Thursday, August 16, 2012

Define radical, please

David Harsanyi has noticed that the media template for Paul Ryan is "extreme" and "radical." So, Harsanyi suggests we take a closer look, and perhaps even define the meaning of those terms.

Who is the radical in this year's elections. Is it Paul Ryan, who "supported TARP, auto bailouts and Medicare expansions, and wrote budgets that curb growth by a few percentage points over many years?"

Who is the rational person? Is it Barack Obama, who "didn't even bother passing budgets, and has no qualms heading toward a fiscal cliff, as long as he has a "class-envy tax hike to campaign on (for what is, in the context of spending, a pittance)." "And when the president carves out $700 billion from Medicare as seed money for a new trillion-dollar entitlement project, we are keeping with our non-radical traditions, even if we have to force everyone to participate." "Adding $11 trillion to the national debt, as Obama's proposed budget does, well, that passes the levelheaded policy test."

I think Harsanyi is doing what we all should be doing: recognizing media templates as they form, and debunking them.
Read more here:   http://reason.com/archives/2012/08/16/what-democrats-mean-when-they-say-radica

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