Contrary to conventional wisdom, the media fascination with the potential presidential campaign of the great American phony, Donald Trump, has been helpful to the Republican Party.
The conventional view is that his personality and rants about President Barack Obama’s birthplace have taken all the attention away from his potential rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, hurting their chances. I hope that’s true. But there has also been a big benefit to the Republicans: The Trump story—simple enough to absorb cable news and the Sunday morning shows—has sidelined media examination of something much more important. That would be the policies the Republicans have in store for the country if they win the presidency and the Senate and retain control of the House in 2012.
Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, spelled out the GOP’s intentions in a proposal that is a toxic blend of benefit reductions for the poor and middle class and tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate America. The House passed it earlier this month. Since it’s unlikely to become law in the near future—Obama and the Senate oppose it—the plan hasn’t been given the serious examination it deserves. After the articles about House passage, it has pretty much disappeared from the news, submerged by other, more sensational stories, such as those about Trump’s comments
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/watch_out_for_ryan_not_trump_20110427/Donald Trump is a distraction. The real player to watch is the boring chairman of the House Budget Committee, Paul Ryan. Let’s focus on him.