I noticed that Paul Ryan has lately been getting some
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/politics/03ryan.html?scp=2&sq=paul%20ryan&st=cse">"GOP Wonderboy" press coverage. When I see press reports on Ryan, I consider the media to be as delinquent in turning a blind eye to what his vision is for this country (if the GOP retakes the House, he would become the House Budget Committee Chairman), as they were in championing Bushco's invasion of Iraq.
Paul Ryan is dangerous, in my opinion.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3114">He wants to privatize Medicare, gut Medicaid, end the Children's Health Insurance Program, raise taxes on the middle class and cut out almost all taxes for the wealthy and corporations - for starters. And he's drumming up "popular" support for this with the "charm" of his Ronald Reagan haircut and "golly-geewillikers-folks" demeanor.
I'm posting this in the Barack Obama group because in a NYT's write-up on him (not Krugman's write-up), even though the author includes a caveat, the author still states that President Obama said Ryan's ideas constitute a
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/politics/03ryan.html?scp=2&sq=paul%20ryan&st=cse">"serious proposal." But in at least one context - when the President met with the Republicans at the ass-whooping he gave to them at their retreat earlier this year - Obama's remarks about Ryan's proposal were in the vein of
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012902745.html?sid=ST2010012902909">acknowledging that Ryan/the GOP take Ryan's proposal seriously because Ryan's put a lot of busy work into it.
In any case, I'm glad to see that Ryan has popped up on Krugman's radar. Here's Krugman's take on Ryan's "vision":
Paul Krugman: The Flim Flam Manhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?_r=1&hpOne depressing aspect of American politics is the susceptibility of the political and media establishment to charlatans. You might have thought, given past experience, that D.C. insiders would be on their guard against conservatives with grandiose plans. But no:
as long as someone on the right claims to have bold new proposals, he’s hailed as an innovative thinker. And nobody checks his arithmetic.
Which brings me to the innovative thinker du jour: Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.Mr. Ryan has become the Republican Party’s poster child for new ideas thanks to his “Roadmap for America’s Future,” a plan for a major overhaul of federal spending and taxes. News media coverage has been overwhelmingly favorable; on Monday, The Washington Post put a glowing profile of Mr. Ryan on its front page, portraying him as the G.O.P.’s fiscal conscience. He’s often described with phrases like “intellectually audacious.”
But it’s the audacity of dopes.
Mr. Ryan isn’t offering fresh food for thought; he’s serving up leftovers from the 1990s, drenched in flimflam sauce. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?_r=1&hp">Entire article