Kimberly Strassel cooed over Paul Ryan's bravery in favoring a bailout bill in Friday's Wall Street Journal thusly:
And in casting his "yes" vote on Monday, he knew what was coming: "The easiest thing would be to vote no and go hide in my office and watch the markets collapse. I will suffer politically for this, but I will sleep at night."
He was right. For his sin of acting to forestall economic mayhem, Mr. Ryan is being pilloried in Wisconsin, where he's in a competitive race. He's been accused of abandoning his conservative principles, of "caving" and "bailing out" Wall Street. He received 3,000 calls last week and wryly notes the "only one in favor came from Hank Paulson."
Charlie Sykes and James T. "Bush is Brilliant!!!" Harris also hailed Ryan for his alleged bravery Friday on WTMJ.
My friends, there was nothing particularly courageous about Paul Ryan's support of the bill. He comes from, sadly, an incredibly safe seat and there is little chance he's going to be voted out of it. (Does Kim Strassel really think his race against Marge Krupp is "competitive"? If it is, that's front page news!) Ryan's calculation went something like this:
Political capital expended by voting for the bailout: $0
Extra money to be spent defending vote: $0
Looking statesmanlike and ensuring financial institutions continue to pour money in my warchest as I eye a higher office: Priceless.
Indeed, Ryan has a disturbing tendency to believe he takes courageous stands when he does no such thing. For instance, on his campaign site he describes his decision to roll out his laughable Road Map for America this way:
Ignoring the pollsters and pundits who told me to play it safe in an election year, I have taken head on the budget-busting elephant in the room: our exploding entitlement programs.
Given he unveiled the Road Map for privatizing social security, forcing people into HSAs and cutting taxes on the Wall Street Journal editorial page, it's fair to say Ryan didn't "ignore" the "pollsters and pundits."
Indeed, the Brawler would suggest that Paul Ryan's primary constituency right now is, in fact, the "pollsters and pundits" and other party brahmins who can help him in his ambition for higher office.
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