Pardon My Outflanking
By 
The economically populist Republican Party had made its proposal!
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of the president’s, was among several GOP senators voicing concern or outright opposition Thursday to the idea of direct payments, even as McConnell unveiled the trillion-dollar stimulus plan that would be the starting point for negotiations with Democrats. McConnell called for those talks to start Friday, and senators said the situation was so dire that they should not recess until they have reached a deal to pass it.
[…]
The legislation would provide checks of $1,200 per adult for many families, as well as $500 for every child in those families. Families filing jointly would receive up to $2,400 for the adults. The size of the checks would diminish for those earning more than $75,000 and phase out completely for those earning more than $99,000. The poorest families, those with no federal income tax liability, would see smaller benefits, though the minimum would be set at $600.
But if you charitably interpret the isolated comments of Comrades Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton, Republicans are populists support uniform income supports, not regressive means testing that many Republican senators oppose as being not regressive enough! What’s amazing is that “Republicans are outflanking Dems to the left” is considered in some quarters a sign of Deep Savvy when in fact it makes you more gullible than someone who buys every pill and commodity advertised on the Glenn Beck show.
Meanwhile, here’s a good piece that somehow manages to 1)advocate for just sending people cash and 2)offer valid criticisms of how the Dem leadership has handled things while 3)making it clear that what Republicans want is much worse. If you want to criticize congressional Dems, you can just do that — you don’t have to imagine a completely fictitious Republican populist alternative. Unless you’re trying to rationalize your inevitable support for Donald the Economically Populist Dove in November, that is.