president's policy on Medicare is what this thread is about and to do so without full context is meaningless.

[nonliberal]

Congress could not keep their word on how much a new vote-buying scam would cost? Who woulda thunk it?

[NittanyLion]

To critique the president's policy on Medicare is what this thread is about and to do so without full context is meaningless.

What's being critiqued here, is the incomplete accounting of costs involved in this program. Had the proper cost been presented at the outset, the calculus involved in voting on the bill and signing it into law may very well have changed.

The question then becomes, was the omission of this $130 billion due to deliberate misrepresentation (took the low end of the range and presented it as the real number) or ignorance (forgot to include the impact of changing demographics or inflation). Once the root cause is discovered, we should attempt to determine a method for preventing like incidents in the future.

[Consort]

If the Republican electorate is too afraid of short term consequences (some Dems getting elected)...

Dems are always getting elected — that's the problem — and you want more of them?

...to work for long-term goals (a Republican Party that is actually conservative),...

Then the GOP might lose enough moderate/liberal Republican/Independent voters to become big losers. Good news for the Dems. If voters want RINOs, then that's the way it is.

...then the Republican Party is doomed to drift ever-leftward...

They will drift leftward as conservatives abandon them like they did in '92 and/or to fill the vacuum created as the Dems move further left towards Socialism. And if voters stop contributing to the GOP or to any party, the parties will rely more on special interests for funding.....and they will then have to cater to those special interests. The people lose. So, trying to "send a message," or "teach them a lesson," or stop contributing are all options, and all can backfire in favor of the bad guys.

[MEG33]

I am surprised and dismayed.

I have many problems with some of Bush's actions.I will vote for him because he is the best man for the job,for judicial appointments,as CIC,as leader of the war on terror, as a man far more conservative than any of the dems,and a much better man.

I don't like the overspending,the lack of more border guards,either but I still think Bush is best man.

I don't see a dem President improving ,only dragging us into a mess...UN can run our foreign policy,approve or disapprove our policies,we can lose all those brave men have fought and died for.

[RJCogburn]

They will drift leftward as conservatives abandon them like they did in '92

Actually it led to the Republican takeover of the Congress in '94, with a conservative tilt.

[kenth]

I can't imagine being so passive as to be resigned to having to accept a pandering drug benefit plan. I'm sure I'll be told you are just being realistic. Maybe so, but fatalistic too.

Of course we know the democrats will be worse. That doesn't make taking one up the tailpipe from your own party make it feel any better. Some of us are expressing our outrage, writing congressmen, etc. hoping that we'll be heard enough to have some rethinking done.

[Sacajaweau]

Dan Blather made a boo boo the other day. He realized what he had said and his expression changed and he quickly went on to something else.

This is pretty close to what he said.

The Medicare Program is expected to be $540 bill, far above the $400 projected. The Dem Medicare Plan was $800 bill and would have exceeded $1 tril.

I kinda roared at the expression on his face.

[Sacajaweau]

If we don't watch out, we're going to have state hospitals and state doctors and state life and death decisions. And you're going to pay for it with your taxes.

[OldPossum]

No matter what President Bush's failings are, he will not appoint liberal-activist members of the judiciary that a Democrat will. That's the most important thing to remember.

[Nephi]

Exploding Cost of Drug Benefit Should Wake Up Conservatives

...or reveal the socialists in conservative clothing. Dane is that you?

[sauropod]

"BTW, not a peep from this editorial about the demos plan which would have been $800 billion."

And the difference between that figure and the up to $1 Trillion the editorial did say is exactly what Dane?

[sauropod]

I'm on the Atkins diet. Red meat is good ;-).