Apparently the budget-cuts-will-take-care-of-everything reality distortion force field that has been humming around Paul Ryan has been pierced by reality or at least an acknowledgement that he’s fast becoming one of America’s most hated politicians.
This is an actual RNC mailing courtesy of Washington Monthly with text that says, “America is at a tipping point. 14 million Americans are unemployed and 9.3 million are underemployed. Our debt has grown over $4 trillion in less than three years and will be above $16 trillion before the end of 2012. The safety net for the poor is coming apart at the seams and no one in Washington seems to care.””
Let’s just take a quick look in the blue cheddar archives for examples of the Paul Ryan brand of caring.
Aha. Here’s a nice one: IL Rep. Jan Schakowsky said Ryan’s plan would “..destroy Medicare as we know it by giving seniors a fixed dollar voucher and sending them off to find an insurance company that will cover them. That’s after raising the age of Medicare eligibility. He also revives the discredited idea of privatizing Social Security and raising the retirement age. Good luck, Grandma!””
Thumbing through the archives another moment… Well I do find a safety net and some caring but not for the poor. In the course of his take-down of Paul Ryan’s grandiose financial manifesto for America, Paul Krugman noticed where the money came from: the bottom 95% income earners of the U.S. would get a tax hike while the top 5% would get a tax break! That sort of split—it reminds of a 99% thing I keep on hearing about somewhere…..
I know I’m being mean to Paul Ryan and I really ought to shame the House Republicans too. I mean after all I think they did have to help Ryan replace the former pay-as-you-go way of appropriating funds with a “cut-as-you-go” rule. So what that means is that any increases in mandatory spending would have to be paid for somewhere else in the budget BUT if you’re talking about a tax cut, no similar standard applies. Green light for tax cuts! How interesting that this could enable those tax cuts for the top 5%, yes?
I know what you’re thinking. What about the charming boyish straight-out-of-the-Sears-catalog-slacks-section smile? The super nice homegrown salt of the earth, Wisconsin character that we ALL have here– What about that?
Thumbing through the files again…. Oh goodness gracious. Labor Day, 2011 when Paul Ryan and wife proceed to ignore the visitor who is actually speaking pretty civilly with questions about jobs and employment.
And that helped me locate a companion piece from a luncheon in West Allis – the little “hope he’s taking his blood pressure medicine” joke cracked at this local man’s expense after he’s removed from the room—[and was this the senior citizen the cops wrestled down to the ground later?]
Back in December 2010 Ryan claimed that “The third rail is not the third rail anymore…The political weaponization of entitlement reform is no longer as potent as it used to be”.
What a difference almost a year makes. The conversations Americans are having about economic injustice have jumped off and over Ryan’s “rails”. Be careful Paul Ryan. I think they’re running over you next.
This is to invite you to an Oregon Area Progressives Open Mic on Thursday, November 3rd from 6-8pm at the Firefly Coffeehouse in Oregon.
There will be a panel on You and MEdia with Matt Rothschild – Editor of the Progressive Magazine, Sara Schulz – blogtalk radio, Bill Livick – Oregon Observer and J.J. Andrews – Editor of The Critical Eye – online newspaper
Thanks Charles.