Ryan parrots Walker lies about state budget and reasons for recalls

Paul Ryan has done a fundraising letter for State Sen. Alberta Darling, one of six Republicans facing recall elections for their support of Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting, anti-worker, anti-family, anti-senior state budget.

We don't know what direct mail lists Ryan's letter is going to, but he must hope it is a group of people who have not followed the news for the last six months -- or have incredibly short memories.

Here's what Ryan falsely claims the Darling recall is all about:

With the future of Wisconsin on the line, Senator Darling insisted that state government workers pay a modest portion of their pension and health care benefits and in doing so, she’s incurred the wrath of the Left who have vowed to make an example out of her.

That, of course, has nothing to do with the battle going on in Wisconsin. The public employee unions agreed to pay the added health care and pension costs that Walker asked for. But that wasn't enough.

Walker refused to accept that -- refused to even meet with the unions or engage in any negotiations. Instead, he and the Republican leadership rammed through a bill that essentially killed public employee bargaining in the state. Its clear intent is to kill off the unions once and for all.

That -- not the demand that public workers pay more of the tab for health care and pensions -- is what light the prairie fire, sparked massive demonstrations in Madison for months, and ignited the recall effort.

Alberta Darling, as a co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee, has her bloody fingerprints all over the union-busting bill and the state budget that does so much damage to working people and their families, with massive cuts to education, health care, and more.

Darling, once seen as a moderate Republican, has backed Wallker's right-wing agenda right down the line.

Ryan knows that, of course.

And so, we hope, do the voters.

His hope -- and Darling's -- is that the gullible people who get his lying piece of mail don't know the truth and pull out their checkbooks.

The fat cats and corporate special interests already know what's going on and have given record amounts of money to Darling. Ryan hopes to con some small donors into giving, too.