Paul Ryan Hallucinates Bipartisan Achievements

I don't know what's going to happen next week, but one thing is certain: we'll soon rid ourselves of The Scourge of Medicare, The Bane of the Poor, or -- to borrow a phrase from Charles Pierce -- the Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver.

Speaker Ryan appeared on CBS News yesterday morning where he displayed some concern that his non-existent achievements will not be recognized when he leaves office.

To be fair, Ryan is right that bills for fighting the opioid epidemic were bipartisan, but this is a very, very low bar to clear. And Republicans have ensured the opioid crisis will continue just as much as they've passed bills to fight it by opposing Medicaid expansion and opposing criminal justice reform.

Paul Ryan says they've passed a 1,000 bills, but he's including bills that only passed through the House and never became law. He's including meaningless gestures and symbolic votes and bills for renaming post offices.

He's also including increased funding for the military, but he doesn't mention that Democrats agreed to do that in exchange for increased spending on domestic programs which Ryan opposes. Ryan doesn't mention that he had to play ball with Democrats just to keep the federal government running because the Freedom Caucus wouldn't.

And that's it. That's the total extent of his "bipartisan achievements."

For most of the past decade, Paul Ryan has been in the driver's seat of a partisan assault on virtually every government program. Ryan has shaped the Republican party into what it is today just as much as Donald Trump has. Efforts to privatize Medicare, drastically cut Medicaid, privatize Social Security, and impose drug testing and work requirements for socials assistance were Ryan's ideas. The era of intrusive, privacy-invading Big Republican Government and the return of record-breaking deficits were Ryan's ideas.