KRUGMAN Eats Ryan For Breakfast: "Mr. Ryan isn’t a serious man — he just plays one on TV."

[kpete]

OP-ED COLUMNIST
An Unserious Man
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 19, 2012 7 Comments

Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket

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................ Over the longer term, the Ryan plan would end Medicare as we know it — and in Washington, “fiscal responsibility” is often equated with willingness to slash Medicare and Social Security, even if the purported savings would be used to cut taxes on the rich rather than to reduce deficits. Also, self-proclaimed centrists are always looking for conservatives they can praise to showcase their centrism, and Mr. Ryan has skillfully played into that weakness, talking a good game even if his numbers don’t add up.

The question now is whether Mr. Ryan’s undeserved reputation for honesty and fiscal responsibility can survive his participation in a deeply dishonest and irresponsible presidential campaign.

The first sign of trouble has already surfaced over the issue of Medicare. Mr. Romney, in an attempt to repeat the G.O.P.’s successful “death panels” strategy of the 2010 midterms, has been busily attacking the president for the same Medicare savings that are part of the Ryan plan. And Mr. Ryan’s response when this was pointed out was incredibly lame: he only included those cuts, he says, because the president put them “in the baseline,” whatever that means. Of course, whatever Mr. Ryan’s excuse, the fact is that without those savings his budget becomes even more of a plan to increase, not reduce, the deficit.

So will the choice of Mr. Ryan mean a serious campaign? No, because Mr. Ryan isn’t a serious man — he just plays one on TV.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/krugman-an-unserious-man.html?_r=2&smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

[Electric Monk]

1. K&R

&U&G&M&A&N

[Lugnut]

2. K&R n/t

[rsmith6621]

3. Kick

[mindwalker_i]

4. Yeah, he pointed out how stupid the whole Ryan thing is

The comments point out how the media helped the whole "serious" thing, when, in fact, it's a big, fat, steaming pile of bullshit. But of course, that's why Republicans like him.

[Cha]

5. Lyin Ryan is about as serious as

a mini mitt could be. Serious about his lies.

[DallasNE]

6. Ryan Has Been A Quick Learner

He learned very rapidly the art of the earnestly told lie. And he was even quicker to learn the art of lying about the lie -- just review his record on the stimulus and you will get what I mean.

[Electric Monk]

7. kick

[randome]

8. He perfected the look of sublime confidence early on. And he's been coasting on that ever since.

[jsr]

9. And sincere as a used car salesman