“Maybe it’s smart politics to avoid controversial issues, but it sure isn’t the kind of leadership people want in Washington,” says Dent campaign manager Shawn Millan.
“Once you’re a candidate you owe answers. Pat Toomey, challenger for Senate, talks about issues regularly. Even Siobhan Bennett, in her disastrous run, at least talked about issues while running for Congress from the start."
A month ago I wrote about the controversial
alternative Republican budget written by Rep. Paul Ryan. As a refresher, the Congressional Budget Office scored Ryan's budget as eliminating the deficit by 2060, which he achieves by taking a chainsaw to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, turning Medicare into a voucher system with diminishing benefits, and reducing overall tax revenue.
I asked if this was a budget that Charlie Dent could support, since it achieves the vague criteria for
entitlement cuts he has alluded to, and
doesn't raise taxes, which he has
ruled out. There's simply no way to get around brutalizing these programs with the severity that Ryan does if you aren't also willing to raise more revenue.
So whatever Dent's plan is, it's pretty safe to say it would look like Paul Ryan's - especially since Ryan would be the guy writing the official budget if Republicans take back the House.
The plan has since been
widely celebrated by conservative opinion-makers, and has
already been co-sponsored by several of Dent's fellow House Republicans.
So why the silence from Charlie?
