From this Sunday's Reliable Sources, Current TV's Stephanie Miller shows us the correct way to respond to the beltway Villager nonsense about Paul Ryan's budget proposals where they constantly try to paint him as a Very Serious Person and the adult in the room who wants to solve the problems that everyone else is afraid to talk about.
After discussing Mitt Romney's selection of Ryan as his running mate and how the media is going to respond to it, Kurtz asked Miller if she and her “left-wing pals” were now going to “pound Paul Ryan even more than Mitt Romney?” I love the fact that she managed to get a Charlie Pierce reference into this interview.
MILLER: I'm not sure if this is better for comedy or better for Democrats. It's about even. I love the fact that Eddie Munster is trending on social media now and also the term “zombie-eyed granny-starver” which I believe my friend Charlie Pierce coined on my show.
A little later in the program, she did a good job of shooting down Kurtz when he tried playing the “you might not like Paul Ryan but at least he's a Very Serious Person” game.
KURTZ: Now what the Washington pundit class is saying, it seems to me Stephanie Miller, is that you may not like Paul Ryan's ideas, and I bet you don't.
MILLER: Yeah.
KURTZ: But at least he has a plan and he's put himself out there with a detailed, or fairly detailed budget, some omissions in it clearly, and the Democrats are largely ducking the debate about entitlements. So how do you take that one on?
MILLER: Oh, you mean ducking, as in not wanting to destroy the social safety nets? This is what drives me crazy about the “mainstream media,” present company excepted of course is that somebody puts forward a plan like that and people go “oh well that's bold and courageous” and ooh he's “serious.” It's seriously a horrible plan. I don't think there's anything, you know, bold or refreshing about destroying Medicare and replacing it with vouchers.
Amen sister. She also hit back at the notion that Social Security is broke or in a “crisis” because it isn't and there are policy discussions to be had on making sure our social safety nets stay in place, but gutting them while giving tax cuts to the rich isn't most people's idea of preserving them. I will disagree with her about one thing she said during this segment. I know she was being polite to her host, but Howard Kurtz doesn't deserve an ounce of deference on this matter. He's as bad as the rest of them out there with their adoration of Ryan as he just demonstrated here.
