Krugman wants to make sure we really do understand that many of Ryan's (bad) ideas do come from Ayn Rand. Unlike other boys, he never did outgrow his Galt worship. "And, beyond that, consider the fact that Mr. Ryan is considered the modern G.O.P.’s big thinker. What does it say about the party when its intellectual leader evidently gets his ideas largely from deeply unrealistic fantasy novels?"
Brooks, who admires Ryan, sadly observes that he voted against the Simpson-Bowles deficit plan. "This was a devastating blow. If Ryan and the other House Republicans had voted for the Simpson-Bowles proposal, it would have gone to Congress for up-or-down votes, regardless of how President Obama reacted. We would have had national action on debt reduction." He does claim that Ryan cast his vote for "intellectually coherent reasons." But: "He missed the chance to do something good for the country, even if it wasn’t the best he or I would wish for."
BONUS ROUND: Tim Egan, in a new online-only column, profiles other GOP "crazies" in the House who make Todd Akin seem like just one of the crowd.
1 comment:
I loved the Tim Egan column. Too bad it wasn't in the print edition. I hope as many people as possible read it, if not on nytimes.com, through a link somewhere. Whenever I see a picture of reference to Joe Barton, I'm reminded of one of the great videos on C-Span. Poor Representative Barton was arguing for abstinence-only sex edjucamation, saying "it worked for me". A Democrat on the panel, a woman as I recall, replied "in your case, I don't think it was voluntary".
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