The NY Times: The More Things Change...

I have great news! MoDo is on leave until July...and in a single column, her temporary replacement makes more salient, thought-provoking points than Maureen has managed in the last five years of Bush-hating. Make no mistake, Matt Miller is a liberal, and he makes that clear; but just imagine the following coming from Maureen or Frank Rich:

You'd never guess from the Democratic hysteria that President Bush's plan to "progressively index" Social Security is an idea we liberals may one day want to embrace. So farsighted Democrats who want to (1) win back power and (2) use that power to fix big problems should quit carping about Bush's evil "cuts" and punish him instead with what I call Responsible Demagoguery: harsh politics that leaves sound policy intact.

Why do I say this? Start with this poorly understood fact: Under today's system of "wage indexed" benefits, every new cohort of retirees is guaranteed a higher level of real benefits than the previous generation. Workers retiring in 2025, for example, are scheduled to receive payments 20 percent higher in real terms than today's retirees. Today's teenagers are slated to get a 60 percent increase. When Democrats cry about "cuts," they mean trims from these higher levels.

Um, Maureen, don't be in a rush to finish that book (let me guess, is it going to be a 'wacky' take on the Bush administration?)...

Don't get too excited, though, because the Times is still the Times. TaxProf Blog (hat tip to the Instapundit) has an excellent example of how selective data can warp meaning; of course, a less charitable interpretation might be that if you make less than $50,000, you're not visible on their radar screen.

UPDATE 12:47 p.m.: Maureen's absence is not going unnoticed...more here...