Ryan was named the #9 most influential conservative in the US by the telegraph in 2010.
They describe him as “a budget hawk” who is “holding the Obama administration’s feet to the fire just as he challenged the Bush administration to return to fiscal conservatism.” They also mention his “populist touch”— opposition to big business, lobbyists, and crony capitalism.
When exactly did Ryan challenge the Bush administration to return to fiscal conservatism? When he voted for the Bush tax cuts, which would effectively make it impossible to pay down the national debt? When he voted for the largest Medicare expansion in US history? When he voted for the financial industry bailout? And these are just some of the more glaring instances where Ryan was more than happy to be fiscally reckless when it pleased his party leaders.
Paul Ryan found his “populist touch” at about the same time he realized hitching his wagon to the Tea Party star was his best bet to the top ticket in his party. I’ll give him credit for being shrewd, but the idea that he’s some sort of small government, budget balancing idealist through and through, or that this isn’t some over the top persona he adopted when he realized he and other House Republicans could hijack Congress and basically get nothing done at all for 2 years and look like heroes in the eyes of some conservatives, is a bunch of bologna.
