Paul Ryan has a very serious problem – he can’t face reality. In his new budget, Paul Ryan depends upon the repeal of “Obamacare”. Well that is part of a fairy tale, at least until 2016. In the last session of Congress alone, Republicans tried almost 40 times to do just that and it never happened. They know it won’t get past a Democratically controlled Senate, let alone the President’s veto pen. It’s just not going to happen and Paul Ryan refuses to believe it.
And it now seems that fewer people are joining Ryan in this alternative universe. When you’re an Obama-bashing winger and you lose Fox News, then you really are on the outs. Here’s Ryan on Fox News yesterday and Chris Wallace just isn’t buying this budget.
Wallace even tells Ryan that it’s not going to happen:
“Are you saying, as part of you budget, you would repeal — you assume the repeal of Obamacare?” Wallace pressed.
“Yes,” Ryan insisted.
“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Wallace pointed out.
“Well, we believe it should, that’s the point,” Ryan replied. “This is what budgeting is all about, Chris. It’s about making tough choices to fix our country’s problems. We believe that Obamacare is a program that will not work.”
The translation for Ryan is sticking his fingers in his ears and going “nah nah nah, I can’t hear you!”
But Ryan isn’t at total blame here. These kind of budgetary bait and switch tactics are common play for Republicans and they usually buy into it. Take a look at the Bush years. During his time in office, Bush never once accounted for the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq in his budgets. Once President Obama put a budget in, complete with these costs, Republicans said “look how much he increased spending”. See, Republicans apparently don’t know about emergency appropriation bills that aren’t part of the budget, despite voting for everyone Bush had to put in to fight the wars.
Maybe it’s time for the GOP to find a new budgetary wonder boy, because Paul Ryan sure as hell isn’t it. If Republicans want everyone to learn to “live within their means”, then they need to start leading by example. Putting out a budget that gets rid of expenses that can’t be removed is a far cry from “living within their means”. It’s the same as saying “hell, I’m not going to pay my taxes or insurance”. You just can’t do it and it shows just how irresponsible today’s GOP really is.