Paul Ryan seeks to break up non-existent college "Cartels," promote more faux "Trump and McDonald's" University's.

PolitiFact nailed Paul Ryan again, who seems to be perfecting the art of taking a few reality based facts, twisting them into something surreal, and selling it as a bold vision of the future.

A 2012 National Review article headlined "The College Cartel" argued the college accreditation process gives accredited schools a monopoly on higher education and weakens incentives for them to control tuition costs.

"Why don’t we break up the college cartel & let students try different options?" U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, tweeted on May 14, 2016. "Let's give students a choice."

Oddly, at about the same time Ryan endorsed Trump, he also pushed the GOP's hot new policy idea that would allow con men like Trump to create “colleges,” saying the marketplace and students should decide where and how they want to spend their education dollars. You know, a return “buyer beware,” no regulation.

Ryan has argued that reforms in the accreditation process — including the embrace of non-traditional teaching formats such as massive online open courses — could help lower tuition costs.

Online schools have been a disaster, so good idea Paul. What Ryan hates actually encourages quality and competition:

Going to the dictionary: When asked for evidence, Ryan spokesman Ian Martorana began by sharing a definition … "Cartel: a collusive . . . association of independent enterprises formed to monopolize production and distribution of a product or service, control prices, etc. … referring to the fact that the federal government controls the supply of higher education through the accreditation process."

The Department of Education …  acknowledges accreditation plays a "gatekeeping" role in access to the annual $150 billion spent on federal student aid. "Accreditors are responsible for ensuring baseline levels of acceptable quality and performance across diverse institutions, degree types, and academic programs," the department said in a 2015 news release.

But that does not mean the private accreditation firms are working with the government — nor that the more than 60 active accreditors, which are private entities, are working together … there are approximately 4,200 accredited colleges and universities in the United States. And they compete against each other for students, government aid and grant money. Each institution decides what degrees to offer and what is required to attain them.

Here's Paul Ryan’s give to Trump…

Indeed, anyone can create a college — the accreditation only comes in as a means for students to get federal student loans. "As we know from Trump ‘University’ and from McDonald’s ‘University,’ you can use it as a euphemism," Nassirian said. "You can use it in any context you want to. And nobody stops you from awarding whatever degree you want to award."
While it is true that the accreditation process acts as a "gatekeeper" of federal student aid, but that is a policy standard and, in practice, is different than a cartel which would require collusion between institutions and many other factors. For a statement that contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would leave a different impression, we rate the claim Mostly False.

Paul Ryan, Dumb Ron Johnson claim defeating ISIS will solve Mass Shootings, not gun regulation.

Another frozen in the headlights moment for Republicans, who are now so desperate to appease the NRA, that they've come up with this...

Ryan is another GOP "leader" running the nations problem with weekly mass shootings, by oddly blaming ISIS and terrorism. Guess no one was buying their popular "there's nothing we can do about it" excuse:

The Hill: Ryan suggested that he hasn't changed his tune following the Orlando tragedy. First the bill dubbed "No fly, no buy," could trample on Second Amendment rights. "We also want to make sure that we're not infringing upon people's legitimate constitutional rights." 

Second, Ryan suggested the system currently in place is a suitable line of defense. "We can actually blow our ongoing terrorist investigations."

Third, Ryan said the focus on guns, post-Orlando, is misplaced. Congress instead should be looking at ways to tackle mental illness and rein in homegrown terrorism: "Is going after the Second Amendment how you stop terrorism? No." 

It's terrorism, like at Sandy Hook?

"Let's not take our eye off the ball here. This is a person who was radicalized by Islamic radical terrorists, he claimed it was by ISIS," he added. "So we need to make sure that we're focusing on the real issue here, which is terrorism.

Dumb Ron Johnson's agitated and surreal word salad explanation focused exclusively on defeating terrorism and to do nothing on the terrorist watch list, frustrating the Devil's Advocates and their listeners. It's a 7 minute Dumb Ron Johnson panic attack that solves nothing while avoiding everything:



Gov. Chris Christie sounded just as convinced, casting aside any chance we're going to take the mass shooting problem seriously:



Sen. John McCain played the Trump crazy card by blaming Obama for the spread of terrorism, now in the U.S..



Here's the powerful closing statement from the leader of the Democratic filibuster, Sen. Chris Murphy:

Double-speak Ryan Doubles Down on Doing Nothing

I think it’s time to start holding do-nothing Republicans accountable for their frustrating irresponsible behavior.

No one has perfected those do-nothing excuses like Paul Ryan. He effortlessly promises to do nothing. In one article, I found these, starting with an easy one - the no-fly list:

WSJ: Paul Ryan on Monday panned President Barack Obama's call to ban people on the 

federal no-fly list from buying guns, calling it "a distraction" from the broader war on terror … the no-fly list includes many people not suspected of terrorist acts. “A mid-level bureaucrat can put anybody on a no-fly list with no due process rights” So what is Ryan's strategy … “If we think a person is suspected of a terrorist act, let’s go get them -- pure and simple.”

Brilliant? Quite the leader. Here’s another:

Speaking of Obama's call for Congress to formally authorize military force against the Islamic State, Ryan said he believes "it could be a strong signal to send that we are going on offense" against the group but said a sticking point could be concerns that such an authorization could tie the hands of the next president.

Do-nothing Ryan makes it sound so easy. And he wasn’t done not committing to anything:

...whether they deserve it or not.

He's open to Obama's call for Congress to authorize military force against the Islamic State terrorist group … but Obama's speech had a crucial omission: what his administration will do differently to fight terror groups such as the Islamic State. “What I heard more was a defense of his containment strategy -- not an adjustment to a new strategy. We should not try to defend what has been our failing policy.”

And don’t forget Paul Ryan’s commitment to provide a complete detailed plan to replace the Affordable Care Act before the next election, just like all the other times they provided a detailed list…oh wait, they didn’t.

It's well known that Ryan met with other Republicans on the first day of Obama's presidency and promised stop every part of his agenda. This new contortion - doing nothing - replaces that scheme.

Ryan Fumbles GOP Immigration Reform Debacle, disingenuously blaming "untrustworthy" Obama while discrediting John Boehner.

Republicans can’t govern, that much is clear. But blaming others for their incompetence is treading in dangerous territory.

After hypocritically fumbling around on family leave, new Speaker Ryan didn’t just play the race card portraying Obama as “untrustworthy,” but he tried to shift the blame for congressional inaction on immigration to the president as well:  

"I do not believe we should advance comprehensive immigration legislation with a president who has proven himself untrustworthy on this issue." Ryan said Obama ... went around Congress to take executive actions shielding from deportation millions of people living in the country illegally.

One of the reasons Obama used an executive order was to get something, anything done on immigration. 

And Ryan had a part in delaying immigration reform, inaction that will negatively impact rural conservative farmers dependent on immigrant labor. 

White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the remark 'preposterous' … "pandering to the extreme right wing" ... "ironic." He said it's Ryan who supported an immigration deal, then failed to push for it to come up for a vote in the House.

Ryan "Discredits" outgoing John Boehner! I loved this backhanded yet unintentionally stupid swipe at former Speaker John Boehner. For anyone still thinking Ryan is wonkish and smart, this should dispel that myth. My head is hurting again:

Ryan: "This job can't be done like it was done. If I pick up where John Boehner left off, then I think we won't be successful. That's not a discredit to John Boehner, that's just a discredit to the way the jobs been done!"

John Boehner did a great job doing a lousy job? OMG....only in the GOP bubble does that make any sense.

Ryan in denial on Family Leave, still thinks lazy Americans want another "entitlement." Not insulted yet?

Already fumbling his way through his speakership, Paul Ryan offered up a disconnected word salad excuse he thought let him off the hook over his hypocrisy on family leave and his own desire to have weekends off to spend with his family. The Hill:

New Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed Democrats’ calls for a paid family leave law as another “federal entitlement,” and said his position isn’t at odds with recent remarks that he wants to spend weekends with his young family in Wisconsin.

“I don’t think people asked me to be Speaker so I can take more money from hard-working taxpayers, so I can create some new federal entitlement. But I think the public wants to have members of Congress that represent them, that are like them. Don’t you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you, among you, who has your own kinds of concerns, who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?” 

What in gods name is he talking about? While most industrialized countries feel obligated to provide family leave time, Ryan sees that as an "entitlement?" That's how far off the charts Ryan is in the 21st century.

If anything, Ryan admitted his hypocrisy with, "Don’t you want your member of Congress to be a citizen legislator who lives with you, among you, who has your own kinds of concerns, who wants to spend time with his children on Saturdays and Sundays?”

Still not answering, Ryan dug deeper into his denial:

“Yes, Sundays are going to be family days, and Saturdays are family and constituent days. That is what I think most people want in their life is a balance.”

Balance Ryan won't allow them to get with family leave. 

Small government Ryan forced to take another government job that "he did not seek."

With Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Craig Gilbert talking up Paul Ryan's House speaker position as "betting on his ability to "master" a uniquely challenging job...," like he mastered trickle down supply side economics I guess, we must once again rely on outside sources for an honest critique of our "wonkish" genius.

Remember his bullshit laced VP speech that pretty much exposed this half baked huckster?

NY Daily News: Yes, Paul Ryan lied, and yes, it matters! His acceptance speech on Wednesday night was one of the most dishonest political speeches in recent U.S. political history. While some like Ben Smith at BuzzFeed call Ryan’s flights of factual fancy "policy differences" with President Obama, this misunderstands what actually is a policy difference and what is a lie – and why Ryan’s incessant lying ... is actually pretty important.

Now as House speaker, we're all supposed to feel good about Paul Ryan, all is forgiven?

Adding to Ryan's legend, and in keeping with the GOP's obsession of seeking government jobs they hate with a passion...

"He did not seek this office. The office sought him," said Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the House GOP conference, in nominating Ryan.

Ryan's a hero, forced to take a job he didn't want. That should instill confidence? 

But seriously, according to Dean Baker, Co-director, CEPR and author of 'The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive', Ryan's budget "wonkism" is nothing but a media creation:

Unless reporters give Ryan a pop quiz, they really don't know what he knows about the budget, but they do know what he says. In addition to wanting to privatize both Social Security and Medicare, Ryan has indicated that he essentially wants to shut down the federal government in the sense of taking away all of the money for the non-military portion of the budget.

This is a fact that is easy to find for any reporter who could take a few minutes away from telling us what a great budget wonk the next speaker is. In 2011, when he chaired the House Budget Committee, Ryan directed the Congressional Budget Office to score his budget plans. The score of his plan showed the non-Social Security, non-Medicare portion of the federal budget shrinking to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2050 (page 16).

That's bad news for all Americans:

This number is roughly equal to current spending on the military ... he does not want to see the military budget cut ... That leaves no money for the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, The Justice Department, infrastructure spending or anything else. Following Ryan's plan, in 35 years we would have nothing left over after paying for the military.

Just to be clear, this was not some offhanded gaffe where Ryan might have misspoke. He supervised the CBO analysis. As the document makes clear, they consulted with Ryan in writing the analysis to make sure that they were accurately capturing his program.

So what percent of people in this country know that the next Speaker of the House would like to permanently shut down most of the government? My guess is almost no one; we just know he is a policy wonk. The budget wonkism of Chairman Ryan is a beautiful example of the failure of the national media to take their job seriously. Telling us he is a wonk, without telling us the content of his wonkism, is a bad joke which should get people very angry at the folks who pretend to give us the news.

Targeting Roberts Court, Paul Ryan hopes to show GOP ready to replace ObamaCare. "We don't have (a plan) yet, so I can't tell you what it is."

In what seems to be morally and unethically bankrupt, and maybe illegal to boot, Paul Ryan is heading up efforts to influence Chief Justice John Roberts so he'll gut the Affordable Care Act. 

Ryan is hoping to show Roberts that congress is ready to replace ObamaCare once the court removes the tax credits for government run state exchanges. For a party that had a tantrum over a few people losing their doctors and insurance, they seem almost gleeful over the prospects that force millions to lose their doctors and insurance:

TPM: Republican leaders are eager to convey to the chief justice that they will be ready to act. Rep. Paul Ryan, a key committee chairman overseeing health care policy, told reporters Friday on Capitol Hill, "The idea is to show what our alternative to Obamacare would look like. We don't have [a plan] yet, so I can't tell you what it is.”

Of course the easiest way to keep millions from losing their doctors and insurance is off the table:

He ruled out changes to make Obamacare work better or tweaks to make clear the subsidies are available in all states, instead saying the goal would be to help states "get out of Obamacare."

Shining a bright spotlight on their own Republican incompetence, a few senators decided ‘who cares:’

One top Republican, Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN), suggested recently that his party may not need to act if millions of Americans lose their subsidies. Another Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), said the GOP should challenge Democrats to come up with a different health care plan that isn't Obamacare and is supported by the American public.

I hate to tell Republicans that it's too late to convince Americans they're not already "crazy to the point of letting the world spin into chaos:" 

One conservative source, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, described it as an attempt to "make the world safe for Roberts to overturn" the subsidies and to "not let our guys look like they're going crazy and letting the world spin into chaos."

Republicans hate their own government so much (patriotic isn't it?) that managing it is now impossible. Stunning to say, here's what they have to offer:

Scratch beneath the surface and the GOP effort to devise an alternative is a mess. Republican leaders have offered no specifics beyond their longstanding call for "patient-centered" solutions. The party is nowhere close to a viable plan, aides privately say, stymied by the same obstacles they've faced for five years: deep internal divisions and a lack of economically feasible options to cover the uninsured without mandates or regulations or higher taxes and spending.

Janesville man with free flights, parking says enjoy your 2nd-class transportation

The new GOP House budget-writing chairman, Janesville's own US Rep. Paul Ryan, declares there will be no raise in the ridiculously low (18.4 cents) federal per-gallon gas tax, though gas prices are plummeting and the Federal Highway Trust Fund is depleted.

Look for Ryan sidekick Scott Walker to fill the Wisconsin transportation agency's deficit-laden budget through more cuts to transit, some higher registration and licensing fees, extra surcharges on electric and hybrid vehicles which Walker believes are owned by Democrats, added state credit card debt to pay for unneeded 'freeway' lanes, and funding transfers from health, education, assistance to local governments and other programs.

By the way, members of Congress get about a quarter-million dollars annually for taxpayer-paid travel, can use it fly first-class, retain frequent-flyer miles and can also fly free on overseas junkets.

And it's common for member of Congress to either park their cars for free at the DC airport or get rides to and from the airport from taxpayer-paid staffers.

Your travel experience and theirs is very different.

Cross-posted at The Political Environment.

Attack on French newspaper is an outrage

The mass murder of journalists and others at a satirical Parisian newspaper is a crime against free expression everywhere. Today is a day for speaking out for the victims, their craft and its universal and crucial value. And for remembering other journalists recently killed, captured and imprisoned for doing their jobs.

Why is Paul Ryan so Wrong...all the Time?

Our new dystopian Republican congress has a lot of people thinking about what might happen under their control. For me, a smart Democratic plan would be to take every GOP bill and highlight what it would do. A two column analysis, one side Democratic and the other Republican, for every major bill. Dream on John, because that would be like "framing" the issues, and Democrats don't do that ever.

But reporters are still curious about those in charge, and their records to date, like Paul Ryan's:

Why is why Ryan has been so spectacularly wrong about inflation, the dollar, and, well, the whole economy the past few years.

"Pressed for cash, the government will take the easy way out," Ryan mused in 2013, and "crank up the printing presses." The result wouldn't be any run-of-the-mill inflation, but rather "the debasement of our currency." And in case you have any doubt how bad that would be, well, Lenin supposedly said that's the best way to destroy the capitalist system. So pretty bad.

In 2009, he philosophized that "a lot of people would observe that we are right now

living in an Ayn Rand novel." A year later, he all but accused the Fed of using the printing press to pay our bills … And in 2011, he somberly warned then-Fed Chair Ben Bernanke that "there is nothing more insidious that a country can do its citizens than debase its currency."

It was a weird thing to be worrying about. Inflation was just 1.7 percent when Ryan brought up dollar debasement. It's 1.2 percent now. And rather than being debased, debauched or otherwise devalued, the dollar is actually up 13 percent against a broad index of currencies over this time … there hasn't been anything resembling "debasement."

Why has Paul Ryan been wrong about everything? Well, he missed what a lot of people miss, which is that the rules change when interest rates are zero. You won't learn that from Ayn Rand's books, though.

Paul Ryan Medicare Plan a Copy of ObamaCare!!! A Train Wreck for 50 Million Seniors?

Going through my old "before the election" video archive, I discovered the most amazing...really AMAZING analysis of Paul Ryan's Medicare reform plan. You can thank MSNBC's Chris Hayes for this one.

Paul Ryan plans to put seniors in Medicare exchanges, just like the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. That would mean switching over 50 million plus seniors into a subsidized marketplace of insurers, with detailed policies so convoluted they're sure to stump and frustrate the elderly. I don't even understand my own policy.

This is a report that everyone should watch and shove in the face of those lying hypocrites in the Republican Party. Trolls won't know what to Tweet. Democrats should run on it in 2016. Crap, even John Boehner came right out and said it was very similar to the presidents health care bill. You can't make this stuff up:



Boehner continued to bash ObamaCare the other day, promising to try and repeal that horrible law:

Paul Ryan's Free Market line of BS Exposed!!!

You’ll find this amusing, and an insightful look at the upside down free market rhetoric of acolyte Paul Ryan.

Get government out of the way? Let the free market work its incredible magic without regulatory interference? Bull!!!

Ryan is starting to sound like my conservative friend in Milwaukee, when I asked him about free market health care; if people buy the coverage they can afford, “what happens if somebody gets sick from something they didn't cover?” He said without hesitation, “insurers should be required to cover everything.” Huh? A big time government mandate? My head hurt for the rest of the day.

Ryan is just as hypocritical, and an outright phony.

The Hill: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) alleged that the Budget Committee chairman's new book, The Way Forward: Renewing the American Idea, received special treatment after Ryan criticized Amazon, (and) the web company’s standoff with publishing company Hachette. Ryan’s book is published by Hachette. Amazon had been making the book more difficult to find, delaying deliveries and not offering the option to pre-order it before the August publishing date. The online retailer and publishing company are fighting over the pricing of e-books.

In a CNBC interview in August, Ryan accused Amazon of “making a kind of power play here, in my opinion," against his publisher. “If I were just a private citizen, I would voice just one straight opinion, but since I’m a member of Congress and a policymaker, I’m going to withhold from making comment,” he said, after being asked a follow-up question about whether regulators needed to step in. Shortly after those comments, Amazon made his book easier to find in its online store and is now offering a 25 percent discount.

What, are Amazon's free market hardball tactics considered "unfair" by Ryan? Ayn Rand would be so disappointed.

Like tort reforms anti-free market protection of businesses from lawsuits, Ryan would “help” the free market by getting regulators involved. But thanks to his powerful big government position, the free market squeezed a special favor out of Amazon. 

Paul Ryan Links Fracking Expansion To Highway Funding Deal

The last time Rep. Paul Ryan saw an opportunity for a Koch Industries project, he wanted to force a floor vote to greenlight the KXL pipeline during the debt-limit debates, so this is right out of Ryan's hostage/ransom playbook.

According to an article in the Janesville Gazette, Ryan has a plan to fund the federal highway trust.

But you may have to embrace the Koch Brothers if you don't mind...

JG Excerpt:
Nobody wants to see an insolvent highway trust fund, and there's ways to avoid that, Ryan said.

Ryan helped write bills that would create a mechanism to use royalties and leases from fracking efforts for the highway trust fund. "I think it's a great funding source. We've had incredible discoveries just in the last few years,” Ryan said.

As I predicted almost two months ago, there is no way, despite massive deficits and snowballing costs, that Ryan would let the federal highway fund run dry.

With that said, the I39/90 interstate expansion doesn't need Paul Ryan or the fracking industry to make it happen. It's going to happen with or without them.

The problem is it's Koch Industries that needs Paul Ryan to make fracking expansion happen and Ryan is confident he'll work out a deal to get it done.

When Ryan sees a threat, he won't care what you think...the move toward Right Wing Authoritarianism.

There's a reason why I think Paul Ryan is one of the most dangerous politicians out there right now, and it's not because he's ideologically conservative. 

It's because Ryan is a rightwing authoritarian, and has clearly told us just that over the last few years. You wouldn't want one as your president. He's repeatedly warned us about what he'd do if he were in charge. Do a "roll call" search of this blog and you'll see what I mean.

In the slide show below, from Upfront with Mike Gousha, Ryan used key words and phrases that should scare the daylights out of anyone who truly believes in what Ryan calls the American "idea." Here are 5 examples from our arrogant egotist in the clip below:

- "This is what requires leadership."

- "It is hard to lead when your saying things people may not want to hear, but leaders nevertheless if they see a threat to their country need to do something about it." 

- "...so we can win the kinds of elections we're going to have to win, to get the moral authority and mandate to fix this countries problems on our own terms as nation before it's too late." 

- "What I'm trying to do here is to build a majoritarian movement to fix America's problems..."

- "The kinds of elections we're going to have to win in my judgement, if we're going to save the American idea, are the kind of elections the American people give us the mandate and the authority to fix our countries problems before their outside of our control...we need to lead..." 

Ryan isn't hiding anything. Here's my slide show of that interview:



Check out right wing authoritarianism here, here, here, here, and here.

Ryan's advice to other Republicans: Be a good listener?

Rep. Paul Ryan's comments during an interview with Upfront's Mike Gousha had an especially hollow ring to them, after videos surfaced showing Ryan ejecting Americans who dared to ask him a few inconvenient questions at a couple book signings recently.

Below, I've edited together what I think tells us the whole story of this arrogant rightwing authoritarian career politician. His actions speak louder than his deceptively wonkish empty words:

Paul Ryan Blocks Minimum Wage Hike, but allows Corporate Tax Inversions Overseas.

It’s frustrating for Democrats and real conservative penny pinchers see an important solution to our ballooning government assistance problem blocked by Paul Ryan; increase the minimum wage.

The minimum wage would not just take more people off assistance and save taxpayer money, but it would increase consumer demand and reduce the corporate use of government programs to supplement their bottom line.

Instead, the GOP’s top snake oil salesman Paul Ryan would much rather ignore reports of job increases due to higher minimum wages, and beat to death the CBO’s admittedly squishy determination that “suggested” a hike would result in a loss of 500,000 jobs. jsonline:

Ryan told a luncheon audience at a joint meeting of the Milwaukee Press Club and the Rotary Club of Milwaukee … A day after Obama appeared in Milwaukee and called on Congress to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, (saying) he opposed the measure because it would cost the economy jobs. He cited a Congressional Budget Office study that suggested a minimum wage rise could lead to a loss of 500,000 jobs.

The Policy of Platitudes: Ryan’s detail free talking points are getting old:

"Let's focus on economic growth," he said. "Let's focus on job creation."

In the mean time, Wisconsin media refuses to ask Paul Ryan why his solution, increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, was the first thing state Republicans cut to balance the budget. The GOP’s reason? The poor didn't earn the money they got back with the tax credit:

Ryan trumpeted the earned income tax credit for low- to moderate-income workers. He said it was "a far smarter way of pulling people into the workforce" than raising the minimum wage.

Ryan is so unwilling to compromise and close corporate loopholes, that he’s willing to permanently lose corporate taxes to inversions to make his point:

Ryan said Congress should not move to block tax inversions, in which U.S. firms purchase smaller foreign corporations and then transfer their headquarters overseas so they can lower tax rates. "Simply putting up a fortress around America with these anti-inversion rules, all that we'll end up doing is accelerate the takeover of U.S. corporations by foreign corporations," he said.

You Made Your Point Maam.

Platitudes from Planet Paul Ryan...

Well, Paul Ryan decided to gather up his endless list of Ryanisms and put them into one Seuss-like book, "The Way Forward."

To get a sense of what you will find in this must read rehash filled with dire warnings and contradictions, behold Ryan's God-like statement of party aggrandizement:

Also out as a children's book.

“This can’t be the full measure of our party and our movement. If it is, we’re dead and the country is lost.”

Yes, without the Republican Party, "the country is lost." You see, our big brother authoritarians must convert the U.S. to a one party system to save it, just as the founding fathers envisioned.

Pity the Poor Fool: Ryan shows how little he gets it. While people are repulsed by his cruel Dickensian platform, he thinks it's a "communication" problem:

He acknowledges his communication problems in explaining his budget ideas, which the House Republicans’ campaign arm encouraged candidates to disavow and left Ryan feeling “ostracized.”

Ryan even basks in his own hypocrisy, bragging how having it both ways allows him to see both sides:

While Ryan has faced criticism from Democrats who say he would like to strip social services and make changes to Social Security, Ryan writes that he saw the benefits and importance of the programs in his life. When his father died he received Social Security survivor benefits that allowed him to pay for college. Ryan writes that critics distort his plan.

I suppose it was just a coincidence that so many different critics distorted his "plan" in the exact same way. And Ryan's egocentric vision prevents him from noticing the devolution of his own party:

Ryan singles out the government shutdown in fall 2013 … the government shuttered for 16 days and the Republican brand took a massive hit in voters’ eyes.

Ryan’s in a bad State of Denial: Ryan says past economic failures were the result of bad messaging. If only he had used the right words...:

Ryan says his party needs to be more inclusive, spend far more time talking to black and Latino voters, and avoid playing into what he calls a caricature of the "cold-hearted Republican."

When a constituent once clearly explained the reality and the need for our social safety net programs, instead of getting the point, cold-hearted Ryan questioned his...terminology.

jsonline: He even points to some of his own past rhetoric as part of the problem … his use of the phrase "makers and takers" … The congressman says he began second-guessing his use of that language after a constituent approached him at the Rock County 4-H Fair in July 2012 and asked, "Who are the takers? Is it the person who lost their job and is on unemployment benefits? Is it the person who served in Iraq and gets their medical care through the VA?"

Ryan stopped using the term when he realized that "it sounds like we're saying people who are struggling are deadbeats ... The phrase gave insult where none was intended." 

You know, like his condescending description of the safety nets as hammocks. No insult intended, right? 

Governing, but not Governing?!! In a mind bender, Ryan thinks governing ourselves is different than governing ourselves through government. I’ll admit, this play on words has been a pet peeve of mine for at least a decade. And yet, it makes sense to conservatives. String together just he highlighted words. It's crazy:

Ryan offers a broad attack on progressivism across the decades and a sharp denunciation of Barack Obama as a president whose "policies represent an ideological mission to re-order the human condition through state action, empowering bureaucrats to decide what's best for everyone rather than allowing citizens to govern themselves."

No one wants to decide “what’s best for everyone" except maybe the GOP. No liberal, progressive, or Democrat ever said that, or would say something so ridiculous. That’s a fiction dreamed up by conservative paranoids, who are pushing for a Borg-like one party authority. Talk about irony.

Ryan Wants To Expand A Tax Credit Scott Walker Cut

How radical was one Scott Walker tax 'reform'?

Walker cut a tax credit that put more money into the pockets of low-income wage earners, and thus encouraged work force participation while relieving some of poverty's sting.

The cut to the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, was so mean-spirited and contrary to basic, conservative pro-work GOP agendas that Walker later denied he'd proposed it though the cut remained in his first budget.

But now Ryan, looking to appear more reasonable as the 2016 presidential campaign looms, wants to increase that very same tax credit.

You know a tax 'reform' put forth by an ultra-conservative was toxic if it's too radical for a radical rightist like Paul Ryan.

More information and links, here.

Ryan’s “Opportunity Grant:” Put everyone using Social Safety nets under Contract, penalize them for failure.

You really can't make this stuff up.

With the promise of streamlining all of the different safety net programs and cutting red tape, Paul Ryan has devised an amazingly convoluted solution to his imagine "social hammock" problem.

You can't hide from this one...

Imagine those families struggling to make ends meet, on assistance, and under contract by a “local provider.” Call them a neighborhood "jobs boss." Someone who watches over their every move, wagging a finger and doling out consequences for missing job training benchmarks, income and wage expectations... 

Big government enough for you yet? Working but not making enough and collecting food stamps? Now you have two bosses. And the one that helps you feed your family with food share is hanging a contract over your head…with penalties.

Here's a sample from Ryan's transcript:

Take an example. Let’s call her Andrea. She’s 24. She has two kids … Her husband left … her only work experience was a two-year stint in retail. She and her kids now live with her parents in a two-bedroom mobile home. She’s been trying to find work … She doesn't have a car. She can’t afford child care. And her dream is to become a teacher.

Under this plan, Andrea would go to a local service provider. She would sit down with a case manager and develop an “opportunity plan.” That plan would pinpoint her strengths; her opportunities for growth; her short-, medium-, and long-term goals. The two of them would sign a contract. Andrea would agree to meet specific benchmarks of success, a timeline for meeting them, consequences for missing them, and rewards for exceeding them.

Ryan Spreads Big Government in the form of oversight, more red tape and reporting…

A neutral third party would keep tabs on each provider and their success rate. It would look at key metrics agreed to by the state and federal government: How many people are finding jobs? How many people are getting off assistance? How many people are moving out of poverty? And so on. Any provider who came up short could no longer participate. And at the end of the program, we would pool the results and go from there. 

Here's 7 minutes of absolute lunacy, if you've got the time (edited for time and sanity):