Epic Village-Style Love for Old Zombie Eyes

Will Saletan is first out of the blocks with something you knew was coming -- hot, wet, monkey love for Paul Ryan and his honesty and his willingness to administer the harsh medicine that the country so obviously needs.  God, there is nothing that gets the Village ghouls cold blood hotted up like the prospect of cutting Social Security and Medicare:

With Ryan’s selection, Democrats are accusing Romney of “doubling down” on cuts that will “jeopardize” Medicare and hurt the poor and the middle class. And Democrats have polls on their side: Voters don’t like cuts to Medicare or Social Security. So what? Screw the polls. Republicans will be on the right side of the spending debate. They’ll be on the right side of the substance debate, too.

Someday someone is going to do a study on the psychological attitudes of the worthless media elite of our time and their obsession with making life more miserable for large swaths of their fellow Americans.  The degree to which Saletan, Dancin' Dave Gregory, David Brooks, and virtually the entirety of Fred Hiatt's funny pages (save Eugene Robinson, Harold Meyerson, and E.J. Dionne), get tumescent over granny having to move in with the kids because she can't afford to live on her own is really like nothing I've ever seen.  It's gratuitous cruelty at the hands of people who have far more than they deserve and confuse this status with wisdom. 

The blessing of watching the print media and commercial television news apparatus die is that in future generations the mindless natterings of these sorts will not mean a thing.  In the meantime, expect much more of this and expect bitter tears when Ryan and Romney get their asses handed to them in November despite the best efforts of the Village elite.

Update:  Because I am a glutton for punishment, I turned on Morning Joe this morning just in time to hear both Dancin' Dave Gregory and Mark Halperin pronounce Ryan as "serious."  I then went upstairs to shave and heard Cokie Roberts utter the "S" word as well.  (Thank God I don't use a straight razor.)  If it wasn't Monday morning, it would have had all of the makings of a great drinking game.  Needless to say, I picked up the Washington Post and George Will and Robert Samuelson had made the same claim, while Matt Miller, actually attacked Ryan, but pronounced his Medicare Plan serious.  Some days I wish that a cleansing conflagration would sweep this place that I call home. 

Comments

[janinsanfran]

This stuff confirms the necessity of silo-ing. We all consume our own facts. Reality will adjudicate.

[Linkmeister]

Mark Kleiman sneers at Saletan here. In the process he gets off a line which may explain the DC press corps' attitude toward Ryan, Simpson-Bowles, and every other budget-cutter over the past 40 years:

"As long as you’re hurting poor people, you must be serious about the budget."

[Phoenician in a time of Romans]

The degree to which Saletan, Dancin' Dave Gregory, David Brooks, and virtually the entirety of Fred Hiatt's funny pages (save Eugene Robinson, Harold Meyerson, and E.J. Dionne), get tumescent over granny having to move in with the kids because she can't afford to live on her own is really like nothing I've ever seen.

It seems to me that if you have siblings or cousins who vote Republican, you should be making it clear granny will be moving in with THEM, not YOU. If you're a progressive, you don't have to accept the consequence for Romney/Ryan getting in. If they're going to vote for slashes to Medicaid, it should be made clear to them that Granny will be THEIR problem, not yours.

[Linkmeister]

Phoenician, "you should be making it clear granny will be moving in with THEM, not YOU."

And one of the reasons for that is that Romney-Ryan will have raised your taxes so you can't afford to take her in, whereas your Republican siblings/cousins will have had their taxes cut, thus they'll have the extra to care for her.

[beckya57]

An excellent suggestion. Neither I nor my rich Republican sister much cares for our mother so I'll have to suggest this to her. She has a McMansion, so she has a lot more places to put our mother than we do in our condo.

[Gene O'Grady]

Don't underestimate the prevalence of gratuitous cruelty. With a son with major hearing loss and a wife with a brain tumor, I've had more experience than most. And not infrequently it comes packaged, even on a quite personal level, with teary concern about "the economy."

[Gene O'Grady]

You know, since my wife is rapidly using her sight, I should note that she could never possibly read the letters in your capchas. I don't think that's a form of exclusion you should be proud of.

[Linkmeister]

Not that Sir Charles needs me to defend his system, but there's a button on the captcha for audio enunciation of the nonsense words to resolve that problem for the visually-challenged.

[Sir Charles]

Gene,

I am really sorry to hear about your difficulties and your wife's.

But you have to cut me a little slack on the captcha -- it's not my system. Indeed it drives me nuts myself from time to time.

I am afraid though that if we didn't have the captcha we would soon be overrun by the spammers.

[nancy]

Linkmeister and Gene, I have tested the audio reCaptcha and cannot imagine being able to use it successfully. Pure audio jibberish. I'm curious as to whether anyone has managed to use it as alternative verification.

As near as I can tell, back in about April, Typepad moved to adopt the reCaptcha we're now seeing so as to minimize the amount of spam making its way through the old 'retype the letters and numbers you see' block. It has accomplished that mostly. I'm not certain if I'm reading Typepad FAQ correctly, but it looks as though recognized IP addresses can be excepted which would eliminate reCaptcha for commenters who've posted previously and who were not spam. Anyone?

*****

In the meantime, expect much more of this and expect bitter tears when Ryan and Romney get their asses handed to them in November despite the best efforts of the Village elite. That.

As for Paul Ryan, here's a trip down Memory Lane .

[kathy a.]

i tried the audio version of captcha, too, and forget it.

gene, sending good thoughts. and -- willingness to fight the jerks who think enriching the unbelievably rich even more is what's needed nowadays.

[low-tech cyclist]

What gets me about the whole "the only way we can balance the budget is by cutting entitlements" bit is that:

1) Umm, we did balance the budget not so long ago, and we did it without cutting entitlements, thankyewverymuch.

2) How we - that is to say, President Clinton and his team - did it was a combination of (a) raising taxes on the rich, and (b) having an economy that was firing on all cylinders.

3) We know how to get the economy up to speed again. We can do it by spending money we either (a) will eventually have to spend (infrastructure repairs and investments), so we might as well spend it now when it'll cost us less than ever, and money it's stupid not to spend (sending money to the states to rehire teachers, policemen, firefighters, etc.).

4) The Village seems to be generally against doing the things that would get the economy moving again. They say we can't afford it, or something. Seems we can't afford not to. (And when it comes to raising taxes on the rich, they're either against it, or at best lukewarmly for it.)

You know what really gets to me about the Villagers? Understanding this shit is their day job. But they don't seem to think they actually have to do any work to understand things like this - they apparently think passing around conventional wisdom amongst themselves constitutes understanding, so they don't have to actually test the validity of their worldview. They just know it's true, end of story.

Goddamn, I hate their worthless guts. In particular, the Kaplan pseudo-educational empire - which is all that's propping up the WaPo these days - can't collapse a minute too soon.

[low-tech cyclist]

The Village should also be reminded of Ryan's stances on other issues. As the Daily Beast's Michelle Goldberg points out (via Benen):

[Ryan] believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman’s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings...Ryan also expressed his willingness to let states criminally prosecute women who have abortions.

Wow. Just wow.

I think the Obama campaign should hit this, and hit it hard. If this aspect of Ryan's views becomes widely known, it's hard to see how any woman outside the Crazy 27% would vote for him.

And any man outside the Crazy 27% should be embarrassed to say to any woman he knows that he's going to vote for a ticket with Paul Ryan on it because his bullshit budget is somehow more important than this.

On top of that, Benen reminds us:

Ryan voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay, against repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," against Planned Parenthood funding that has traditionally enjoyed broad, bipartisan support, and for a constitutional amendment against marriage equality.

So completely aside from his granny-starving budgets, he's someone who should at all costs be kept away from any position of power or influence.

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

So in other words, he's a full on right wing nut case. But a very serious one.

[oddjob]

Paul Ryan: A Good Choice, but Please, Not a 'Serious' One

This is James Fallows from The Atlantic. He regards Ryan as a good choice because it changes the dynamics of the election so that we will now have a debate about where we go in the future rather than simply about whether Obama's done an acceptable job so far or not.

[oddjob]

Wow. Just wow.

As I noted during the weekend, his voting record is as conservative as Bachmann's.

[low-tech cyclist]

SC - yeppers.

Hell, the Very Serious People have anointed him as one of their own, so he's a Very Serious Nutcase.

[oddjob]

From what little I read on the weekend apparently he himself has no problem with gay people but he isn't willing to stick his neck out and be punished for it by the GOP base.

[oddjob]

I wonder how David Stockman feels about Paul Ryan running for VP? When Stockman tried out a mild version of Ryan's ideas as Reagan's Budget Director he got savaged for it.

[oddjob]

"...But there is a silver lining. Mitt Romney has given the Tea Party the election they want: a referendum on dramatic cuts in federal spending. When Obama wins—as seems even more likely today than it did Friday—the message will now be harder for Republicans to ignore. Ever since 2008, one of the biggest questions in American politics has been when the Republican Party would realize it was out of step with America and begin overhauling itself, as Democrats did in the 1980s. Paradoxically, Ryan’s selection has likely hastened that process. I hope the far right enjoys itself today, because I don’t think the fun is going to last."

The final paragraph of a good read from Peter Beinart at The Daily Beast.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

I think the difference between Stockman and Ryan's relative treatment is that the GOP of 2012 fully believes its own bullshit, whereas the GOP of 1980 understood that it was one thing to rail about government spending for certain kinds of people -- if you know what I mean -- but that even Reagan wasn't going to fuck with Medicare.

[oddjob]

if you know what I mean

Cue Aretha singing Pink Cadillac.....

[oddjob]

"Americans don't believe GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney hit a home run with his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, with more of the public giving him lower marks than high ones...."

Hat tip, The Plum Line.

[oddjob]

"...Look, Ryan hasn’t “crunched the numbers”; he has just scribbled some stuff down, without checking at all to see if it makes sense...

So why does Saletan believe otherwise? Has he crunched the numbers himself? Of course not. What he’s doing – and what the whole Beltway media crowd has done – is to slot Ryan into a role someone is supposed to be playing in their political play, that of the thoughtful, serious conservative wonk. In reality, Ryan is nothing like that; he’s a hard-core conservative, with a voting record as far right as Michelle Bachman’s, who has shown no competence at all on the numbers thing.

What Ryan is good at is exploiting the willful gullibility of the Beltway media, using a soft-focus style to play into their desire to have a conservative wonk they can say nice things about. And apparently the trick still works."

Krugman, shooting ducks in a barrel.

[oddjob]

You know, if Obama plays this right, the choice of Ryan for the GOP ticket may make the Repubs. just as "successful" as Goldwater was in 1964.

[nancy]

Does Candy Crowley count as a Villager? According to TPM, she'll be moderating the second Presidential debate. I find that disturbing. Romney was handed a nice gift by CNN. Bob Schieffer will do the third. A gift of a different order. Shaking head.

What l-t c said. Pox on the lot of them.

Btw, someone on twitter has taken to calling the ticket 'Wolves in Dockers'. Could have legs.

[jeanne marie]

Paul Ryan's Family Is Rich Because of the Federal Government

[Sir Charles]

nancy,

Candy Crowley is definitely a Villager. Oh my yes.

Wolves in dockers is nice. Their hair was perfect.

[Jeff]

For the villagers, a Republican who can walk straight and knows what an "Aquinas" is, is serious. Rather than dwell on the reality of false equivalence, the Dems should embrace the term and turn it into an epithet. "Paul Ryan is serious--serious about cutting taxes for billionaires and killing your grandmother," etc.

I’m impressed with the campaign Obama is running so far. I would have liked the Democrat defense of the cancer ad to be more coordinated (“It's a fact: people die from not having health insurance.”), but still, they seem to have silenced most of the potential Corey Bookers. Too bad he doesn’t govern like that.

Reid’s “decade of no taxes” thing is another stroke of genius. That guy has really learned how to play the game. I hope they give us more of the same on Ryan.

[jeanne marie]

I know I've beaten this drum before, but we have to remain vigilant with this http://www.aul.org/>group.

[oddjob]

Apparently Ryan also is a climate change denialist.

Hat tip, Mark Kleiman at The Reality-Based Community.

[nancy]

jm, I sent your Rude Pundit entry to a bunch of friends whose first intro to Ryan was his fifteen minutes on "Sixty Minutes" last night with Mitt and soon-to-be moderator Schieffer. Several got back to me aghast. This guy's ideas and ambitions are so thoroughly at odds with his media treatment. Even E.J. Dionne got in on the act, prompting PM Carpenter to spluttering exasperation. The "charm-serious-earnest-true-believer" defense he's receiving is exceedingly dangerous seems to me.

Also I'm pretty sure we all knew this guy in high school. Voted 'biggest brown-noser.'

[oddjob]

"...Ryan is both a product of and poster boy for [Washington, DC, the city Romney falsely claimed Ryan never wanted to come to]. And it is symptom of the corruption and divisiveness of contemporary Washington that a man who has not passed a single piece of substantive legislation, ever, can be hailed as a substantive and deep thinker and the voice of budgetary sanity while racking up an actual record consisting overwhelmingly of renaming post offices, honoring Ronald Reagan and Wisconsin, providing for the issuance of commemorative coins, and increasing the deficit through massive tax cuts...."

[Grung_e_Gene]

Ryan could be the Joker from both the 1989 and the 2008 films:

He's So Serious!

That luscious tan, those ruby lips, and hair color so natural, only your undertaker knows for sure. I know what you're saying: where can I get these fine new conservatives? Well that's the gag. Chances are, you've bought 'em already!

[Sir Charles]

Jeff,

Nice. Well said, true, to the point, and funny.

It is amusing to the degree that we sure seem to be getting the campaign we wanted from Obama and the Dems. It's hard hitting, populist, and not overly fastidious. I approve.

[Sir Charles]

jm,

And Paul Ryan is right in bed with those lunatics.

nancy,

I shocked a group of folks at a pretty classic DC dinner party last spring -- two major journalists, the chair of an independent federal commission, a MacArthur fellow, a former chairman of another independent commission, seven JDs and one PhD, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Brown in the house -- I was definitely the least credentialed guy in the room -- when I declared that E.J. Dionne was a piece of shit. Really, people could not believe such unkind words for EJ, but the man infuriates me with this kind of crap. (Strong emotions and language are not really done in a place where Paul Ryan is considered "serious" and a good guy.)

Biggest brown-noser - excellent.

[Sir Charles]

Grung_e Gene,

Heh. Indeed.

[nancy]

Sir C, your wife was not within earshot I gather. :)

[Sir Charles]

nancy,

How did you know?

Wife was out of town on business, hence my ability to speak frankly without having many bruises from being kicked under the table.

Actually, my wife shares my unfashionable commitment to issues and hates all of the mushy middle stuff -- she hates EJ and Saletan more than I do. She is, however, more polite and far less inclined to let her wine do the talking.

[big bad wolf]

well, in the spirit of their hair was perfect, i'd say wine don't lie.

[nancy]

How did I know? Been there, done that. Heh. I'm the kicker under the table person. Works sometimes. Not always. "Why are you kicking me?" Out loud. "What are you talking about, love?" Less out loud.

[Sir Charles]

bbw,

"Whiskey don't make liars, it just makes fools,
So I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said."

nancy,

My wife loves when I ask "why are you kicking me?" out loud.

[Phil Perspective]

All I have to say was perfectly summed up by Tbogg on the Twitter machine yesterday. That Willard made the Zombie-eyed Granny-starver announcement while K-thug is on vacation is the first thing the R-money '12 campaign has done right so far.

[Phil Perspective]

Sir Charles @ 9:13,
If only we got that from the Democrats year-round!!!

[low-tech cyclist]

That Willard made the Zombie-eyed Granny-starver announcement while K-thug is on vacation is the first thing the R-money '12 campaign has done right so far.

Not that that kept Krugman from weighing in briefly on Saturday, and much more extensively on Monday.

[Phil Perspective]

L-TC:
Obviously. I don't know where Krugman went on vacation, but one way or the other, I'm sure he found out pretty quick. Whether the locals told him, he got phone calls from his Princeton friends or whatever. But he hasn't written an actual column for the past week or so now(which I imagine is read more than his blog) so the Zombie-eyed Granny-starver was spared for a day(Monday) at least.

[nancy]

Ugh. Paul Ryan's Biggest Influence: Ten Things You Should Know About Lunatic Ayn Rand.

7. Author Hal Crowther writes, "For an eyewitness portrait of Ayn Rand in the flesh, in the prime of her celebrity, you can’t improve on the 'Ubermensch' chapter in Tobias Wolff’s autobiographical novel Old School . Invited to meet with the faculty and student writers at the narrator’s boarding school, Rand arrives with an entourage of chain-smoking idolaters in black and behaves so repellently that her audience of innocents gets a life lesson in what kind of adult to avoid, and to avoid becoming. Rude, dismissive, vain and self-infatuated to the point of obtuseness — she names Atlas Shrugged as the only great American novel — Rand and her hissing chorus in black manage to alienate the entire school, even the rich board member who had admired and invited her. What strikes Wolff’s narrator most forcefully is her utter lack of charity or empathy, her transparent disgust with everything she views as disfiguring or disabling..."

Love that the nuns are having none of this particular altar boy.