So yes, Mittens and Paulo are
good friends. Friends with
benefits? We'll just have to wait and
see. Anyway, as the saying goes; just
sayin'.
"Game"
Boys
But another saying -- "game recognizes game" -- also explains
why the fact that the two get along so well shouldn't be much of a
surprise. After all, both are privileged
millionaire doppelgangers who -- perhaps due to a head-start
in life derived from family inheritances -- realize the cost of everything and the
value of nothing. Their relationship depicts
the symbiotic bond between two distinct forms of fiscal/financial hucksterism --
Romney's gaming of the private domain via what Texas Governor Rick Perry
described as " vulture
capitalism " and Ryan's gaming of governmental largesse via a fiscal
philosophy classified as " right-wing
social engineering " by someone who should know: Newt Gingrich.
What's more, I'd argue that
like Romney's thoroughly mythologized "rescue" of the 2002 Olympics, the most
flagrant misnomer applied to Ryan is that his deficit-reduction proposals form a
personal outline of undaunted political courage, deep philosophical integrity,
and iron-clad core values.
This seems to imply that in
Ryan's case, political courage -- demonstrated by submitting a budget proposal
that rakes the poor and middle class over the coals in order to protect the
interests of the one-percent -- is set at a deplorably low standard. Fair enough " I guess. But wouldn't it also stand to reason that an
even higher standard of courage would involve running on, not away from that budget proposal -- as Romney
is already doing ? But I
wouldn't count on Ryan focusing on his budget during the remainder of the
campaign any more than Romney -- unless he's trying to help Mitt lose.
The reasons are obvious. Ryan's
budget plan makes for a nice way of sucking in the kind of national attention
that's useful in a statewide election. But it's dead weight as a means to winning
a national election. Certainly, Paul Ryan had figured out from the
onset that no economist is required for voters
to figure out that his budget is fiscally sound -- but only if some country can
be found that's willing to take care of about 47
million American retirees.
So today Ryan -- who one has to
believe never dreamed his budget
bluster would propel him to vice-presidential consideration -- probably now realizes
that it would have been better had he sat tight on the plan rather than
re-introduce slightly
revised versions in 2011 and early 2012.
In fact, maybe he never should
have brought forth such a politically counterintuitive budget plan in the first
place. There's little that is smart,
courageous or innovative in Ryan's conceptual approach to deficit reduction;
he's just the latest new media-hyped "deficit
hawk" to put something like it on the table.
Ryan's axe-murderer M.O. has been in use since the time when he was barely
out of his Underoos (Remember
them? "Underwear that's fun to wear). It came about as a consequence of the
trickle-down effect of Reagan-era federal tax cuts on localities.
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