Paul Ryan (R-WI) May Be A Clueless Ignoramus But The Media's Buying-- And So Are His Conservative Colleagues

-by Dave Sherbula

Since apparently no one in the Obama administration wants to call out Rep. Ryan on his lies, I guess it is up to me here at DWT.

His recent Racine Journal-Times op-ed is so far removed from reality as to almost be funny. But it is not. Because Darth Ryan is the Chosen One. Like Damien in the movie The Omen. He is being groomed. The Republican Party is thin on talent. Darth has been a shining star in the minors. They want to bring him up to the Big Leagues.

The next Ronnie Ray Gun.

I try not to make baseless statements like Darth Ryan. So let's dissect his op-ed.

Quoth Darth, "Obama's policies have made the situation worse in Southern Wisconsin." OK, I'll bite. How? No facts to back it up. I bet the GM workers in the Janesville plant he turned his back on when GM closed it appreciated the previous extension of unemployment benefits. That he won't support now.

He is right, jobs are scarce and credit is limited. 

How about calling your buddies on Wall Street and demanding they make loans instead of gambling with taxpayer bailout money you voted to give them?

Oh, that's right, the ROI on lending sucks. Gambling can pay well. If you win. And if you lose, Rep. Ryan will be there to help you through your hard times. If you are a Wall Street banker.

Out of touch Darth claims you can't take from the productive sector of our economy, funnel it through Washington and create jobs and prosperity. Does he even believe this? Explain to me what the productive sector of our economy is.

It obviously can't be Wall Street. They created this disaster. And don't produce anything, other than more campaign contributions for him than for any other House member from Wisconsin in history, including more than for Members who were already in Congress when he was still wearing diapers. We have lost millions of manufacturing jobs. That's not very productive.

I guess he means Congress. 535 well-paid producers.

He whines on about the President's health care plan. You know, Government Insurance. But can't cite any relevant facts. Except he doesn't want to pay for poor people's health care. Too expensive.  Wouldn't be prudent. Unsustainable! I can't seem to find anywhere how Darth turned down his government heath care for Janna. Lisa, Charlie, Sam and himself out of principle and purchased it in the private market.

He loves to rant about Liberal Special Interest groups. 

How about the Conservative Special interest groups?

Hello, Wall Street. It's Rep. Darth Ryan calling. Have you got a minute? I'm catching some heat, and you know, a small donation can go a long way to help me out, wink, wink.

Rep. Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future is a path to disaster for the middle class. 
He does not represent the constituents of his district. He represents Wall Street and Corporate America. He is their Manchurian Candidate...

And now this clueless empty suit with a ton of Wall Street cash is running back and forth across the country campaigning for more apparently clueless Republican candidates and collecting chits to cash in another day, encouraging Republicans like Ken Buck in Colorado, who admits Ryan is one of his economic gurus and said, "We should not be giving people money when they are fit to work and do not find jobs.” 

Or Sharron Angle in Nevada, perhaps even crazier, who told reporters that "we’ve 'spoiled' our workers by offering unemployment compensation to those laid off by no fault of their own.” And one can hardly talk about Buck and Angle and leave out Kentucky non-board-certified wacko Rand Paul, who -- just after whining to members of the media who wondered why more than half his income came from Medicare and Medicaid that "doctors deserve to make a comfortable living" -- got all philosophical on their asses:

As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that's less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again... Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough love things that has to happen.

To these members of the conservative elite, working families are brutes-- and if they're out of work it's their fault and, according to Orrin Hatch, probably drug addicts. Not victims of Wall Street gamblers who nearly drove the entire world bankrupt in their unfettered quest for more-- for which none were punished, of course-- but despicable drug addicts undeserving of aid through the hard times. God forbid you tell Ryan or any of his conservative brethren it's time to make the wealthy pay their fair share of the tax burden for the sake of society. It's more than they could comprehend or stand.

Of course, they're wrong. Unemployment insurance does not inhibit job searches except in the fevered dreams of the wealthy and their well-fed handmaidens... like Ryan. The DCCC, which also gets funding from the same Wall Street interests, is leaving Ryan alone. Again, they recruited no candidate-- in a blue-trending district that Obama won-- and they refuse to recognize the grassroots progressive, Paulette Garin, as a legitimate candidate. 

Either we, citizens of this country, stop Paul Ryan before its too late or we'll live to regret it. Iowa lunatic Steve King is a Ryan doppleganger when it comes to the economy. King was very pleased with himself the other day for saying, "We shouldn't turn the 'safety net' into a hammock. It should actually be a 'safety net'."

This morning Digby pointed to the very disturbing new hot thing: demonization of the poor. Looks like you can even color Paul Ryan Barbra. Plutocrats Rising-- in Aspen! From real estate baron Mort Zuckerman to British neo-fascist Niall Ferguson, all the rich and powerful are buying into Ryan's prescription for how to make the world beautiful again-- stop taxing the wealthy and do away with that durn safety net thing. After all, in the worst economic turndown since the Great Depression, who needs a safety net? Aren't the wealthy lucky they helped elect a transpartisan figure like Obama this time, willing EAGER to play the role of Herbert Hoover, instead of someone to shake things up like that commie Roosevelt! 

Digby, who didn't get invited, looked at their putrid soiree this morning:

Appropriately, the gossip columnist Lloyd Grove is covering the conclave and reported what they were all so excited about:

[Niall] Ferguson called for what he called “radical” measures. “I can’t emphasize strongly enough the need for radical fiscal reform to restore the incentives for work and remove the incentives for idleness.” He praised “really radical reform of the sort that, for example, Paul Ryan [the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee] has outlined in his wonderful ‘Roadmap’ for radical, root-and-branch reform not only of the tax system but of the entitlement system” and “unleash entrepreneurial innovation.” Otherwise, Ferguson warned: “Do you want to be a kind of implicit part of the European Union? I’d advise you against it.”

Seriously, he's quoting Paul Ryan, the infantile, crackpot Randian, to a bunch of wealthy socialites, Hollywood liberals and self-interested tycoons.

Paul Ryan and Barbra Streisand, the new radical chic. At least after listening to all this everyone will be able to eat some yummy cake, far more yummy than the cruddy brioches Marie Antoinette was recommending to her disgruntled peasants.