The same old lies, but this time the stakes are high

I like this summary from Will Hutton's Guardian article:

The Republican position, set out in detail by Paul Ryan, the Republican chair of the congressional budget committee, is not really a budget plan at all. It is a map for dismantling the US state so that it would do little more than provide threadbare pensions and healthcare for the very poorest and almost nothing else, with even defence in the line of fire.

That is exactly the reaction I had a couple of weeks ago when I heard part of Ryan's speech. There is much irony in Paul Ryan's position, sure, but it is a deeply serious move to change the fabric of our political system.  His vision is the culmination of decades of GOP desires, the dismantling of government for a two reasons: reducing 1) taxes on the wealthy, and 2) regulations on business so they will be free to compete in a truly free market.  The latter is worthy of a separate blog/rant, so I will leave that one alone for now.

After Obama grew some balls and started pushing back, Ryan's reaction was hilarious.  Really, Paul?  You and your colleagues are trying to build bridges?  Perhaps you've forgotten about some of your previous statements, which appear more demolition and building to me (all comments on healthcare reform by Rep. Ryan):

• [Healthcare reform is] "a Ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff proud." ¹
  
• “The best outcome is if we stop this — then the Democrats will have a failed presidency on their hands, and then they’ll have to work with Republicans to get something done that’s bipartisan.”²
  
• "I believe that is completely antithetical to the American idea, the American project, and what America is about."³
  

Jon Stewart summed it all up best when he transformed Ryan's crazy budget graph, which showed a straw-man "Democratic" budget through 2050 literally killing us with debt: Stewart replaced Trillions in budget cuts with pre-Bush era tax rates for the wealthy, which showed the same "after" graph as Ryan.  (And, the budget as a share of GDP isn't bad at all, but Ryan doesn't want you to know that.)

Make no mistake: this is a battle over what we will become.