I was going to post this in the Diary Rescue/Open Thread, but I thought that more kossacks would read his column if it was posted as a diary.
The New Republican Plan to Bankrupt America
Pearlstein shines a light on the ridiculousness of Michael Steele's op-ed, Protecting Our Seniors, with his take on the implications of Steele's GOP Principles for Health Care.
Unfortunately, I can only pick and quote 4 paragraphs (below the fold - my bold). My choices do not do the column justice. They're only teasers. It's such a delightful read, and makes a wonderful mockery of Steele and the entire GOP.
Enjoy. :o)
Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, this week revealed a secret Republican plan that would end up eliminating all federal farm subsidies; closing down Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks; selling off the interstate highway system; and canceling Head Start, subsidized school lunches and the entire college loan program.
The plan came to light as a result of an op-ed piece this week in The Washington Post in which the party chairman committed the GOP to spending an ever-increasing share of the federal budget, and the national income, on Medicare. When combined with other Republican promises -- to balance the budget, protect defense spending and never, ever raise anyone's taxes -- the inescapable inference is that the government would run out of money for every other domestic program sometime around 2035.
[snip]
Steele's op-ed was the latest salvo in his party's campaign to defeat President Obama's health-care reform effort at all costs and build public support for a Republican alternative that remains, to this day, a closely held secret. The new Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights, however, hints at the outlines of the GOP domestic strategy.
[snip]
According to Steele, Republicans will also seek to outlaw "any effort to ration health care based on age." You don't have to be a lawyer like Steele to understand that would effectively make it a federal crime for any hospital to refuse a heart transplant to a 95-year-old, or for any doctor to refuse to prescribe Viagra to a sexually precocious seventh-grader. Although Steele did not indicate what the penalty would be, he did not rule out the death penalty.
There's so much more...
Oh, and one last thing... PLEASE DIGG IT!