NRCC Welcomes Back Dems

The National Republican Congressional Committee has a new video that features Congressman John Yarmuth and colleagues at the summer town halls. Yarmuth gets included for his now viral clip: "The question is, how are we going to pay for it? I don't kow."

In fairness to Yarmuth, he clarified in a letter to the Courier-Journal that he does not know how we are going to pay for the sum total of the reckless spending that culminates in the deficit.

But when it comes to health care, he does know how to pay for it: by socking it to the rich. The problem with Yarmuth's plan is that he defines rich as those making more than $500,000. Many small businesses file as individuals. A business that makes $500,000 is big enough to keep a few people employed. It is not big enough to pay for nationalized health care. Indeed, forcing these business to pay any more taxes or endure any more government regulation will just worsen unemployment.

One other point on the NRCC video. It seems clear that many of the angry voters are conservative. It would be a mistake, however, for the party to assume that because they are hostile to the Democrats' plan that these people are Republican. Whether these people vote Republican will depend on whether the Republican party returns to and adheres to conservative principles.