Look what Romney has brought mainstream with his pick of Ryan

by pdxblake

Back when the debt ceiling was the number one debate in Washington, there was a push by many in the Republican Party to push the US government into default for the first time ever and guess who joined them:

Establishment Republicans including Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who announced his presidential candidacy last month, are backing a short-term default if it leads to deep, immediate spending cuts.

Jeff Sessions and Paul Ryan, the top Republicans on the Senate and House Budget Committees, have also said failure to raise the debt limit would not trigger immediate catastrophe.

Of course, it didn’t happen with the Stupor Committee and the Sequester that is coming at the end of the year, but the Vice Presidential nominee from a major political party (Paul Ryan) has recently been in favor of defaulting on the US debt in order to score a political victory and slash spending and kill popular social programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  If Romney is elected, this person would be within a heartbeat of the presidency (as they like to say).

For anyone who wants to have a ‘serious’ or ‘adult’ discussion about the future trajectory of fiscal policy in this country, it should be clear that the top priority should be defeating Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  Supporting them is supporting a cutthroat political strategy where it is perfectly acceptable (for them) to hold the nation’s unblemished record of paying its debt on time and in full hostage and openly state that they are willing to kill the hostage.  That is not a ‘serious’ approach to fiscal policy.  It is insanity.