Being ‘Party of No’ is effective Re: “Dems figure they can win as ‘Party of No,’ ” Editorial, May 31
I enjoyed the editorial, “Dems figure they can win as ‘Party of No.’ ” It is true that Harry Reid said the Republicans are the “Party of No” and despite every Democrat trying to make an issue of the fact that Republicans who did nothing in 2010, Republicans won resoundingly.
Democrats are finally learning that if you let the other party do themselves in, like the Republicans are now doing with the Ryan budget plan and trying to roll back everything Democrats accomplished, you only have to sit back and watch them destroy themselves with the American public.
The problem we are faced with isn’t that Obama and other Democrats don’t recognize or want to work on a deal that will bring down the deficit, which the editorial admits, but rather that Republicans insist that it is the poor and middle class who will have to assume all the burden of balancing the budget.
I dislike elections based on class and socioeconomic status, but the Republicans should realize that if that is what the 2012 election comes down to they will lose and lose big. There just aren’t enough rich people voting for them to win that fight.
Peter D. Rosenstein
Washington
Republicans still “Party of No”
Re: “Dems figure they can win as ‘Party of No,’ ” Editorial, May 31
Today’s Examiner Editorial is not balanced. The Republicans are still the party of no concerning restoring tax rates to what they were before Bush 43 irresponsibly cut them. And the Ryan plan for Medicare is as much a rationing plan as Obama’s approach — the one would ration care by doling out money in inadequate amounts, the other via a federal rationing panel.
Either way seniors lose their current good health care. What a shame neither party is willing to look at how health care is handled in Europe where it costs half as much (as a percent of gross domestic product) and gets better patient outcomes.
Centrists will be better off voting for honest socialists rather than for Republicans who want to perpetuate all the bogus economic doctrines that brought about the current depression.
Richard C. Kreutzberg
Bethesda
Standards? What standards?
Re: “Metro lowers standards for train, bus performance,” May 26
Is it something in the District of Columbia water supply that makes previously credible officials from other jurisdictions lose their integrity when they arrive in Washington? New Metro General Manager Richard Sarles is exhibiting such symptoms.
Sarles, who received an overly generous salary, bonus and perks to join the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from his New Jersey transit position, has decided that the old performance targets for Metro rail and bus performance, and escalator availability are too high. Sarles is lowering performance targets and in some cases stretching them beyond recognition, all in an effort to declare “success.”
If this latest scheme by Sarles is fully implemented, Metro customers are guaranteed even further declines in already derogated service. What is Sarles guaranteed by his newfound success? Seems his contract calls for salary bonuses based on his new higher performance success rates. Imagine that.
Metro customers have a better idea. If Sarles, his bloated staff and the entire WMATA unionized team can’t meet their old targets in the next few months then the Metro Board should implement “guaranteed on-time” pay freezes and salary cuts until they do. Standards can work magic, especially if they are enforced.
Brad Botwin
Rockville
