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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJames Downie, WaPo: No, Paul Ryan is not ‘courageous’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/no-paul-ryan-is-not-courageous/2012/08/11/89a9ee56-e3ed-11e1-a25e-15067bb31849_blog.htmlAcross the political spectrum, even among many liberals who otherwise are rubbing their hands with glee over Mitt Romneys selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his running mate, pundits and politicians are praising Romneys move as a courageous and bold pick. And plenty of people (fewer on the liberal side, though still a great number of moderates) are lauding Ryan himself as courageous. On the surface, such a take is understandable: Ryans claim to fame his Path to Prosperity budget was a political loser when introduced last spring. But a closer look reveals that these claims are bunk: Picking Ryan is essentially a safe sop to the conservative wing of the party, and Ryan himself is not so courageous.
First, Romneys choice:
-snip-
If moderates such as Condoleezza Rice (pro-abortion rights) and Chris Christie (pro-gun control and moderate on immigration) were out of the question, Ryan was easy to choose ahead of the other possibilities: He has no Bush administration history, unlike Rob Portman, no raft of mini-scandals-in-waiting, like Marco Rubio, and some actual charisma, unlike Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty. Picking a reliable conservative was much safer for Romney than daring the right to abandon him and/or heap all the blame on him for losing in November. By process of elimination, Ryan was the best and the safest of the bunch.
As for Ryan himself, to begin with, what policies turned Clinton-era surpluses into Bush-era deficits? In large part, two tax cuts, two wars and a massive prescription drug benefit, and Ryan voted for all of them. (He also voted for TARP, by the way; his fiscal rectitude only included actually voting against massive expenditures once President Obama took office.) His serious debt-reduction plan doesnt balance the budget until 2040. By contrast, the House Progressive Caucus budget, whatever else you think of it, balances the budget within a decade.(Note: In both cases, those are the budgets authors projections; your math may vary.) Furthermore, no doubt in fear of the senior vote, Ryan dropped the Social Security privatization aspect from his debt plan and now only guts Medicare for people 55 and younger. Finally, Ryan refuses to touch defense spending, retains tax breaks for oil companies that dont need them, zeroes out the capital gains tax and finds his savings in programs by shredding the already hole-ridden safety net. For a Republican, this is smart politics. But how exactly is it courageous or serious to protect the interests to some of the most powerful (and wealthiest) lobbies in Washington Wall Street, oil companies and the defense industry while heaping painful cuts on the poor? No, the idea that Ryan or Romneys nomination of him as his vice president is courageous is simply wrong.
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James Downie, WaPo: No, Paul Ryan is not ‘courageous’ (Original Post)
highplainsdem
Aug 2012
OP
pscot
(21,024 posts)1. A willingness to kick the poor around
is seen as brave and virtuous by the one percenters.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)2. his face has been in the public trough all his adult life. spin that