Rep. Ryan Is Republican Point Man

"When Rep. Paul Ryan delivers the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday, many viewers will get their first look at a man whom GOP leaders are trusting to manage a central policy issue—how to cut the federal budget—that could shape the party's image for years.

"While unknown to most Americans, Ryan, 40 years old, has established himself as a leading conservative thinker on federal spending, shaped in part by his early work for supply-side icon Jack Kemp.

"Now, Republicans not only have made Ryan chairman of the House Budget Committee, but on Tuesday the House is expected to vote to give him unprecedented powers to force spending cuts for the current fiscal year. That authority will allow Ryan to act unilaterally in setting an overall spending level for the rest of the year, a job usually handled by his full panel.

"Hours later, Ryan will speak to the nation in a televised address following Obama's remarks to a joint session of Congress. He was chosen for the role by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.

The rest of the article is here.

Ryan was a classmate of mine at Miami University, and for the past three days, he is the Senate Democrats' new villain.


lately, liberals have highlighted GOP efforts to cut as much as $50 billion from the federal budget and a “roadmap” to create private accounts for Social Security and Medicare (which Ryan created) in an effort to attack and discredit him.

“This is an initial volley in a three-day effort — 72-hour window — to try to muddle Paul Ryan’s foray onto the national scene,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “We want to make the House Republicans or Republicans at large own his roadmap and what it would entail for Social Security.”

It is politics as usual with the liberals. The fact of the matter is that we have huge unfunded liabilities that liberals do not have the guts to tackle. They would rather play "political chicken" with the unfunded liabilities, while Republicans are trying to deal with real issues.

I am proud to say that the Republicans are finally seeing the light.  Look for the Democrats to become the party of "no" in the House and the Senate.