RYAN GETS HEAT – AT 8:53 A.M. ET:  Paul Ryan, as noted below, is one of the bright young stars of the Republican Party, and the author of the comprehensive Republican budget plan, recently passed (symbolically) by the House.  It's being widely reported that Ryan is also a major target for Democrats, hoping to cut him down early.  From The Hill:

Attendees at Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) town hall meeting on Tuesday heaped more scorn on the powerful congressman for backing an extension for the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy.

Protesters chanted "Ryan stop lying!" at the House Budget Committee chairman outside his event in Kenosha, Wis. and several members of the capacity crowd interrupted Ryan as he defended his budget plan, according to WTMJ-TV.

Here's more from their report:

“If you're yelling, I just want to ask you to leave,” Ryan requested. “If you're going to scream out like that, it's just not polite to everyone. We've got media here. Let's prove to them that Wisconsinites can be cordial with one another.”

TODAY’S TMJ4 set up an interview with Ryan following the meeting, but it was scrapped by staffers and police over a security concern. The congressman changed the door where he planned to exit and left in a different vehicle than the one than he arrived in.

“There were just definitely some loud hecklers who came that gave the police a little concern,” Ryan told TODAY’S TMJ4 reporter by phone. “I left in another car with the police. My car, some people did surround. But, they didn’t cause any problems and I had a staffer who drove my car and we had really no problems.”

Ryan insists the hurried exit should not be “blown out of proportion.”

The incident comes as Democrats are looking to highlight angry town hall moments against Republicans, hoping they will define the debate over entitlement reform and the 2012 budget. Republicans during the summer of 2009 used similar incidents at Democrats' town halls to pin them down during healthcare debate.

COMMENT:  It's a very smart move by the Democrats, who retain some excellent political strategists.  Scare seniors, and almost-seniors, about Social Security and Medicare, and you pick up millions of votes in a presidential election.

In truth, Ryan's courageous budget was a little rough around the edges, and this morning brings news that Speaker John Boehner is starting to back away from it a bit.  The Medicare section is a disaster.  It looks as if someone decided how much money was to be saved, then designed the reforms around that.  When dealing with something as sacred to Americans as medical care, the proper way is to decide what kind of health care we want each citizen to have, then figure out the most economical way to provide it and pay for it.  By suggesting that Medicare become a voucher system with which seniors would buy private insurance, the third rail of American politics has been touched.  Americans like Medicare and hate insurance companies.  They like simplicity and hate complication.  The Ryan budget, which has so many excellent components, flopped on Medicare by waving too many red flags at one time.

April 27, 2011