Did you know that a recent CNN poll showed that 38 percent of Republican respondents had never heard of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan? Fortunately for them (and us!) the media has taken a shine to Rep. Ryan over the past week or so, and is providing some useful information as to who he is, and what his big Republican plan is all about. Check out this great round-up of stories:
The New York Times reveals an interesting fact in their story about Ryan today, and it’s actually all you really need to know about how the Republican Party feels about Mitt Romney. Take it away, Grover:
Grover Norquist, the Republican strategist who heads Americans for Tax Reform, said in an interview that he did not expect Mr. Romney to lead as president. He just wants him to sign the bills that put Mr. Ryan’s vision into practice.
You’ve heard of Ryan’s vision, haven’t you? The one that wants to privatize Medicare and cut federal government to the bone while it explodes the deficit as well? No? Better read up on that.
Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine takes an extensive, in-depth look at Ryan today in this must-read piece. It explains how an extremist like Ryan can capture the attention of the media and not be called out on his radical agenda. (Well, until now, anyway.) Keven Drum at Mother Jones remarks on this as well.
Ed Kilgore at the Washington Monthly emphasizes an important fact about Paul Ryan: He does not care about the deficit, and certainly helped to exacerbate the problem when Bush was President. Why?
The important thing to grasp here is that for all the talk about Paul Ryan being the “adult in the room” who understands the “tough choices” needed to confront the “debt crisis,” everything we know about him suggests that fiscal probity is at best a third-order motive for his proposals to decimate the social safety net.
Ryan wants the social safety net destroyed. He is a fan of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, even though he wants to deny it.
And speaking of Ryan’s denial of his Randian leanings, unfortunately for the Congressman there is both audio and video of him professing his utmost respect and devotion to her teachings. Oops. Be sure and check out the Atlantic Wire’s story for more.
That’s all for now, we’ll have more on Representative Ryan in the future… after all, he is the guy the Republicans expect to lead the nation if Romney is elected. Stay tuned.
