The Ryan compromise

But did he have to give this one away?

Various Republicans, even conservative Republicans, are celebrating Paul Ryan's "achievement."  We are reminded more times than we can count that Republicans control only the House, that this deal will insure that a laser-like focus will remain on Obamacare throughout the 2014 election cycle.

Remember that Ryan's counterpart was Patty Murray.  This is the genius who said to high school students about bin Laden:

"He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful, " Murray told them.

Yet Ryan was unable to prevent Murray from including a change in the Senate rules.  The change makes it easier for the Senate to pass tax increases with only 51 votes.

Did Paul Ryan know about this? Did the scores of Republican House members who voted for this deal know about it?  Well, various conservative media, including National Review, knew about it.

And we are asked to believe that this is the best deal Ryan could get.  The great Paul Ryan, master of the budget, could only bring home this deal by including a Senate rules change that makes it easier to increase taxes!  And what did Ryan get in return?  Cutting veterans' benefits by only 1%?
  
Not one of the folks trumpeting this now done deal has explained why Ryan needed to sign on to making straight the path to tax increases.  Given Ryan's and others' past reluctance to face hard questions (recall "I'll debate anyone who says it's amnesty -- he's still hiding from Heritage), I doubt we will ever be given a straight answer as to why this was included.