More on Paul Ryan Budget Deal - the Small Bargain and the Antifreeze Factor
It probably is no surprise that Tiger Beat On The Potomac has used to occasion of the budget deal struck last night between Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin and First Runner-Up in our most recent vice-presidential pageant, and Senator Landingham of Washington state, as a means to sell us on the idea of a New Paul Ryan, and not the one the country rejected so soundly last year, and to remind us that the New Paul Ryan — the Nixon parallels continue apace — is once again a serious man of serious purpose.
The two-year budget agreement he rolled out with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Tuesday evening is striking for its simplicity: It cuts the deficits by $23 billion, sets new higher spending levels for the next two years and replaces automatic spending cuts set to take effect in 2014. But in abandoning his years-long quest to re-imagine American society and settling for a bipartisan deal, the Wisconsin Republican took the first steps to emerge as a House power center - a Republican willing to take baby steps to curb the nation’s trillions in debt, normalize the budget process and protect a Pentagon pilloried by cuts. If the budget passes, it sets up a helpful message for Ryan as he considers both his future in the House and the 2016 presidential race: He can claim he is as a man in tune with the realities of governing. Sure, he is a conservative, but Ryan is willing dispense with the perfect in favor of the good.
And writers for Politico, I guarantee you, will go for that bullshit like seals in the tank at feeding time. I mean, Jesus God, the fact that Paul Ryan has a tough sell for this in the House is not an indication that Ryan is anything less than the mountebank he’s always been. It is another indication, as if we needed one, that the House Republican caucus is insane. That Louie Gohmert and Rand Paul are opposed to this deal doesn’t make Ryan any more willing to be “bipartisan.” It makes them extremist yahoos.
More: More on Paul Ryan Budget Deal - the Small Bargain and the Antifreeze Factor