Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Actual Very Serious People

The NYT does a long profile on the "Gang of Six" that seems to be trying to put together some sort of budget compromise. The group consists of three very conservative Republicans—Mike Crapo (R-ID), Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)—two moderate Democrats—Mark Warner (D-VA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND)—and one very liberal Democrat—Dick Durbin (D-IL).

That sort of coalition is unlikely to support anything I'm going to be wild about (Chambliss, in particular, has a special place in hell reserved for him thanks to his 2002 campaign). But at least the conservative members of the group are willing to try to face budget realities while they hold office. For that, they deserve way more credit than out-of-power truth tellers like Alan Simpson or Bruce Bartlett.

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