Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
No, I think he's making the point that we shouldn't be less critical of an assertion merely because it's offered on some "scientific" basis without being willing (or able) to judge the actual science soundly. Taking either simply on faith results in stories of arks as well as stories of melting igloos. There is no more merit in simply believing there are beelyons and beelyons of stars 'cuz Sagan said so than there is in believing that someone turned into salt after seeing his wife 'cuz you read it in a Book.
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If you would continue to translate Hank's
ouevre into harmless platitudes, we could avoid misunderstandings of this sort and get back to agreeing, liberals and
conservatives alike, that Bush's deceptive and profligate ways are bad for the country:
- President Bush defended the recently enacted Medicare overhaul on Friday despite a dramatic increase in its projected costs, as his budget director received an earful from angry Republican lawmakers.
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The budget for Fiscal 2005, which he will release Monday. will project the price tag of the Medicare measure at $534 billion over the decade ending 2013. That is up substantially from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's $395 billion estimate that Bush and congressional leaders cited when winning votes to push the bill through Congress last November.
* * * * *
[Conservatives] expressed disbelief over why the administration did not reveal the new, higher Medicare estimates earlier. Some of them said they believed the bill would not have passed had the higher cost projections been known, the participants said.
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Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas....was among several conservatives who voted for the measure after being told by Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., that the costs should follow the CBO projections.
Other conservatives said privately they were owed an explanation as to why the White House did not provide them with the figures before they voted.
My question: Why did they ever believe those numbers? They were being roundly questioned at the time.
