Here is another example of just how intellectually dishonest Rep. Paul Ryan really is.
Earlier today on national television, he attacked President Obama for even supposedly saying that health care drives the deficit (emphasis mine):
"I don't think that the president actually thinks we have a fiscal crisis," Ryan said on NBC's "Meet The Press" in his first live interview since the 2012 presidential campaign, when he was Mitt Romney's running mate. "He's been reportedly saying to our leaders that we don't have a spending problem, we have a healthcare problem. That leads me to conclude that he just thinks we ought to have more government-run healthcare and rationing." That is a remarkably dishonest statement from Ryan, given that only 13 months ago he actually told Ezra Klein that health care is the main driver of long-term deficits: Back in December 2011, I asked Rep. Paul Ryan, budget guru to the House Republicans, for his favorite chart of the year (yeah, I get down like that). He sent me one from the Bipartisan Policy Center showing four lines. One, labeled “discretionary spending,” was drifting down. Another, “mandatory spending,” was also falling. A third, denoting Social Security expenses, was rising a bit, but not by enough to worry anyone. The fourth, health-care spending, was shooting skyward. “Government spending drives the debt, and the growth of government health-care programs drives the spending,” Ryan explained. Here the chart Ryan sent:Remember—Ryan said this was his 2011 chart of the year. Now he is going on national television attacking President Obama for saying the same thing that as this chart, which is that health care costs are the long-term driver of deficits.
Just something to keep in mind the next time you hear Paul Ryan described a policy and numbers wonk, instead of as an intellectually dishonest hack.