Paul Ryan, Deeply Serious Thinker

Will Saletan has a noxious piece out on how "serious" Paul Ryan is.  (James Fallows suggests that there be a moratorium on referring to Ryan as "serious". Good luck with that.)  Ryan may have "left some details unclear" but he has "crunched the numbers".  I leave it to you to decide if that statement is so contradictory as to deserve condemnation or should just be left to stand as a monument to how "serious" William Saletan is.

Ryan is "serious" say the pundits, because he is "serious" about the deficit.  Why is he "serious" about the deficit?   Because he's willing to end Medicare as a single-payer system.  Because he's willing to end just about every social program that benefits anyone making under $50,000 a year.  Because he's insistent on cutting taxes for the rich.

Wait?  What?

Look, let's make this point for the millionth time: THE GOP DOES NOT CARE ABOUT DEFICITS; IT CARES ABOUT ENDING SOCIAL PROGRAMS THAT HELP THE POOR AND WORKING CLASSES.

That's it.  That's the sole purpose - aside from monitoring the vaginas of American womenfolk - for the GOP's existence.

But, surely Paul Ryan is a steely-eyed paladin slaying the deficit dragon throughout his long career in the House!

Or, you know, not: