York v. Carroll: More Than a Quibble

Byron York wrote a column, in which he opined that "entitlements" are NOT the cause of the deficit.

It's conventional wisdom in Washington to blame the federal government's dire financial outlook on runaway entitlement spending. Unless we rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the conventional wisdom goes, the federal government is headed for disaster. That's true in the long run. But what is causing massive deficits now?

York, gifted with what we flyover-types call "common sense", says Big Spending is the answer to that question--along with the great recession, which hit tax-revenues and jacked up some spending programs.

Conn Carroll didn't like it.

York responded.http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential

...In his second paragraph, Carroll accuses me of "changing the definition of entitlement program [sic]" by counting increases in Medicaid spending as spending related to the economic downturn.  But the fact is, Medicaid is different from Social Security and Medicare.  It is a means-tested entitlement, which means it is available to lower-income people of pre-retirement age.

This minor skirmish is a mini-picture of the "Intellectualoid Angst" v. "Bachmann-Perry-Romney" camps in the Republican group.  In that much larger battle, we find BillyBoy Kristol and the WSJ editorial page weeping over the lack of a Washington Insider candidate, defined as one who understands that Big Spending (and its ugly, infected, pus-emitting twin Big Regulation) are absolutely necessary for........ahhh..........Washington Insiders.

Codevilla again, folks.  The Ruling Class doesn't like what it sees.

Ace happens to like the York take.