Paul Ryan Disappearing?
Politico Focuses on Celebrity over Substance
Last week Politico assigned one of its senior political reporters, Jonathan Martin, to pen Paul Ryan’s disappearing act.
After acknowledging that Ryan might actually be interested in doing his job, Martin brings one source after another to show that Ryan is damaging his electoral chances in 2016.
What isn’t likely to dissipate with time, though, is the taint on Ryan that comes with being a full-fledged congressional insider. There’s a growing desire on the part of Republicans to move away from the Washington wing of the party and the sort of austerity politics with which the congressional GOP has come to be defined.
Look at the remarks from individuals like Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and even Romney’s remarks at CPAC: They all are nudging Republicans away from their spending fixation toward a growth orientation their governors personify.
“We must not become the party of austerity,” says Jindal in his speeches. “We must become the party of growth.”
Unsurprisingly, according to memeorandum, a number of lefty blogs very much enjoyed this.
Look how Martin promoted his article on Twitter:
On how P Ryan’s disappearing act speaks to the state of gop and broader political celeb culture >ow.ly/jnPvW
— jmartpolitico (@jmartpolitico) March 25, 2013
Does Martin appreciate irony? The whole point of his article is to promote the “political celeb culture” he feigns to deride!
Two weeks earlier, Jonathan Tobin looked at Ryan’s budget and observed Ryan Shows GOP Is In for the Long Haul:
But whether that happens or not, Republicans are still obligated to do more than provide a faint echo of liberal pieties. The voters chose a divided government last fall, not hegemony for the Democrats. That means any discussion about the budget must have two sides rather than the liberal narrative promoted by the president and his cheerleaders in the media. Ryan’s budget will never become law, but it is an important document that sets out the only real path to national solvency as well as for preserving Medicare. When contrasted with the president’s mindless defense of the status quo on entitlements as well as his inability to put forward to present a path to a balanced budget, Ryan’s plan doesn’t look so crazy.
Where Martin focuses on celebrity, Tobin is more interested in substance.
Speaking of disappearing acts, note that there was a senator who missed more than half the Senate roll call votes from July, 2007 onward and overall missed nearly 25% of the votes during his four years in the upper chamber. Now he is President.
If you get the sense that the media prefer celebrity to substance, their support of President Obama (and derision of serious Republicans) make the case.
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Comments
God, I hope Ryan doesn’t have a secret lover in Argentina…
The White Democrats are restless, I see.
For your own mental health, STOP reading Politico! They are not your friends, they are not honest journalists, they are hack propagandists who will do whatever is necessary for Democratic victories and Republican defeats. It is their sole purpose for existence.
Every single original principal, including Martin, was a charter member of Ezra Klein’s original “Journ-o-list” – the secret email group dedicated to massaging and managing the news so all stories were told with leftist spin, so the public didn’t let unadorned facts confuse them.
After exposure, you can bet it was reconstituted with better internal security. You can see it in the same phrases and emphasis in story after story. People don’t report a story the exact same way by chance.
So when you read something by Martin or any of Politico’s other hacks, remember it is designed to lead you astray, away from the truth, to sow discord and confusion in our ranks for the benefit of their leftist heroes like Obama.
Just say NO to Politico!
Salutation to Ace of Spades as one of the first major bloggers to refuse to link the lying lefties there any longer.
Estragon,
I know that Politico is not my friend. But sometimes I’ll see an article that catches my eye because of its blatant dishonesty or distortion. I think it’s worth pointing it out. I don’t make a habit of it. (Actually I spend a lot more time poring over the op-ed pages of the New York Times. That will send anyone to the funny farm. At this point, I guess I’m kind of immune to Politico.)
But every reference to them reinforces the notion that they are at least nominally a “news” outlet, which they are not. At least through the pages of the NYT one stumbles across the occasional fact, even if its presence is pure serendipity.
Remember, the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.
What the heck is meant by austerity politics? The Republican establish wants to bust the budget just like the Democrats do. The only different is who they want to pay off and how much they are willing to steal to do so, with the Democrats looking at about an order of magnitude of graft more.
I think there is some genuine fear at work here too. There is a palpable fear among the left about the GOP rising stars. Maybe some of it stems from discontent with having such an obvious front-runner in Hillary Clinton knowing that her once inevitable candidacy imploded when contrasted with a shiny object. If they are stuck with Hillary I think they’d prefer to run against a Paul Ryan in whom they’ve invested a good deal of time and effort demonizing. It is debatable they’ve been successful in that effort but I am sure they’d be reluctant to acknowledge that point.
While they may be concerned about Hillary fading against a rising GOP star, I think there is more reason to be concerned with someone of substance like Paul Ryan whose youth and earnest commitment to problem solving is just as likely to stand in stark contrast to the tired old Clintons. Add the tendency of the electorate to tire of a party after 8 years in the White House and a return of the Clintons may be even more unpalatable. The left has plenty of reason to worry so folks like Martin will be doing a lot of phony hand-wringing about the right rather focus on the left.
I think you make a good point Mary Sue. Ever read Sarah ‘Barracuda’ Palin and the Piranhas of the Press?
Here’s some substance! Paul “Austerity” Ryan voted FOR the “fiscal cliff tax hike” (3 months ago) when he didn’t have to! He didn’t have the courage to even make a symbolic vote against it!
The irony is that Paul Ryan’s perspective and policy objectives are patently pro growth. Now whether his policy instruments (in the form of the budget) are pro growth can be debated. No question, his intent is growth (and we all know that with the progs, intent is more important that what you do).
All that said, unless you are a Keynesian, a very strong argument can be made that the ‘austerity’ in the Ryan budget will free capital and the private economy such that the result will be economic growth. Excessive government spending boxes out private investment.
Moreover, a lot of government spending does not create new value (GDP), but is merely redistributive. For the most part, sustainable and durable economic growth comes from private economic active that produces goods and services – not government transfers.