Heaven Help Us: A Roadmap of Paul Ryan’s Spending

Having spent most of his career rubber stamping the Tom Delay and George W. Bush agenda, author of books and roadmaps, Paul Ryan (R-WI) is now on the stump, claiming outrage over the national debt, and proposing Georgewbushian solutions as a fix.

Rep. Ryan follows right-wing incumbent talking points to a T:
(1)    Complain ad nauseam about the national debt
(2)    Ignore your own record of reckless massive spending increases

As One Wisconsin Now pointed out in 2009 following his criticism of the Recovery Act, Rep. Ryan started his career voting for eight-straight budgets which increased the national debt by $1 trillion annually.

And though now in order to resolve the debt he seriously calls for “openly broaching overhauls,” Rep. Ryan provided the deciding vote to pass the disastrous $8 trillion unfunded Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, which then-U.S. Comptroller David Walker called, “the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation” in 40 years.

Rep. Ryan was also a huge proponent of the hugely unpopular financial industry bailout (TARP), and fearmongered the nation into believing it was a good idea:

“We’re all worried about losing our jobs,” Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. “Most of us say, ‘I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.’ “

With their dire warnings of impending economic doom and their sweeping request for unprecedented sums of money and authority to bail out cash-starved financial firms, Bush and his economic chiefs have focused the attention of world markets on Congress, Ryan added.

“We’re in this moment, and if we fail to do the right thing, Heaven help us,” he said. [Associated Press]

And:

“This is a Herbert Hoover moment… (Hoover) made mistakes during the Great Depression – let’s not make those mistakes.” [Capital Times]

The fact is: Paul Ryan may be following the incumbent Republican strategy to a T, but he’s making his colleagues wince now because the Wisconsin Representative is so far out of touch with reality – even for modern conservatives – that he thinks selling a George W. Bush economic agenda will satisfy independent thinkers.

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