What the GOP is trying to do, and it's evident by Ryan himself coming out today to announce that his plan is merely a "road map" and not a budget, is the exact same thing I've been writing about that they are doing with the tea baggers. They want to be able to pounce on Obama's budget without actually having one of their own (remember the numberless budget from last year??). And when Dems, or anyone, blasts them for the lack of a budget they will say "oh no, we have plenty of ideas right here in our road map that you are ignoring." It gets them off the hook from actually presenting anything of substance.
This is exactly what they have been doing with the tea baggers. It's a way to take no responsibility for anything. When a Republican at a tea bagger protest says things like how we should ask to see Obama's birth certificate, or how we should institute literacy tests before allowing people to vote, all the GOP has to do is say "oh no, that's not us that's the tea party," and away all responsibility vanishes. All the while the tea baggers are running for office all over the country on the GOP ticket.
This budget stuff is the same thing. They have their road map now. The media will start calling it a road map instead of an alternative budget and it will become plausible deniability for the GOP. And mark my word. Republicans will take this "road map" back to the tea baggers and their base and say "these were our ideas, we were ignored. Look we wanted to cut taxes, shrink the deficit, privatize Social Security and do away with Medicare. Here's our plan where we tried to do away with Obama's socialism and we were ignored."
