From last night’s “All-Stars.”
On whether Republicans can defeat the Democrats’ health-care legislation:
I think they can sway public opinion on two issues. On complexity, the Republicans have a chart which makes it look like an absurd Rube Goldberg device.
Secondly, on sticker shock, on cost. When you hear, as I said earlier, Chris Dodd speak about prevention as a way of reducing cost–prevention’s a wonderful idea, [but] study after study has shown it doesn’t reduce costs.
Otherwise you’re going to have to do as the House did, which is have a surtax on the rich, who already are paying–the top 1 percent are paying–almost half of all income taxes. That well is dry. And to do it in a recession is crazy.
I think there are issues on which the Republicans can prevail.