Free Republic

Joni Ernst, a Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, was made in the Sarah Palin mold — her first TV ad focused on her experience castrating hogs. Perhaps high off the buzz and Palin endorsement that that ad generated, Ernst just released another TV spot that is beyond parody. The 30-second spot, titled "Shot," features Ernst at the shooting range, "unloading" on Obamacare. The narrator's lines sound like a Palin speech run through the shredder. As Ernst rides into the frame on a Harley, we hear, "Conservative Joni Ernst: Mom, Farm Girl, and a Lieutenant Colonel who carries more than just...

In a letter to Rep. Bruce Braley, the Congressional Budget Office further explains some of its analysis regarding the effects of medical malpractice reform on health costs and health outcomes. The letter as a whole is worth reading for a number of reasons, but one point stuck out to me. Pessimists regarding malpractice reform have pointed out that it would save the federal budget only around $54 billion over ten years. I say “only” because this is nevertheless almost half as much as the entire Senate health bill would purportedly save, even leaving aside well-justified uncertainties regarding whether the Senate...