The controversial features of his plan that will probably come back and haunt the GOP, play into a great TV ad for dems from their perspective:
- in a time of fiscal crisis, the plan cuts taxes for the wealthiest Americans while cutting services elsewhere
- the plan revamps Medicare to a privatized voucher system forcing the elderly to go out and buy insurance from the private market, losing the elderly vote for a generation
- because it includes tax cuts, the CBO says it, at best, balances the budget in 2041
This is a made-for-TV-ads moment for the dems. Why in the world did Boehner allow this to be voted on?
Did you see Obama's quote from yesterday about the Ryan plan: "They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that's paid for by asking 33 seniors to each pay $6,000 more in health costs? That's not right, and it's not going to happen as long as I'm president."
This is a made-for-TV world. He gets it. He might even pay to run that ad on Fox, he's so giddy.
Americans want jobs to get out of this recession. That was Boehner's mandate. He has finished his first 100 days as Speaker, presiding over votes on Planned Parenthood, de-funding NPR, a budget compromise that the Tea Party detests, fighting abortion in the District of Colombia.
Not a single jobs bill.
Boehner faces a debt ceiling vote, something he has voted to raise 6 times without objection.
He has no control over his house. He needed democrats to pass the compromise. If he can't control his caucus and the US defaults on treasury bills, all hell breaks loose with unknown political consequences.
Boehner is going to kill the GOP, when it's on the verge of taking back the senate and maybe the white house. Isn't there an adult in the room who can do something about him? Someone's got to read the tea leaves.
Charlie Cook is an astute observer and vote counter: Web Link
