People are still debating the merits of Paul Ryan’s new budget plan, but one thing we can all agree on is that it’s an act of blood-curdling violence that we should all be terrified of.
That seems to be the rhetorical slant chosen by Democrats, anyway. They had meetings a while back in which they decided their strategy to avoid responsibility for the budget crisis would be convincing gullible Americans that Paul Ryan is the devil. I think they’re overdoing it a bit.
In the Democrats’ eyes, Ryan isn’t a well-meaning but misguided political opponent who has chosen an unwise path toward fiscal restraint. He’s wearing a hockey mask and chasing Uncle Sam with a chainsaw.
Democrat Xavier Becerra of California says that Republicans have been “waging war on American workers,” and Ryan’s budget opens “a second front: a war on seniors.” John Larson (D-CT) said Ryan’s goal is “government so small you can drown it in a bathtub.” That sounds more merciful than Larson’s description of the current GOP proposal to keep the government running, which will administer “death by a thousand slashes.”
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said that Ryan will be “pulling the rug out from under seniors who have paid into Medicare and Social Security their entire lives.” I hope they don’t break their hips when they fall.
Mark Warner (D-VA) said Ryan must take a “meat ax to those programs which protect the most vulnerable in the country” to achieve his goals. Max Baucus (D-MT) accuses Ryan of making “deep cuts to the Medicare benefits seniors count on.” Unlike ObamaCare, which utterly destroys them, and pushes seniors into plans run by top tax-exempt Obama supporters!
Fiscal restraint is always wrapped in the bloody bandages of violent language, what with all the complaints about “sharp cuts” and “slashing” budgets. Tax increases, on the other hand, are never described as cutting or slashing the finances of those who pay them.
The Democrats are obviously intent on whipping up hysteria over the Ryan budget proposal, to short-circuit any serious discussion of the plan on its merits… and most especially to distract voters from asking where the Democrats’ budget proposals are. Has the moment when such a strategy would work passed? Is the public finally paying attention, and asking rational questions? We’ll know the answer when the Democrats stop screaming.
