CPRoundup: Ryan's "Trojan Horse"
The Ryan plan: The millionaire’s best friend Last Thursday, the House of Representatives approved Paul Ryan’s budget proposal for the 2013 fiscal year. Leaving aside the fact that it faces certain death in the still-Democratically-controlled Senate, there are reasons that it probably shouldn’t have passed in the first place. Principal among these is the proposal that came from the Congressional Black Caucus, which 75 Democrats voted against, despite featuring the same amount of defense spending as the budget put forth by Democratic leadership. Additionally, the Congressional Black Caucus’ budget—the only one put forth by a minority caucus—sought to reduce the deficit by more than either the Ryan plan or the one offered by the Office of Budget and Management. On top of that, the Ryan budget is bad news—unless you make more than a million dollars, because then you’ll get a 12.5 percent tax cut, compared to a 0.2 percent tax cut for those with an annual income of less than $10,000. There’s no question whose side Paul Ryan is on, and the president rightly criticized it in a Tuesday speech— calling the plan a "Trojan Horse"— surely making millionaires wish Obama would just leave well enough alone.
Sarah Palin plays Katie Couric
On Tuesday, Sarah Palin co-hosted the “Today Show” on NBC. The former governor of Alaska was likely recruited to beat the ratings of “Good Morning America,” which also gained a new host on Tuesday with Katie Couric — and you may remember that Palin probably isn’t too fond of Couric after that disastrous interview in 2008. More than anything, though, Palin’s acceptance of the offer proves that she needs to be on camera, lest she be relegated to irrelevance and lose her life force. In the case of the “Today Show,” the relationship between the two proved to be much more symbiotic than parasitic, and Palin’s turn as host beat Couric’s in the ratings. Who knows? Maybe Sarah Palin is the new Katie Couric, but with a better view from her house.
And it’s Romney by a nose!
Anyone anticipating a Santorum presidency should start jumping on the expectedly unenthusiastic Romney bandwagon. On Tuesday, Mitt Romney swept the primaries in Maryland, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C. Although Romney is still 486 delegates short of securing the nomination, pundits have declared that Romney's performance Tuesday means it is game over for everybody else. So the seemingly endless Republican primary might be unofficially, but mercifully, over—but that means a shift to focus on the general election. No longer will the invective and ad hominem arguments for or against a candidate be reserved to just Republicans. Which one of the two will come out on top in the general election remains to be seen, but the one who will receive a flood of half-hearted endorsements in the near future was decided Tuesday.