Wacky Today, Law Tomorrow
by digby
Paul Ryan is a Randian nutjob but he's considered quite the up and comer. Therefore, it stands to reason that other up and comer nutjobs are glomming onto his nutjob ideas, particularly the NRCC "young guns" who pride themselves on being nuttier than their nutty grandpas. Amanda Terkel has compiled a full list of the top tier candidates who have endorsed Ryan's "roadmap." Here's just one of them:
- Martha Roby, AL-2: On June 4, Roby put out a statement criticizing Democrats for refusing to move forward with a budget proposal. "The American people deserve better. They deserve solutions," said Roby. "Conservative leaders like Rep. Paul Ryan are offering real solutions to cut wasteful spending, such as canceling unspent TARP and stimulus funds, cutting non-defense spending back to 2008 levels, and reducing the government workforce. I endorse these solutions and other common sense approaches to start getting our fiscal house back in order." Roby is one of the National Republican Campaign Committee's "Young Guns," the party's top new prospects.
They all sound like kooks, to be sure. But I would remind everyone that we spent nearly 20 years battling back privatization (and still are) because a previous "Young Gun" pushed it, even though it sounded completely crazy at the time, as I pointed out a few weeks ago:
There's a lot of chatter this morning about this article in the WaPo about Paul Ryan and how much heartburn his economic plans are causing the Republicans. I was immediately reminded of a famous article about Newt Gingrich back in 1988 which featured this observation:
His recognition and his gathering power were not the result of the legislation he drafted or helped to pass, which, in fact, was negligible. And he was scorned by detractors for some of his wackier notions –which ranged from the off-the-wall (plans for statehood in outer space) to potential political dynamite (he once proposed abolishing Social Security and replacing it with mandatory I.R.A.’s).
The latter “wacky notion” was, of course, eventually adopted by the entire GOP establishment as “privatization,” which the last administration made a very serious attempt to implement. Paul Ryan still pushes it, even in the face of the recent Wall Street meltdown and as a member of President Obama’s deficit commission, will undoubtedly be proposing “reforms” which may include some elements of that plan once again. What was once a wacky notion is now a zombie article of faith on the right, just waiting for the opportune moment to rise again.
It may help the Democrats in this election to depict these people as nuts, and it has the benefit of being true. But they should not do what they usually do and rest on their laurels if they manage to pull it off. Ryan's roadmap is going to be GOP boilerplate for a long time to come. Pretending that one election can vanquish it is as nutty as he is.
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