Ryan Lends Name but No One Lends Him Support

Earlier this week Congressman Paul Ryan decided to lend his name to dueling DC fundraisers for both Scott Walker and Mark Neumann. Well, to be clear, he agreed to lend his name but apparently not his actual presence or endorsement. Seeing him lend his name made me wonder if any Republican officials/candidates have finally decided to lend Ryan some support. It was back in February when I asked Republican candidates and officials (especially those running for Congress) to publicly state their position on Ryan's "roadmap" legislation.

To refresh our recollection, Ryan's "roadmap" legislation is really just recycled right wing rhetoric probably cribbed from some 1980's position paper somewhere. You know the whole privatize and slash spending for Social Security and Medicare shtick that comes through every few years. Ryan's recycled "roadmap" doesn't actually accomplish its stated goal and it is based on several irrational assumptions. Perhaps that is why key Republicans were running from it early and often when he trotted it out for publicity earlier this year. The last time that I wrote about this, Ryan's legislation had only 8 co-sponsors Congress, none of which were from Wisconsin. So has anyone finally decided to lend Ryan some support for his misguided efforts? I hear that Sensenbrenner and Petri were at Scott Walker's DC fundraiser. Did Walker do his part to advocate for the missing namesake of the event?

It looks like Paul Ryan has gained the support of four more Republican Congressman; unfortunately none of them are from Wisconsin. Where the heck is Petri and Sensenbrenner on this and why haven't they signed on as co-sponsors yet? Similarly, where are all of the Republican candidates for Congress on this? Are they only convenient conservatives? No doubt the tea party types love to fawn all over Ryan and his "roadmap". So why aren't these allegedly principled activists demanding that their candidates lend Ryan's "roadmap" some support? If they don't stand for it now, what makes the tea party think that they will do it should they end up in Congress? The other two Wisconsin Republicans in Congress certainly have not.

Maybe the Republican convention would be a good place for these Congressional candidates to lend their support to Paul's privatization plans. If GOP activists and tea party-types really insist on ideological purity, one would think that they would demand that these candidates back up Ryan's "roadmap" with actual words. If not, then maybe they are not the conservatives that they claim to be.

So what say you, Sensenbrenner, Petri, Duffy, Kapanke, and the chorus of candidates in the 8^th Congressional District? Are you going to publicly lend your support to HR 4529 or not? Will the tea party hold you accountable or won't they?