Hoated by Abe Proctor.  Joe Uris is on Vacation

Rep. Paul Ryan -- arch-conservative, culture warrior, and Randite -- has joined the GOP ticket as Mitt Romney's aspiring VP. Most people know Ryan as the author of the budget package -- passed by the House -- which, among other things, voucherizes Medicare, takes a hatchet to the social safety net, and explodes the deficit by giving more money to the rich. President Obama and the Democrats will doubtless twist themselves in knots trying to offer a "reasonable" compromise, and the scope of our discourse will continue its inevitable rightward slide.