Tiger Beat Time magazine (via) features a hard-interviewing hard-hitting interview with teen idol Paul Ryan:
In terms of coordinating your message with outside groups, Tuesday’s roll out seemed to be a great success. What was your process with them?
[….]Sure, but what drove an Irish Catholic guy from Wisconsin to get so involved in this?
Justin Bieber gets tougher questions than these.
Joseph Nobles
Hey, OT, but Fox just announced that Glenn Beck will be “transitioning off” of his cable show. Mercury Productions will continue to work with Fox to produce programming, and Glenn Beck is excited to begin this new phase of work with News Corp.
My vote for a Beck replacement: “Paul Ryan Is Making Sense!”
Elizabelle
Tongue bath!
PS: kudos on the Tiger Beat reference.
“Tiger Beat journalism” for inclusion in the blogtags?
Carnacki
I liked Paul Ryan better when he was a child star playing Eddie Munster.
singfoom
With notably rare exceptions, Time is not even worth wiping your ass with.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
Krugman is savaging this budget with everything he’s got, but he’s only one man. Hate to be a bummer but I think this has a low but nonzero chance of happening. I’m already thinking about how to spend my groovy voucher, how about you?
virag
just like rock ‘n roll
virag
ryan is a vile little turd.
wengler
The same Time magazine that had an Afghan girl on the cover that had her nose cut off during the US occupation, in order to evoke emotion as to what could happen to others if the US occupation of Afghanistan ever ended?
That Time magazine?
McKnuckles
Ryan Paul er um Rand Ryan Urr um Ann Paul Rand I mean Von Ryan sorry er Paul Ryan is so dreamy
Dr. Psycho
But remember, it’s President Obama who is a media-coddled man-boy….
Punchy
Wha…whatwhatwhat? (scans page manically)…Wait…WHERES THE FUCKING LINK TO SULLIVAN?
How DARE you post a thread without telling us how Andy feels. Unbeelubul.
Loneoak
Does Beck call it Mercury Productions because it slowly poisons your brain? Probably not, but we really ought to be calling it Mercury Poisoning.
Mary Jane
Quite awhile ago my husband paid, I think, $15 for a two year subscription. Seems it should have expired by now. Every issue sits unopened on the kitchen table for a week before going in the recycling bin. I won’t donate them to the library, there are enough misinformed idiots in this town.
Mark S.
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
Yeah, Krugman’s been brutal: Paul Ryan’s Multiple Unicorns.
Hey, someone here said that it might be possible to read K-thug w/o paying the subscription fee. I think I can live without reading Bobo and Friedman, but it would be nice to read Krugman.
Comrade DougJ
@virag:
As I’ve said before, maybe the best album opening song ever.
quaint irene
Yeah, but where are the shirtless pix?
MikeJ
@singfoom: An excellent call back to last week’s joke that most, with notably rare exceptions will have forgotten.
virag
@Comrade DougJ:
100% agreement from me. i think i got the album after hearing the song on the radio one time–hard to believe that was 22 fucking years ago. they did a great rendition at the mercury lounge in 2009; i was psyched since they didn’t play it in 2007 during the acoustic show i saw.
Elizabelle
@Loneoak:
Beck’s production company is named Mercury Radio Arts.
Which is lovely.
However, its output is paranoia, greed, filth, lies and innuendo.
Not lovely at all.
Josie
@Carnacki: All along I have been thinking how much he resembles Eddie Munster, but I thought it was just me. I am so glad to know I’m not crazy.
Elizabelle
OT, but:
looking at the likely govt shutdown beginning Friday:
Would you buy a nonrefundable ticket for the middle of next week? Or flights being postponed/cancelled right and left?
On top of any airline inspections of Boeing 300s for cracks …
Choice is flying or driving.
Do you think we’re looking at miles of airport security lines?
FormerSwingVoter
My personal favorite part of the Ryan budget plan – he assumes that, in 2012, unemployment would be 2.5% lower than under current law. Due to 500k more jobs.
For those unfamiliar, 1.5 million jobs would lower the unemployment rate by 1.0%.
Not only is the entire document based on lies, but the lies aren’t even consistent from line to line within the same page. It is nothing but a gibbering pile of madness, spewed from the foaming mouths of the insane.
Calouste
@Mark S.:
The only way possible to do that is abolish the DoD. At the moment Defense spending takes up 4.7% of GDP, so at the very minimum Paul Ryan’s WeDontCare plan proposes to increase defense spending by way less than GDP growth, and probably even less than inflation. Why does Ryan hate America?
Joseph Nobles
@Loneoak: No, it’s an allusion to Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater. No lie.
parenthetical
Love the Mekons reference, DougJ. You were truly born inside the belly.
Shoemaker-Levy 9
@Mark S.:
I don’t know how their paywall works but I’ve had no problem clicking into Krugman and Nate Silver as many times as I want for free.
cleek
@Joseph Nobles:
i like the AV Club’s take.
Calouste
@FormerSwingVoter:
That’s how you lower the unemployment rate by 2.5% while only creating 500,000 jobs.
Mike in NC
Well that didn’t take long, but who’d be surprised to see his mug on the cover in 2-3 weeks? How about a nice overwrought caption next to it, like “Can this man save America?”
TIME is shit.
Elizabelle
@Joseph Nobles:
Welles did some scaremongering in his day. (War of the Worlds) Although for entertainment value.
Beyond that, no comparison.
Emma
At least it’s a relief to see so many of the comments mock the whole thing… sometimes reading the comment sections on online newspapers and magazines is like taking a bath in frog slime.
cleek
@Joseph Nobles:
as in “let’s make money by making the listeners believe the world is about to be destroyed by a surprise Martian invasion” ?
makes sense.
Elizabelle
@Mike in NC:
Time has gone with a LOT of Sarah Palin covers and coverage.
Maude
@Elizabelle:
#21
I don’t know what happens when the govt shuts down this time. The MSM certainly hasn’t informed people of what this will do to the people in the country. I guess that would take work.
We need to know the effects of this.
People might not be so calm about it if their ox is gored.
The Repubs are not telling .
Culture of Truth
oh yeah. Or “The Most Courageous Man in America”
FormerSwingVoter
@Culture of Truth: Or “His Testicles Taste Like Candy”
Mark S.
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
I get a little pop-up telling me I only have 2 free articles remaining this month.
How about a blockbuster trade: Krugman to the Daily Beast for Andrew Sullivan to the NYT paywall. Maybe that will cut down on the posts here about Sully.
StringonaStick
Oh, goody! I just got an invite from my senators for a “discussion of the debt and entitlement crisis” this Friday, featuring Alan Simpson and Alice Rivlin! I do believe I’ll be going to that one, armed with some data.
catclub
@FormerSwingVoter: There is probably an assumption in there somewhere that all the illegal aliens will be deported – that would fix it!
PurpleGirl
@Mark S.: Sometime last week this link was provided for a way to read the Times.
http://toys.euri.ca/
I haven’t tried it cause I got a subscription invitation (I’ve had their headlines by e-mail for years on a Juno e-mail account). I bookmarked the site anyway, in just case.
geg6
Is it just me or does Paul Ryan remind anyone else of Eddie Munster?
Edited to add: Heh. I see Carnacki got there first.
Lawnguylander
The coverage of Ryan reminds me more of an early 1990s Spin profile of a new band that they swear is so awesome that you’ve just gotta buy their new CD. But it turns out to suck and you’re pissed at Spin and embarrassed for owning it. If seniors are given the freedom to go Galt on the health insurance marketplace they’re going to have that same awful feeling about Galtcare. They’ll be thinking they were getting a Pixies or Replacements replacement but they’ll end up with Teenage Fanclub. They’ll be pissed at whoever sold this to them and will be the ruination of the for profit health insurance industry with the high call volumes and all.
Bex
@Mary Jane: I get a gift subscription every year. The fate of every issue I get is pretty much the same as it is at your house.
trollhattan
@Joseph Nobles:
I’ll see his Orson Welles and raise him a Graham Parker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws_DmRZXWBw
But, wherever shall I buy my gold?
joeyess
I was listening to Mrs. Greenspan today on MSNBC and I couldn’t continue on. She is so transparent in her agenda that her questions in the he said/she said segment made me want to vomit.
This is indicative of what the chattering classes have become: Plutocratic Megaphones.
I’ve tried to find the humor in it all but it’s so tragic that I just find myself switching to the NFL channel and watching “Film Sessions”.
catclub
Yglesias suggested the other method to get to 2.8%:
shooting the unemployed!
Once word gets around, nobody will admit to it in the employment survey and … voila, problem solved.
Creative, market based solutions! Not like the job killing Obama healthcare plan.
Nellcote
@StringonaStick:
And a video camera?
trollhattan
@catclub:
Wow, will that snare Yglesias a Moore Award(tm)? some kind of matter-antimatter scenario there.
fasteddie9318
@Shoemaker-Levy 9:
By the time I’m ready to receive it, I’m planning on trading it for a can of gasoline and a match so I can self-immolate outside the Capitol. Although by then, gasoline will probably be worth more than the voucher.
joeyess
C’mon people. We all know in our heart of hearts what the Ryan budget is about. It’s a negotiation ploy. Look ridiculous and get what you want in the end.
Ryan just likes to play the role of Harpo to Groucho and the joke is a running one.
We ask ourselves constantly why the Dems capitulate to this nonsense all the time. Well, like Cole once explained, when one party is fucking crazy a “compromise” is like going on a date, suggesting Italian and your date wants a meal consisting of “tire rims and anthrax”.
Pretty hard to get a decent meal out of that negotiation. May as well just go home, eat what you like and diddle yourself.
Jeremy
DougJ –
Great lyric – to paraphrase Bill Murray in “Stripes”, I want to party with YOU, man.
Southern Beale
GOP has a thing for teens.
Drunk Pawlenty Worker Tries to Break Through Teen’s Door at 3 a.m.
Proof positive that our presidential campaigns are TOO DAMN LONG. This dude would never make it to Super Tuesday.
Judas Escargot
@Mark S.:
If you have a Kindle, you can get Krugman’s blog by itself for a whopping $0.99/mo.
And I *think* that blog subscriptions can be routed to the Kindle-app on non-kindle devices now (ipad, android phones, computers) also.
Nellcote
@Elizabelle:
Airports are considered “essential” and are not affected by this shut down.
Joseph Nobles
@cleek: Oh, yeaaaaaah.
cleek
@joeyess:
are they alloy or chrome ?
Mark S.
@catclub:
Yglesias’ proposal, whatever you think of it, is serious. This proposal will set the standard of seriousness for anybody who wants to play in this discussion. Matt Yglesias has grasped reality with both hands. He’s forcing everybody else to do the same.
Now let’s all get behind the more moderate Bowles-Simpson plan of imprisoning the unemployed. That’s how compromise works in this country.
Sentient Puddle
@Judas Escargot: Instructions, please. And does it include his columns?
Mnemosyne
@StringonaStick:
Fix’d.
geg6
@trollhattan:
Heh.
geg6
@Mark S.:
FTW.
catclub
@joeyess: Speaking of negotiations and contracts (and Harpo) … There is no sanity clause.
Dan
For Time to ask serious questions, they’d need someone who
1) was capable of understanding the proposal, and
2) read the proposal, and
3) had the balls to call Ryan’s bullshit
I think they are 0-3.
joeyess
@catclub: I know! That’s the insane part.
Judas Escargot
@Sentient Puddle:
It’s just the “Conscience of a Liberal” blog, not the columns: linky.
The amazon page says Kindle/DX only, but on my amazon.com/manageyourkindle page, the option to send it to an iPad or other device does appear, so it’s unclear if it’s Kindle only.
You don’t always get the charts/graphs, but for a buck a month I won’t betch.
Mary Jane
@Bex: Bet there’s a lot of that going on. The recent issue with G.W. Bush on the cover didn’t last a day.
But in the case of your gift subscription, its the thought that counts, right? :)
Bulworth
Teen idol. Love that one.
Cris
I can’t even get past the “what drove an Irish Catholic guy from Wisconsin to get so involved in this?” What the glimmering fuck? Am I ignorant of some stereotype about the Irish, Catholics, or people from Wisconsin being apolitical or lazy?
Elizabelle
Maude and Nellcote:
Thank you.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
up in the rafters a rope is dangling
spots before the eyes of rock n’ roll!
Suffern ACE
@Mark S.: Yep. Bowles Simpson set the overall limit of the government share of GDP at a magical 21%. Ryan sets it at 18% and demands a 2/3 supermajority amendment to the constitution. My guess is that our leaders will ditch the constitutional amendment but go with 20% as the maximum goal, since 20% is a nice round magic number.
Our leaders don’t do much in the math department. They do like magic numbers, though.
Time Magazine Editor
I don’t care what you guys say about Ryan. He’s dreamy.
Elliecat
@Cris:
Oh it’s probably some crap like them being modest or too busy working hard and taking care of their families or something to get involved in anything big.
Or that Catholics are supposed to support an option for the poor and care about social justice, neither of which his plan does.
Mnemosyne
@Judas Escargot:
You should be able to read it on your iPad or iPhone using the Kindle app.
Mark S.
@Suffern ACE:
I’m surprised Ryan didn’t ask the CBO to assume that somebody invented a perpetual energy machine that runs on static electricity.
patrick II
… and gives better answers: Bieber:
He’s a teen idol, not an idiot.
Chyron HR
@Cris:
Let the record show that the witness made the “Drinky-Drinky” motion.
eemom
DIE MOTHERFUCKER.
I think that’s going to be my mantra until this Ryan scum washes out in the next news cycle.
MikeJ
@cleek:
I think of Welles as the guy who wrote and directed the one about a guy who couldn’t run for office because of his personal life so he tried to control the US through the media.
Ann B. Nonymous
Peter Barca (a paisan!) used to have Ryan’s House seat. He’s very popular as the leader of the Democratic caucus in the Wisconsin state assembly.
If I were a professional Democratic strategist, I would be thinking about an upset. Daschle Rand Munster out.
Mnemosyne
@MikeJ:
Fun fact: Welles, a lifelong liberal, always blamed himself for the rise of Joe McCarthy because he had friends begging him to run for senator of Wisconsin (he was born in Kenosha) and he decided not to. The guy elected that year Welles would have run was McCarthy.
Suffern ACE
Yeah, you may dismiss our celebrity coverage as trivial, but celbrities may actually have it tougher than politicians in terms of the coverage. I mean, this week’s cover of the National Enquirer has the headline “What is wrong with Sandra Bullock’s Face!?”
A good question that no reporter seriously asks about the orange one, at least not to his face.
Nellcote
@Mark S.:
Try clearing your browser cache or using another browser.
jayackroyd
Yes, but it’s really good that they are printing the transcripts of these interviews.
arguingwithsignposts
Completely OT, but further proof that Gov.
AdolfScottMussoliniWalker doesn’t give a crap about referendums:via TPM
Nellcote
per TPM even the Heritage Foundation is backing off Ryan’s numbers a “tad”.
catclub
has anyone noticed that Ryans plan also does Social Security privatization.
private accounts… you can opt in or out of the present system … automatic investment in a lifecycle fund … your account is eventually dangled in front of the wall street firms so they can compete for it …
no change in COLAs – the only thing the oldsters are interested in.
vtr
All right allRIGHT! Make fun of Ryan if you want, but just remember, he has a College Degree in economics. b.a.
Chris
@arguingwithsignposts:
To be fair, the union-busting law was imposed from on high by a politician in Madison who never breathed a word about it during his campaign. And it has been met with statewide opposition and the disapproval of a majority of Wisconsinites (and Americans for that matter) polled. So technically, the good Governor’s dead right.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
The stupid, it burns.
j low
Wasn’t it just yesterday that an Irish Catholic was just a pope lovin’ smidge better than a “negro”? Now he’s a Real Merkin. I can hardly keep up with these changing times.
chaucer
haha! you are showing your age with the tiger beat reference. i know; i used to read it.
PIGL
@virag: born inside the belly of….
Mary Jane
@chaucer: Tiger Beat beats on. The latest issue arrived Monday, turning my gloomy almost-teen into a gleeful child.
Bex
@Mary Jane: I think I’ll tell them to give me a gift certificate to the gourmet ice cream store. I’d rather be fat than stupid.
chrismealy
It’s appalling that the Mekons don’t get more love. Thanks DougJ.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQ6DLwV9CI
Also great, TINA (there is no alternative)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPQG_6EoyPI
virag
@PIGL:
rock ‘n roll!
virag
@chrismealy:
they look so young in that video, likes kids covering the mekons in their basement.
destroy your safe and happy lives…
Lou From Here
Doug, many thanks for the Mekons reference! Or in newspaper tradition, does someone else write the headlines/