Kareem wants to coach  the Lakers. ...  4:17 P.M.

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Kf welcomes Howard Fineman to the Blame Orszag Club:

Orszag's fantasy
Every president wants to reconcile frugality and generosity, and there is always an ambitious and clever aide willing to tell him it can be done. In Obama's White House it is Budget Director Peter Orszag, who confidently told Obama that carefully administered universal health coverage would save the government money in the long run. ...  [snip]

Obama doesn’t like to make enemies, and he loved the idea — fueled by the likes of Orszag — that he could fight the reform battle on conservative turf: that we need to completely change the system because otherwise we will go bankrupt as a country.

But that was a tactical mistake on two fronts. First, Elmendorf undercut it with three devastating CBO reports.

And even if the proposals did save the government money, Republicans in Congress weren’t going to care!

For two generations, they were on the receiving end of Democratic fear-mongering how the GOP wanted to "throw grandma in the snow." Now they are relishing the chance to accuse Obama of the same thing.

Prediction:  CW by September 14. ... 9:49 P.M.

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Do the folks over at NRO's The Corner realize that The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a Marxist movie? Forces of production (sheepherders, farmers) meeting fetters (cattle barons, Lee Marvin). Bourgeois freedoms (Jimmy Stewart) the product not of incremental progress but of a violent revolutionary moment (John Wayne). Etc. ... 10:57  P.M.

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'Little GM, You Used to Be So Big': Harry Shearer has written Fresh New GM!'s theme song. ... It even has a bridge. ... Downloadable Sept. 8 , apparently. ... P.S.: TTAC 's thorough review of GM's uninspiring future product plans  (mainly a flood of ... Buicks)  suggests that Shearer has the tone about right. ... P.P.S.:  I'm not predicting New GM! will fail. But it's hard to see it succeeding without the immediate labor cost advantage that Ron Bloom and Steve Rattner failed to negotiate for them, or an infusion of outside a---kicking executives that hasn't happened either. ... Plus: Some  anti-Lutzism . ... It looks as if the one American plant where UAW workers built Toyotas --the NUMMI joint venture with GM in San Jose, started in 1984-- will close . NUMMI's products had a good reputation, but apparently it was only profitable "for a single year." ... 11:47 P.M.

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Ross Douthat wants the GOP to stop defending grandmas against Orszagist curve-bending and

stand for the principle that Medicare can't pay every bill and bless every procedure

As a Democrat, I applaud this long-overdue attempt to return Republicanism to its historic mission. It will be comforting to see Douthat's party reclaim its its traditional image as skinflints attempting to deny the poor and elderly compassionate medical treatments and benefits that might prolong their miserable lives. It's been getting confusing lately! ... Maybe we can trade them Orszag for a pro-life big spender to be named later. ...  11:51 P.M.

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