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Pete Spiliakos is a columnist for First Things.

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Better Than I’d Hoped For

From First Thoughts

Scott Galupo very kindly links to one of my post over at his blog.    Galupo also writes that: Right now, Romney boosters like Levin are chortling over the political difficulty Obama faces as a consequence of having paid for new spending rather than finance it through deficits. And . . . . Continue Reading »

Need. More. Ryan.

From First Thoughts

So I was watching Fox News Sunday .  They had Romney advisor Ed Gillespie on.  Gillespie is one of the better communicators the Republicans have.  When Chris Wallace asked Gillespie about Ryan’s Medicare reform plan and how the CBO estimated that this would cost the average . . . . Continue Reading »

A Week Of Ryan: Pros and Cons

From First Thoughts

I’m seeing more good than bad, so I’ll start with the good. Pro 1.  Unifying the base - Of all the plausible VP contenders, only Marco Rubio would have done more to energize those who regularly consume right-leaning media (and I think Rubio would have had bigger problems than . . . . Continue Reading »

Keeping Expectations In Check

From First Thoughts

I’ve read several conservatives who argue that Paul Ryan will “will wipe the floor with Vice President Joe Biden in their one debate in October.”  I don’t think that is a realistic assumption.  Ryan has worked very hard to make himself expert on one (important) . . . . Continue Reading »

Two Big Factors

From First Thoughts

So I was watching William Kristol and he said that this Romney ad on Medicare shows that the Romney campaign has embraced one “big fact.” The Medicare cuts in Obamacare have made Obama vulnerable on both the Medicare issue and the broader health care issue (and it distinguishes . . . . Continue Reading »

Making The Most Of Ryan

From First Thoughts

Peter Lawler has some very useful thoughts below on the pros and cons of picking Ryan.   Picking Ryan meant that Obama’s Mediscare campaign (which was coming anyway since Romney had already endorsed premium support Medicare) came early and possibly harder than it otherwise would . . . . Continue Reading »

The Republican Mediscare

From First Thoughts

Reihan Salam points us to a National Journa l article about how the Democrats have used the Ryan budget to their political advantage.  The most important case mentioned in the article was an upstate New York Republican-leaning district where a Democrat won by attacking the Medicare cuts in the . . . . Continue Reading »