Is the implosion of every other candidate in the Republican field emboldening former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to take some tougher conservative positions? The idea may sound a bit counter intuitive, but before no campaign existed that could attack Romney from the left on entitlements, would he have written this:
That’s essentially the Paul Ryan plan, a plan that was too conservative for the likes of Tim Pawlenty to endorse. But now, here is Romney embracing it in the pages of USA Today. There are other good red-meat conservative fiscal policy ideas too, including block granting and capping Medicaid spending, and raising the Social Security retirement age. That is major reform to all three entitlement programs. Not even Ryan’s Path to Prosperity (which ignored Social Security) went that far.
Romney has a well established credibility problem with many conservative primary voters. But at least this op-ed shows he knows how, and has the courage, to say what conservatives want to hear.
Around the Bigs
The Washington Post, Senate blocks $60 billion infrastructure plan, another part of Obama jobs bill: A bipartisan coalition of all 47 Republicans, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Sen Ben Nelson, D-Neb., defeated the latest part of President Obama’s $447 billion second stimulus. The $50 billion bill in question would have created another bureaucracy authorized to spend money on infrastructure.
The Washington Examiner, GOP plan ties road projects to oil drilling: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced yesterday that he will introduce legislation increasing infrastructure spending, but paid for by increased oil and gas drilling.
USA Today, GOP votes to subpoena White House on Solyndra: A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee voted to subpoena the White House to produce all internal correspondence on its dealings with the bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra yesterday.
The Wall Street Journal, Greece Blinks on Euro Threat: After European leaders threatened to kick Greece out of the currency union, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou rescinded his call for a referendum on the latest bailout package.
The Washington Post, Former deficit hawk Leon Panetta now fights budget cuts as defense secretary: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is fighting against the up to $600 billion in defense cuts slated to become law when the Super Congress fails to reach agreement. : “It will not happen under my watch,” Panetta said.
The New York Times, Cuba to Allow Buying and Selling of Property, With Few Restrictions: New York City may still have rent controls, but Cuba announced yesterday that it will soon allow citizens and permanent residents to buy and sell real estate.
The Los Angeles Times, California rail agency requests billions to start construction: California’s bullet train agency, the California High Speed Rail Authority, formally asked the state for permission to start spending state and federal money to build the first 140-mile section of track in the Central Valley. The agency’s plan estimates the entire project will cost more than $98 billion, almost three times $33 billion California voters were originally told it would cost.
San Francisco Chronicle, Developer with shotgun scared off Oakland rioters: Oakland developer Phil Tagami defended his property from Occupy Oakland protesters with a shotgun he normally keeps at home. “I was standing there and they saw me there, and I lifted it – I didn’t point it – I just held it in my hands,” Tagami said. “And I just racked it, and they ran.”
Campaign 2012
Cain: On the same day that Politico reported a second woman received a $45,000 settlement for her claims Herman Cain sexually harassed her while at the National Restaurant Association, a Cain campaign aide told The Washington Post they were considering suing Politico over their first story. The Cain campaign failed to identify any facts that Politico got wrong. Politico also added more details to the first woman’s story.
Righty Playbook
Verum Serum posts coverage of the Occupy Oakland riots from ABC, CBS, and NBC.
The Weekly Standard‘s Mark Hemingway shows what is wrong with Obama’s new student loan program in one chart.
Michelle Malkin posts a bunch of photos from the Occupy Oakland riots that you will never see in a mainstream newspaper.
Lefty Playbook
Think Progress flags a Citizens for Tax Justice study showing that 78 Fortune 500 companies paid zero, or less, taxes at least one year between 2008 and 2010.
Salon‘s Steve Kornacki makes the case that it may be “a good idea for OWS to at least consider the ‘declare victory and go home’ strategy.”
Atrios describes how he will react to today’s jobs numbers: “Monthly report out tomorrow. Absent genuinely good news I will root for a measurement which looks bad. A moderately not awful number like +100K jobs will help to convince our overlords that there’s nothing more to be done, but numbers like that keep us at 9%+ unemployment forever. “
