Monday morning reads

Nothing big here, just a couple of stories I read this morning that I found interesting, so I'm passing them along to you.

The first one is sort of funny, but I suspect it may also raise a few eyebrows. Danny Hakim of the New York Times writes on City Room that "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration likes to hear compliments so much that it will write them for you."

Seriously. You can read the whole story here, but in a nutshell, one of Cuomo's top aides -- Andrew Zambelli -- wrote statements for the Business Council of New York State and Unshackle Upstate, both of which praised the governor. Then, both of those groups issued the statements, unedited, in a pair of news releases.

This isn't exactly earth-shattering news or a huge controversy, but I do find it funny. It's sort of like writing a speech about how awesome you are, and having someone else read it.

The other story I'm linking to this morning looks at how Republicans are pivoting on Medicare spending .

If you don't have time to peruse the article itself, Jackie Calmes of the New York Times writes that in 2010 "Republicans assailed President Obama for resisting the Medicare spending reductions they say are needed to both preserve health benefits for older Americans and avert a Greek-style debt crisis."

Now, following the Supreme Court ruling that upheld Obamacare, Calmes writes that "Republicans, led by Mitt Romney, have reversed tactics and attacked the president and Democrats in Congress by saying that Medicare will be cut too much as part of that law."