Ryan’s ‘Courageous’ Budget Cuts Need Reality Test: Albert Hunt

Paul Ryan is John McCain, circa 2000, or Barack Obama in the last presidential election or Bob Strauss and Jim Baker for their entire careers: the darling of the Washington commentariat.

The chairman of the House Budget Committee, who released a budget last week that calls for dramatic spending cutbacks to politically sensitive programs such as Medicare, has been called a “rebel with a cause” by the television anchorwoman Diane Sawyer; to New York Times columnist David Brooks, he’s a “powerful elected official,” who is “willing to take a stand, willing to face the political perils.” A news search for the past three months shows the terms “courage” or “courageous” or “bold” were used 679 times in articles mentioning Ryan.