Josh Marshall Rant

I've been a loyal reader of Talking Points Memo since '04-'05. Josh is one of the main reasons I started blogging. His posts are succinct and about as on-target as anything on the net. Occasionally Marshall will evade his sensible skills and paint a picture as clearly and emphatically as possible. This is one of those cherished times:

Make the arguments on substance. Not about how the bill filing wasn't filled out with a No. 2 pencil or whatever other nonsense. They may not realize this: but the Republicans can't run on how bad Reform is going to be for the Dems politically. That's very meta, to put it mildly. You can't be so transparently cynical with your riffs that they don't even make sense on their own terms. They need to run on repeal. So, enough. The terms of the 2010 election are set. Stop puffing and threatening, shut up and bring it on.

That is about as harsh and snark as Marshall will get. He has no use for the sloppy blog posts you will see here and on about 99% of the internet. Eventually, there comes a time when you just have to say "own it." I've been well past that time. I'm glad to see Josh is too.

Marshall also hits on something I was saying yesterday. Are Republicans really going to run on repealing health care to children? Are they really going to make the midterm elections about repealing a federal law that prevents insurance companies from dropping you because you got sick? Marshall says we're past that. They aren't hinting at it, they've already said numerous times that's what they will do. So let's do this. Quit with your self righteous threats of killing babies and socialist takeovers and own it. I dare you to.