Pundits Gush Over Paul Ryan's "Courageous" Rip-Off

Over the last 24 hours, media pundits have been heaping praise on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for releasing a proposal with massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. New York Times columnist David Brooks called it the "most courageous budget reform proposal any of us have seen in our lifetimes." Time's Joe Klein said it was "without question, an act of political courage." David Walker, Peter Wehner, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) all piled on the bandwagon as well.

But as this video report shows, that depends on how you define the word "courage."

Ryan's proposal cuts taxes and preserves regulatory carve-outs for the most powerful of America's citizens, corporations and financial interests. At the same time, it radically slashes Medicare and Medicaid, two programs which offer tremendous support to middle class and lower-income Americans. His proposed repeal of the Affordable care Act would leave 32 million more Americans without health insurance coverage. If enacted, the proposal would make future tax hikes on the middle class mathematically unavoidable. And for a final insult, approximately half of the money Ryan gains through those spending cuts does not go to deficit reduction, but to finance the tax cuts instead.

"Courage," according to the Beltway wisdom, apparently consists of kowtowing to the powerful while kicking the majority of one's fellow citizens to the curb in their moment of need.

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/06/media-paul-ryan-courage/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Paul
• Ryan
• Paul Ryan
• Representative Paul Ryan
• Rep. Paul Ryan
• Representative Ryna
• Rep. Ryan
• budget
• proposal
• budget proposal
• Medicare
• Medicaid
• tax
• cuts
• tax cuts
• taxes
• wealthy
• rich
• courage
• courageous
• ThinkProgress

[cmfluteguy]

Socialism for the rich.

Free market dogma for the rest of us.

Kill republicans.