Paul Ryan ... proving he really is the great uniter (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Here's two choice excerpts from the speech Paul Ryan delivered this morning at the Heritage Foundation in which he accuses President Obama of "sowing social unrest" and pursuing "class warfare."
First:
Telling Americans they are stuck in their current station in life, that they are victims of circumstances beyond their control, and that government’s role is to help them cope with it – well, that’s not who we are. That’s not what we do. Our Founding Fathers rejected this mentality. In societies marked by class structure, an elite class made up of rich and powerful patrons supplies the needs of a large client underclass that toils, but cannot own. The unfairness of closed societies is the kindling for class warfare, where the interests of “capital” and “labor” are perpetually in conflict. What one class wins, the other loses.
If Paul Ryan's going to talk like that, he really needs to break out the chalkboard. And more to the point, he really needs to understand that when you're speaking on behalf of the party that just spent the last ten years slashing taxes on the wealthy and is now proposing the elimination of both Medicare and the corporate income tax, then the only class warfare that's going on is from the elites in your own party. Oh, and before you go nuts with the chalkboard, keep in mind that virtually every poll shows that even Republican voters think their own leaders are flat out wrong on this subject.
And second:
Instead of working together where we agree, the President has opted for divisive rhetoric and the broken politics of the past. He is going from town to town, impugning the motives of Republicans, setting up straw men and scapegoats, and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments, as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes on job creators
Divisive rhetoric? Hah! That's hilarious, especially coming one day after the administration announced its support for legislation drafted by Republicans that would codify one of his jobs bill proposals. And it's fitting that he delivered it within the walls of the Heritage Foundation, one of the few places in America where you won't get laughed off the stage for making the argument that President Obama hasn't bent over backwards in an effort to compromise with Republicans.
But the real thing that seems have Paul Ryan so pissed off is that the White House political operation is calling out Republicans for sabotaging the economy for political gain. And the reason it's pissing him off is that it's a good line of attack—and it's true.
Remember the advice Haley Barbour gave House Republicans as they were taking power?
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour today told Republicans newly in charge of the U.S. House that they must keep voters' frustrations with the nation's lagging economy focused on Democrats who still run the Senate and control the White House.
Barbour told House Republicans that should learn the lessons of 1995, when some in the GOP became cocky after winning the majority. Some Republicans then asserted that President Bill Clinton didn't matter, giving his poll numbers time to improve and helping him win re-election a year later.
"There were some people in Congress who thought we were running the government," Barbour said.
Notice that Barbour's advice had nothing to do with actually enacting policies to help the economy? Instead, he told Republicans to use their newfound power to focus the public's anger on Democrats. Speaking from the same stage as Barbour, Eric Cantor took the advice to heart, saying: "Republicans do not control this federal government. The other party does."
Barbour's and Cantor's obsession with pointing the finger at President Obama and Democrats instead of getting something positive done for the country is a perfect reflection of their true priorities. As Mitch McConnell has repeatedly said, what Republicans really want to do is beat President Obama:
So when President Obama or other Democrats point out that Republicans are putting politics first, they are simply pointing out the obvious truth. And if pointing out the truth provokes resentment of Republicans, then the GOP has nobody to blame but themselves.