is this the most hackish thing Megan has ever written?
It seems like progressives are conceding the ground war and wondering if they can't just get away with a fabulous new paint job on their bombers. But I don't see how you can do this without winning the actual battle: persuading Americans that they want this bill. Which right now, they don't seem to. Yes, I understand that if you word the question just right, you can get a majority of americans to proclaim their support for some provisions of the bills on the table. Unfortunately, this is true of virtually every bill.And if you call harmless consultations about end of life care "death panels" you can scare the stupid people into having public tantrums.
I'm actually glad Megan is acting slightly triumphant, that means we'll probably get health care reform.
Btw, why has no one said that the real reason reform opponents are against the so called "death panels" is that without them the default state is heroic efforts to keep the body alive indefinitely, as in Terry Schiavo, which costs a looooooooooot of money? People who choose DNR cost the health care industry very real dollars, and if more people did it they'd be out a significant sum. And since Medicare ends up covering most of those costs, because we're mostly talking about the elderly, hey, there's some of those needed cuts in Medicare spending just by respecting people's most personal decisions. The ridiculousness of the death panel claim is distracting from what's actually going on, by design.
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"Unfortunately, this is true of virtually every bill."
Who does she think she's talking to? Children who will nod in awe at her knowledge of the world?
Just as many writers don't want to write, but to have written, so MM doesn't really want to write about economics. She wants to be An Economics Writer.
From that standpoint, she easily slips into the role of Wise Scribe, who chats (using British locutions, in a writerly way) with her constituents about iPods, food, human nature, "Europe," obesity, and every other thing about which she knows only what will reinforce her libertarian imaginings.
Another distinctive thing about her is: *she believes her own bullshit.* This distinguishes her, not only from the first-rate writer (who makes it her business to challenge her own assumptions), but even from the hack (who at least has the honest cynicism to not believe anything).
In other words, she's an amateur, merrily writing about things about which she knows nothing, to the acclaim of solemn idiots.
Which is why the NRO Corner quotes her often.
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