‘Numbers Guy’ Paul Ryan Completely Ignores the Math of the 2012 Election

Paul Ryan took the stage at CPAC, and completely ignored the reality that he and his ideas lost the 2012 election.

Here is the video:

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At CPAC, Ryan attacked the Senate Democrats’ budget, “You know, this has been a really big week. We got white smoke from the Vatican, and a budget from the Senate. The Senate, they call their budget a foundation for growth, restoring the promise for American opportunity. Wow, I feel like saluting already, but when you read it, you find the Vatican isn’t the only place blowing smoke this week. You see the Democrats, they call their budget a balanced approach. The thing is, they never balance the budget ever. In fact, they call for another trillion dollar plus tax hike on top of even more spending. If we did nothing, meaning not pass their budget, the government would save money.”

The rest of Ryan’s defense of his budget was almost word for word taken from lines that he used last year as Mitt Romney’s running mate. The so called ‘numbers guy’ ignored several realities about his own budget. Paul Ryan’s budget is predicated on the big lie that Obamacare adds to the deficit. Ryan has admitted that his entire budget implodes if Obamacare isn’t repealed. Not only does his budget not balance, it isn’t even based in reality.

The Senate Democrats have put forward a budget that reflects what a majority of voters supported in the 2012 election. Paul Ryan put his ideas out there for all of America to choose last year, and he lost. Rep. Ryan has responded to this defeat by ignoring the voices of a majority of voters, and shoving his failed ideas down their throats again.

In the bigger picture, Ryan’s comments at CPAC make it clear that House Republicans aren’t going to accept a budget that includes new revenues. Senate Democrats and the White House are standing by their position that they won’t accept a budget that contains only cuts. All of the budget hysteria over the past couple of months has brought us right back to where we started from.

President Obama has offered Republicans a fair trade. He will look at tough cuts that his base will hate, if Republicans agree to more revenue. Congressional Republicans, with an eye towards reelection in 2014, continue to turn down his offer. I suspect that Obama knows they won’t accept it, which is why he keeps offering it. The political value for President Obama is that he gets to occupy the political left and middle, while with each Republican refusal they drift more to the right.

What we’ve learned over the last couple of years is that Paul Ryan is really bad at math. However, the math that he understands the least involves the 2012 election.

Ryan and his fantasy budget lost, and as long as Republicans keep sticking with his ideas they’ll be losers too.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association