That will no doubt be one of the memes trotted out to the wingnut victims, also known as the conservative base. Paul Ryan is courageous, he’s taking on the establishment’s most treasured programs and standing fearlessly against pork barrel politicians from both sides! All hail the Deficit Warrior Prince! Here’s some background on Mr Ryan:
New Yorker — In a 2005 speech to a group of Rand devotees called the Atlas Society, Ryan said that Rand was required reading for his office staff and interns. “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” he told the group. “The fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.” To me he was careful to point out that he rejects Rand’s atheism.
The only thing new about Paul Ryan is … Paul Ryan. Seriously, Ryan espouses the same shitty ideas about tax cuts trickling down to us lucky duckies working for a living, he packages the same failed policies that got us into the current mess in the same worn out euphemisms about liberty and freedom. He talks small government and turns around and votes for anything his party tells him to no matter how much it puts us in the hole. He wears his faith in Republican Jesus on his sleeve — today in his coming out party Ryan repeated the “rights only come from God, never from government” bullshit — just like every other goddamn fake Bible believing GOP sociopath in the last 40 years.
The so-called budget he put together and received great accolades for was barely beyond a back of the envelope sketch of a deficit busting monster that cut the taxes on the rich and tossed seniors into the jaws of corporations like United Health Care or AIG in place of Medicare. It was nothing more than the same old privatize government, cut services to the middle class and poor, and transfer the savings to the super rich, right down to the laughable assumptions about the growth that would occur in Ryan’s fantasy economy where the Romney’s and Koch’s of the world pay a few percent less in income tax on millions in capital gains than the current “growth-stifling” rate of %15 they already enjoy.
Ryan courageously defends the powerful against the powerless, just like his GOP peers. He downplays climate science on behalf of the energy industry, just like his peers. He wants to gut Medicare and Social Security, just like his peers, he wants to increase defense spending, just like his peers, he wants to slash taxes on the well to do and the super rich, just like his peers, and he’s married to the fantasy that it will all really, really work this time instead of blowing up the deficit and the economy. Ryan believes that, or pretends to, no matter what recent history or common sense says, just like his peers. In short, there’s nothing new about this clown at all, except his face and his hair.
So why the big fuss? I think Rachel Maddow said it best on MSNBC this morning: You pick a VP to help you govern in January, or win in November, or shore up your base in August. The latter is one role Ryan may be qualified to play.
Why doesn’t the GOP just declare Chapter 42 bankruptcy. You know, Intellectual bankruptcy.
It’s just Bushco V. 2.0. The one that produced the Great Recession, predicted to end in 2018 by the Federal Reserve.
Democracy isn’t mentioned anywhere in the bible. Communism is mentioned in the NT, with great approval.
It says in two places in the NT to pay your taxes and obey your leaders, who were all kings and emperors.
George H.W. Bush once referred to the current Republican party’s economic policies as “Voodo Economics”. Too bad he failed to explain that to his son.
It’s part of that great false equivalency that we see; both sides must have serious thinkers, even when one side, demonstrably, does not.
The thing about Ryan’s budget plan is that his tax cuts for the wealthy and increases in defense spending more than offset the slashes he’s proposing in spending that benefits everyone else. In other words, it actually increases the deficit and only projects a balanced budge by about about 2060, and that’s based on his wildly inaccurate economic growth predictions.
Paul Krugman has some thoughts about the Romney campaign:
From Stuart Levine (hat tip to the Reality Based Community)
“After Romney’s choice of Ryan as his running mate, it is now impossible for any Democrat to be either an atheist or an agnostic. I fully expect that the DNC will announce an official day of thanksgiving during which all Democrats can give thanks to their Deity of Choice.” (LOL)
I felt when this first came out about Ryan that the election was truly over. But it doesn’t pay to count one’s chickens, as they say, so let’s keep working hard. I am writing Obama another $50 check as I speak. Complain about him all you want, the alternative is truly horrible.
This will be the only time I agree with the Catholic Bishops:
http://www.keystoneprogress.org/blog/2012/08/catholic-bishops-have-denounced-paul-ryans-budget.html
I’m hoping that #RomneyRyanRand trends from now until the election. Props to Mike Morrill, the author, for coming up with RomneyRyanRand
The question I have is not how stupid a choice Ryan is but whether it will work. I doubt he’ll have the same foot-in-mouth disease of Sarah and he probably can name a few newspapers he reads so he’s not going to expose himself as the fool Sarah did. And as he’s already distanced himself from Rand though he still will have fun trying to deny his DeLay and Abramoff connections (amazing how Repugs think old video can be so easily denied). But he may dig out the Joe-the-Plumber fools who are so sure they’ll be rich if just the gubmint would stop taxing so much. But it will really be fun to watch the elderly spin how all the cuts will end all the welfare to those others (who aren’t real Americans) and yet somehow maintain their payouts. But he’s glib where Mittwit stumbles and so may actually be able to sell plutocracy. But I fear he’s going to be harder to expose than we think.