Paul Ryan: Pretty but Dumb

Republican pretty boy Paul Ryan gets thoroughly hoisted, if not on his own petard then Ezra Klein’s, who ably dissects Paulie Boy’s duck and weave, bob and bounce, shuck and jive performance before a gaggle of reporters at a recent shindig organized by the Wall Street Journal, whose editors probably wish they hadn’t let Ezra in.

As Ezra points out, nothing Paulie says makes sense. It can’t, because, while his purported policy goal is reducing the national debt, his real policy goal is reducing taxes on the rich.

Afterwords
Jonathan Chait provides some excellent secondary analysis, including video that shows Ryan saying in the 2012 presidential campaign exactly the opposite of what he said last Wednesday. It’s amusing to watch Paulie, portly Chris “Now that I think about it, I’m not all that crazy about President Obama” Christie, Bobby “Can’t we all get along” Jindal, and Rand “I hate Hillary” Paul all snorting and bellowing and pawing the ground in preparation for 2016. Chris finds himself suddenly skeptical about President Obama’s bona fides, while Rand Paul is earnestly walking back his earlier pledge to eliminate foreign aid to Israel. Bobby is explaining how nice he will be when tells rape victims that they’re not allowed to have abortions, and Paulie, well, he’s workin’ that hair.