Robbing Everyone To Pay Paul Ryan

The Weekly Standard is reporting that Rep. Paul "Medikill" Ryan wants nothing to do with the supposedly "wide open" 2012 race.

"I sincerely appreciate the support from those eager to chart a brighter future for the next generation. While humbled by the encouragement, I have not changed my mind, and therefore I am not seeking our party's nomination for President. I remain hopeful that our party will nominate a candidate committed to a pro-growth agenda of reform that restores the promise and prosperity of our exceptional nation. I remain grateful to those I serve in Southern Wisconsin for the unique opportunity to advance this effort in Congress."

Ryan has said publicly he is concerned that those currently running for the GOP nomination are not addressing long-term fiscal and economic issues in a way that makes clear the magnitude of the challenges. He told Milwaukee talk radio host Charlie Sykes on August 12 that he was disappointed in the presidential debate in Iowa and thought the field needed a candidate who could articulate the need for limited government.

“The way I see 2012 – we owe it to the country to let them choose the path they want our country to take,” he said. “And I just have yet to see a strong and principled articulation of the kind of limited government, opportunity society path that we would provide as an alternative to the Obama cradle-to-grave welfare state.”

You know what Paul Ryan considers "cradle-to-grave welfare state"?  Public schools and Social Security and Medicare, all of which would have been deeply slashed under his budget proposals and in the case of Medicare, eliminated and replaced with a privatized program.  Ryan in face said he was willing to lose his job over his Social Security cuts...but he thinks they are a liability in a Presidential race, enough that he won't run.

Funny how that works.