Democrats are understandably freaked out. Polls (one with justifiable demographics)at this point in the game have shown the race even or with an edge to Romney. At this stage, a re-electable Obama would expect to be safely ahead.
The selection of Paul Ryan as Romney’s running mate has just exacerbated the freakout and it has brought to the fore the Democrat’s only hope this November, THE BIG LIE.
The underlying principle of most of the Democrat criticisms of conservatives is simple, the choice is between All government All the time, and NO government services AT ALL.
That is it, they want you to believe that instead of trying to save the safety net now with reasonable changes to the growth of government, that conservatives want NO government safety net. That is a lie.
You see it in the demagoguery over Ryan’s budget and his proposals on Medicare. They suggest that he is trying to gut it by changing it when even the most ardent liberal will admit that doing nothing will certainly destroy Medicare. Tim Carney points out
Ryan’s budget would not change anything about Medicare for people over age 54 or anyone younger who wants to go onto traditional Medicare. Ryan’s plan, crafted with Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden — who earns gushing praise from self-styled wonks on the Left as a serious legislator (which he is) — merely allows some people to opt instead for a voucherized version of Medicare.
The Big Lie.
Take for instance this hissy by the New York Times Editorial board:
As House Budget Committee chairman, Mr. Ryan has drawn a blueprint of a government that will be absent when people need it the most. It will not be there when the unemployed need job training, or when a struggling student needs help to get into college. It will not be there when a miner needs more than a hardhat for protection, or when a city is unable to replace a crumbling bridge.
And it will be silent when the elderly cannot keep up with the costs of M.R.I.’s or prescription medicines, or when the poor and uninsured become increasingly sick through lack of preventive care.
Ryan has proposed all that government entirely? Of course not. It is the big lie.
The only way to save the safety net is to mend it before it rips completely, but the Dems treat anyone with a needle and thread like a hockey-masked chainsaw salesman.
A stitch in time, saves trillions.
