Washington Post Gushes Over Paul Ryan, Appoints Him an Intellectual with a Great Future

The WP’s Fawning to Conservatives Goes Big Time

One of the great myths of the current political campaign is that Rep. Paul Ryan (R, Wi) now the Vice Presidential nominee is a smart, serious, highly intellectual person.  This myth started several years ago when the media found that Mr. Ryan was actually talking about numbers, and despite the fact that his numbers never added up, that his numbers were numerical nonsense and that he proposed balancing the budget sometime around 2050 he was anointed what Paul Krugman called a VSP, Very Serious Person.

Also a number of years ago the Washington Post, which at one time was a Very Serious Newspaper decided that it would toady up to Conservatives to try and match the financial success of the Wall Street Journal.  So the Post hired a Romney spokesperson, Jennifer Rubin,  who pretended to be an opinion writer to channel the Romney campaign message to the opinion pages of the Post, and prominently featured other Conservatives who use their position only to advance their cause, not to set forth analysis, critical thinking or intelligent commentary  A former Bush staffer need a job, there was the WP.

The latest foray by the Post into trying to win over Conservatives is an article about how win or lose Paul Ryan has a great future as the intellectual power person of the Republican Party.

Although it may not have altered the course of the presidential race, Ryan’s steady, stumble-free debate performance against an incumbent vice president 27 years his senior enhanced his stature.

“If you’re 42 and it’s your first national appearance in that kind of situation and you’re still on the stage when it’s over, you won,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich. “I thought he was gaining confidence as the evening wore on.”

“I thought Paul did exceptionally well, and it by no means surprised me. Under stress, he’s very calm,” said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a friend and ally who wept when Ryan delivered his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Wow, there is objective and balanced reporting.  Quoting Newt Gingrich and Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker on how they feel about Mr. Ryan.  What great reporting.  And of course Mr. Ryan is considered an intellectual heavyweight.

Even before he became Romney’s running mate, Ryan was regarded as the leading intellectual force in the conservative movement. The House Budget Committee chairman wrote and championed a fiscal blueprint that has been embraced by virtually the entire Republican establishment.

which is interesting because every Republican candidate, including Mr. Ryan is running away from that plan as fast as possible because it is both political poison and a fiscal impossibility.  It produces huge tax cuts for the wealthy (eliminating capital gains taxes, for example, which would reduce Mr. Romney’s taxes to about zero) and cuts vital social programs.

In fact, read the entire article and see if you can answer the question.  Was this actual reporting, or is it just a Romney campaign press report re-titled as a news story?  No, we can’t tell either.