Commenting on CBO estimates

I shout something along these lines at the radio pretty much every morning.

I would also like to propose a related rule: any reporters who receive a quote from a politician referencing this CBO score should be required to ask the politician which of these policies -- or which alternative cost-saving policies -- they support. And that should be on the record. I think it's perfectly legitimate to criticize health-care reform for not saving enough money. In fact, I think it's important. Health-care reform should save more money. But it's not legitimate to do that if you also oppose any and all measures for saving money.

Indeed, reporters should be required to ask politicians who point to the CBO as a reason for attacking health care reform: "Are you proposing, then, the status quo, in which we pay about twice as much per capita for health care than every other industrialized country and yet, by most measures, get inferior care?

But that's just crazy talk, I know.