News Flash! Paul Ryan Hates the Poor. Who Knew?

Paul Ryan: I love the poor so much I'm cutting their programs for their own good.

Because, you know, hammocks.

But don't take it from me, let's look to the nooze peoples:

• Slate's Jamelle Bouie doesn't like the new Paul "Boy I loves the poors" Ryan's budget.
• ThinkProgress ThinksPoorly of it, pointing out the problems with cancelling Obamacare.
• The NY Times covers it as nooze but points out the smoke and the mirrors:

Mr. Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and a possible White House contender in 2016, laid out a budget plan that cuts $5 trillion in spending over the next decade. He said it would bring federal spending and taxes into balance by 2024, through steep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, and the total repeal of the Affordable Care Act just as millions are reaping the benefits of the law.

Defense spending would increase. Domestic programs would be reduced to the lowest levels since modern government accounting. And Medicare would be converted into a “premium support” system, where people 65 and older could buy private insurance with federal subsidies instead of government-paid health care.

“We need to be a proposition party, not just an opposition party,” said Mr. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin. “We believe we owe it to the country to offer an alternative to the status quo. It’s just that simple.”

Even with those tough political choices, the budget would balance in 2024 only because Mr. Ryan is assuming his cuts would prompt a burst of economic growth to raise tax revenues above what independent economists forecast. He also does not adjust the government’s revenue ledger to reflect the cost of repealing the health care law’s tax increases and Medicare cuts, which could total $2 trillion.

The last paragraph is the smoke part, in case you didn't notice.

No good Paul Ryan budget release can escape without a Paul Krugman rebuke, but nothing yet. Stay tuned. Instead, here's a reasonable takedown of the smoke and the mirrors, Medicare Edition, from HuffPo:

"By repealing Obamacare, we stop [the] raid and that money stays within Medicare," Ryan said. "So it actually helps make Medicare stronger and more solvent, more secure."

Asked if it would nonetheless complicate the GOP's message if, under his budget, Republicans were also voting for steep cuts to Medicare, Ryan disagreed.

"No, not at all," Ryan said. "We're spelling out a comprehensive plan to save and strengthen Medicare with premium support, with the traditional Medicare option alongside of it.

"We want to make sure that all the savings that come from Medicare go back to Medicare to shore up its program," Ryan added. "And if we have problems with Medicare, for instance say Medicare Advantage, we have created a system to address that as those problems arise."

...

The Affordable Care Act does not actually "raid Medicare," but is partially financed by reductions in Medicare payments to providers and by reductions in subsidies to private Medicare Advantage plans. Some of those on Medicare Advantage plans may lose extra benefits other Medicare enrollees don't get, but no regular Medicare benefits have been cut under the health care law.

Yep, smoke and mirrors with a dash of malarkey, but that's a Paul Ryan budget!

I feel for the poor, I really do, but my budget cuts their programs because I can.
Who am I going to take from, the rich? Don't be ridiculous. They're my crew...