Democrats Launch Yet Another Round of Attacks on Paul Ryan

[Geee]

Weekly Standard:

As Jeffrey Anderson notes below, Paul Ryan is getting attention--a lot of it in the form of Democratic attacks--as he prepares to deliver the GOP response to Obama's state of the union address tonight. This is to be expected. What's unusual is the way some news stories are trying to portray these attacks as new.

"Budget ax-man Ryan is Dems' new villain," blares the front-page headline of today's copy of The Hill newspaper. Indeed, reports the New York Times, Ryan has "emerged" as "the latest chew toy among Democrats. They spent Monday beginning a campaign to portray him as the architect of fiscal policies that they view as unwise and hope will prove unpopular among voters, including plans to partially privatize Social Security and Medicare."

Um, Democratic demagogic attacks on Ryan were "beginning" a year ago--and really haven't let up since. As Matthew Continetti wrote on February 5, 2010:

[righteousmomma]

Rush yesterday:

 

..Republicans don't need to be constantly here at dagger points and all that. But they certainly don't have to become part of a Broadway play, in effect, written and directed by Obama and supporters all for some show. We haven't even gotten to what is said to be the substance of this speech tonight based on what's been leaked. Obama's gonna call for a budget freeze tonight? Well, well, a budget freeze. The guy who spent us into never-never land calling for a budget freeze, isn't that nice. The Republicans have been calling for reducing spending back to 2008 levels. He wants to freeze everything in place now after he's got it and get credit for fiscal discipline, and he's gonna get it, because the media's wired that way. "Look at Obama. He's really willing to now grab this deficit thing by the throat and shake it to death. This guy is calling for Draconian measures, freezing the budget at current levels." Well, whoop-de-doo. Sorry, folks, that's not the agenda. The agenda is cutting it. The agenda is reducing it. We've called for the spending to be reduced to 2008 levels.

I'm told he's gonna call for a ban on earmarks. Well, I'm sorry, that's hijacking what the Republicans have already done. Has he ever had an original idea? By that I mean something not found in the Communist Manifesto? Has he? Has he had an idea not found in Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals? One thing I know for sure, all this so-called moving to the center, Obama moderating and all of that stuff, Rush is good. Stuck Obama's love of the use of the very intellectual sounding word "stuff" right in there he's not gonna give any ground on illegal immigration; he's not gonna give any ground on cap and trade; he's not gonna give any ground on Obamacare. How can a guy who says he wants to freeze spending not also by the very definition here have to freeze Obamacare? Meanwhile, as I said, while all this is going on, the Democrat Party which Obama leads is trashing Paul Ryan in advance of his reply to Obama's speech. And this is what the leftists do. Obama goes out there, he takes the high road, he pretends to be something he isn't and the hacks and the thugs smear and attack. We have a montage. This is Mediscare 1995 all over again. They're trying to make Paul Ryan into Newt Gingrich. This is a montage of what I was just talking about.

 

BEGALA: We ought to be focusing on Paul Ryan. The budget would privatize Social Security.

 

CARVILLE: Paul Ryan who wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare.

 

SCHAKOWSKY: Paul Ryan is going to exacerbate the problem of money just gushing to the wealthiest of Americans, turning Medicare into a voucher program, cutting Social Security.

 

O'DONNELL: Paul Ryan, who advocates increasing the Social Security retirement age and virtually dismantling the program.

 

SCHULTZ: He's radical. They're going to go to people who live on fixed incomes. They want to take health care away.

 

SANDERS: We need a real national debate on what Congressman Ryan has been saying. The vast majority of the people will say it is insane

 

RUSH: What's insane here is that Paul Ryan is simply delivering a response, they haven't even heard it yet, and Paul Begala said, "We need to be focusing on Paul Ryan." No, we don't. We need to be focusing on you guys and Obama and how you are being your usual dishonest selves. This is a page from a 30-year-old playbook. (imitating Carville) "Paul Ryan wants to get rid of Social Security and Medicare." Tell me, has anybody proposed this? You look at Paul Ryan and do you see this kind of radical? In the meantime, Chuck-U Schumer on television this morning, "Do you expect, Chuck-U, that we'll hear anything from the president on gun control or any of that?"

 

SCHUMER: I don't know about gun control. I can tell you this. He's gonna have a speech that in certain ways is like Ronald Reagan. It's gonna talk about optimism and growth and our future, not this dour, sour, we can't do anything right and America's all messed up completely, which I'm hearing from some of my Republican friends.

 

RUSH: Folks, it's Alice in Wonderland time here. It's Through the Looking Glass. It's Grace Slick and the giant bunny on MTV. (imitating Schumer) "I can tell you this. He's gonna have a speech that in certain ways is like Reagan, optimism and growth." Now, excuse me, Senator Schumer, have you ever, ever characterized Ronald Reagan that way before? Has any Democrat ever characterized Reagan properly that way before? Obama, in order to claim greatness, they have to say he's gonna sound like Reagan? As I said yesterday, go read Obama's books on Reagan. He hated Reagan's ideas. He despised Reagan's ideas. There is not an ounce of honesty in the Democrat Party or in the leftist movement in this country, not an ounce of it. (imitating Carville) "Yeah, we need to be focused on Paul Ryan out there. Paul Ryan gonna take away everybody's Medicare and Social Security. Where's my gumbo?" And the Republicans, folks, in light of all this they're gonna sit next to these people? Why? Just to try to show the world that, "No, no, we're not as bad as what they're saying." Uuuugh....