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Gene Lyons: How the GOP's Golden Boy Works His Con
How The GOP’s Golden Boy Works His Con
May 2nd, 2012 12:32 am
Gene Lyons
To understand the secret of current Republican matinee idol Rep. Paul Ryan’s success, it’s necessary to grasp three essential elements of his popularity: First, he’s a handsome, telegenic fellow very good at faking sincerity. Maybe the best since disgraced Democrat John Edwards. If he weren’t a Catholic, Ryan would have made a brilliant televangelist. As an Irish-American funeral director, he’d have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Second, Ryan knew the exact moment to reposition himself to take advantage of the GOP’s hysterical freakout over U.S. budget deficits. See, as recently as January 19, 2009, George W. Bush was still president, the projected FY2009 deficit was a record $1.3 trillion, but relatively few Republicans had anything to say about it. And certainly not Rep. Ryan, who’d championed every one of the Bush administration’s budget-busting innovations, from the ill-advised tax cuts to the deficit-financed 2003 Medicare prescription-drug benefits.
Indeed, contrary to his image as a sober-sided deficit hawk, Jonathan Chait points out in an acerbic New York magazine profile, “Ryan was a staunch ally in Bush’s profligacy, dissenting only to urge Bush to jack up the deficit even more.” Specifically, Ryan urged even greater tax cuts for millionaires; in 2005, he proposed creating privatized Social Security accounts with an estimated $2 trillion in borrowed money for Wall Street to play with.
On January 21, 2009, however, a Democratic president took over. Hence budget deficits instantaneously became a mortal threat to the nation, and the Very Handsome Congressman transformed himself into “a figure of cinematic rectitude… America’s neighborhood accountant, a man devoted to the task of restoring our fiscal health.”
more...
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-the-gops-golden-boy-works-his-con/
May 2nd, 2012 12:32 am
Gene Lyons
To understand the secret of current Republican matinee idol Rep. Paul Ryan’s success, it’s necessary to grasp three essential elements of his popularity: First, he’s a handsome, telegenic fellow very good at faking sincerity. Maybe the best since disgraced Democrat John Edwards. If he weren’t a Catholic, Ryan would have made a brilliant televangelist. As an Irish-American funeral director, he’d have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Second, Ryan knew the exact moment to reposition himself to take advantage of the GOP’s hysterical freakout over U.S. budget deficits. See, as recently as January 19, 2009, George W. Bush was still president, the projected FY2009 deficit was a record $1.3 trillion, but relatively few Republicans had anything to say about it. And certainly not Rep. Ryan, who’d championed every one of the Bush administration’s budget-busting innovations, from the ill-advised tax cuts to the deficit-financed 2003 Medicare prescription-drug benefits.
Indeed, contrary to his image as a sober-sided deficit hawk, Jonathan Chait points out in an acerbic New York magazine profile, “Ryan was a staunch ally in Bush’s profligacy, dissenting only to urge Bush to jack up the deficit even more.” Specifically, Ryan urged even greater tax cuts for millionaires; in 2005, he proposed creating privatized Social Security accounts with an estimated $2 trillion in borrowed money for Wall Street to play with.
On January 21, 2009, however, a Democratic president took over. Hence budget deficits instantaneously became a mortal threat to the nation, and the Very Handsome Congressman transformed himself into “a figure of cinematic rectitude… America’s neighborhood accountant, a man devoted to the task of restoring our fiscal health.”
more...
http://www.nationalmemo.com/how-the-gops-golden-boy-works-his-con/
8 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
I think the tptb gave it to a tenacious pretty face in the GOP that they thought could pull it off.
I think the GOP are picking (buying) some of their candidates like Fox chooses their news readers. Someone nice looking enough to grab the attention of the ill-informed and easily swayed. Brown from Mass, Palin from Alaska, to name a few.
You don't have to be smart, in fact they don't want smart, they want a front man to do the 'shadow's' bidding.
I hate thinking this way, but I can't help it. Brown, Palin & Ryan are nice looking and are stupid - and so are those who vote for them.
