Was Paul Ryan’s Cut to Medicare relevant in the Recall Elections? Conservatives say No…and Yes. Huh?

Ah, the adoring public. Paul Ryan’s tough love against his fans future health care needs is just the discipline they needed, to make their fixed income lives a little more challenging.  

In the piece below, columnist Christian Schneider started out by saying the Democrats were wrong bringing Ryan’s plan into the Republican recall races, because Medicare had nothing to do with state politics. But as you can see by the title, and here final conclusion, Ryan’s Medicare cuts had everything to do with the elections. Doh! It’s not like state lawmakers never run for congress, or that support for an unpopular program like Ryan’s doesn’t call into question their family values.

The contradictions in this “love letter” to Ryan are too good to pass up:

National Review: How Paul Ryan Unexpectedly Won the Wisconsin Recalls By Christian Schneider: Democrats have been damaging their retinas squinting to find the silver lining in the past two weeks’ recall elections. Take congressional fiscal dreamboat Paul Ryan, whose plan to reform America’s entitlement programs became a fixture in the Wisconsin recall effort … despite the fact that these races were state and not federal contests. They tried to hang Ryan’s plan around the neck of state senators Sheila Harsdorf and Alberta Darling.

Wisconsin Democratic party chair Mike Tate “We’ve got them on camera with Paul Ryan. We’ve got them on the record saying they support the Ryan agenda. And I think it’s something that voters are going to weigh in on.”

Teachers’-union activist Shelley Moore, Harsdorf’s opponent, said the incumbent Republican wanted to “eliminate Medicare” by “standing with Ryan” — a claim for which she received a “pants on fire” rating from Politifact. 

Politifact again, had it all wrong. Medicare won’t be the same and will cost seniors more. But on the bigger point, if someone is standing with Ryan, how could they not be for his plan to end Medicare as we know it? Pants on fire Politifact.

But it is a sign that voters in swing areas looked at Ryan’s plan and shrugged.  I, for one, am trying to determine which of my children to love less in order to make more room in my heart to love Paul Ryan more. But as he (apparently) mulls a run for the presidency, he should take solace in the Wisconsin recall results — they demonstrate that the public seems to get what he’s trying to accomplish.

With contradictory thinking like this, is it any wonder why conservative voters desperately want to generalize the issues into easy, non-contradictory, talking points. Who can follow these people? Oh, and what child do you love less now...?