Paul Ryan Haz A Idea

In the days following the budget deal negotiated in the House, the usual Beltway lap dogs have been hailing Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan as the man who stood up to the Tea Party.  One such tongue bath appeared in today's once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, authored by Republican-wired Chris Cillizza, who is under the delusion that Idea Man Ryan is heir to Idea Man Newt Gingrich --  LOL -- though we would offer that Ryan is more the heir of Gingrich in the sense that both are "what a stupid man's idea of what a smart person sounds like" (credit: Paul Krugman).   But no sooner had Ryan established his creds as the man who stood up to the Tea Party than he promptly sat down to the Tea Party:

We as a caucus -- along with our Senate counterparts -- are going to meet and discuss what it is we're going to want out of the debt limit. We don't want nothing out of this debt limit. We're going to decide what it is we're going to accomplish out of this debt limit fight...We're going to meet in our retreats after the holidays and discuss exactly what it is we're going to try to get for this.  [our emphasis]

To which the great Charles P. Pierce responds:

It is helpful to remember that "getting something" out of allowing the government to pay its bills is not the way the Congress operated until Republicans like Paul Ryan got a hold of the House Of Representatives and turned it into a shakedown palace. The only thing to be "gotten" out of raising the debt ceiling was the fact that the world economy was not allowed to crash. This is our government and our bills to pay and our economy if it bellies up so, therefore, it is our debt limit. It is not the property of the Republican House, or of Paul Ryan, Serious Man Of Ideas, to turn into a ransom note every year. They might has well just barricade the House side of the Capitol and string C-4 in the halls.

So, the hostage-takers are coming at us again, led by the Idea Man, whose big idea is apparently to threaten to default on U.S. Government obligations in order to accomplish... what?

 We all [Ryan and the Tea Party] believe the same thing with respect to our ultimate goal.  With the budget I passed in March, that's what I really want.  Balance the budget, pay off the debt, don't raise taxes. 

Translation:  The rich get to keep their tax cuts, the poor and middle class get to keep their social safety net cuts.  See?!  Everyone has their cuts to bear!