Medicare Part D

Bruce Bartlett highlights how Newt Gingrich added $16 trillion to the Federal Debt.  I'm not one to defend Newt, or Medicare Part D, but technically, that is the long-term cost of the program.  We don't even want to consider how much traditional Medicare will cost long-term.  He is right though that Gingrich lobbied on behalf of a very expensive program with no funding mechanism to raise revenues.  Also, the Bush administration low-balled the program cost by a significant factor at the time the program was debated.  I agree with Bartlett's point that Newt is a jackass who claims to do things totally different than he actually did.  Some historian!