I don’t know whether to give Will Saletan credit for admitting he’s been a giddy school girl around Paul Ryan or condemn him that much more for not being ashamed of it:
I hate to admit it, but Krugman nailed me on this one. I was looking for Mr. Right—a fact-based, sensible fiscal conservative—and I tried to shoehorn you into that role.
[….]I still see promise in you, Paul. I love it when you challenge the rhetoric of public “investment.” I admire your fixation on the Grim Reaper of debt. I’m sympathetic to your argument that student loans and insurance subsidies distort markets. I swoon when you crusade against the generational greed and fiscally hollow promises of the entitlement state. But if you won’t stand by your principles when it counts, Paul—if you’re just going to demagogue Medicare like an old-style liberal—then you’re useless to this country. I want my love letter back.
What I don’t get about all these emotionally stunted clowns is that on the one hand, they’re all about being more adult and serious than the rest of us, while on the other, they openly write mash notes to dominant bucks and high-five their kids when one pundit “schools” another.
I’m no school boy but I know what I likePost + Comments (63)