From Rep. Paul Ryan (R–Wisc.), on why Republicans are so reluctant to endorse the spending cuts in his Roadmap for America:
They’re talking to their pollsters and their pollsters are saying, “Stay away from this, we’re going to win an election.”
Points for honesty. But what really makes this reticence remarkable is that even Ryan doesn’t really propose much in the way of spending cuts in his roadmap. He continues to get lots of praise for being one of the few conservatives to put his money where his mouth is, but the truth is that his plan mostly just sets spending caps. With some minor exceptions, it doesn’t go the critical next step and propose the actual cuts that would allow us to meet his caps.
But most Republicans won’t even endorse that. They figure that might endanger their election chances. I imagine they figure right.
