Budget Director proudly reveals how easy it is to manipulate Donald Trump.

What can I say, he's a dumbass.

Courtesy of Politico:  

Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s budget director, walked into the Oval Office in early May on a longshot mission. The slash-government conservative wanted to persuade the president to break one of his most popular campaign promises. 

During his populist run for the White House, Trump had vowed to leave Social Security and Medicare alone. But Trump had also vowed to rein in America’s national debt, which Mulvaney didn’t think was possible without reining in the two biggest chunks of the federal budget. So Mick the Knife brought a cut list to his meeting in the Oval.

“Look, this is my idea on how to reform Social Security,” the former South Carolina congressman began. 

“No!” the president replied. “I told people we wouldn’t do that. What’s next?” 

“Well, here are some Medicare reforms,” Mulvaney said. 

“No!” Trump repeated. “I’m not doing that.” 

“OK, disability insurance.” 

This was a clever twist. Mulvaney was talking about the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which, as its full name indicates, is part of Social Security. But Americans don’t tend to think of it as Social Security, and its 11 million beneficiaries are not the senior citizens who tend to support Trump. 

“Tell me about that,” Trump replied. 

“It’s welfare,” Mulvaney said. 

“OK, we can fix welfare,” Trump declared. 

Sure enough, the Trump budget plan that Mulvaney unveiled a few weeks later would cut about $70 billion in disability benefits over a decade, mostly through unspecified efforts to get recipients back to work. That may sound like welfare reform, but the program isn’t welfare for the poor; it’s insurance for workers who pay into Social Security through payroll taxes. The episode suggests Trump was either ignorant enough to get word-gamed into attacking a half-century-old guarantee for the disabled, or cynical enough to ditch his promise to protect spending when it didn’t benefit his base.

I put the word "proudly" in the headline because while this would seem like the kind of thing one would keep to themselves, or only reveal to a few close lipped confidants, Mulvaney is essentially bragging to the whole world that the guy he works for is an uneducated moron who is easily manipulated.

And apparently he has no fear of repercussions or losing his job. 

I can only imagine how proud Trump voters are of their president after reading this.

Assuming of course some of them can actually read. 

After promising he would not cut Medicaid, Donald Trump is now planning to cut Medicaid. Pretend to be surprised.

I can't believe you people fell for that.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

President Trump’s first major budget proposal on Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states new power to limit a range of benefits, people familiar with the planning said, despite growing unease in Congress about cutting the safety net. 

For Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care to low-income Americans, Trump’s budget plan would follow through on a bill passed by House Republicans to cut more than $800 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this could cut off Medicaid benefits for about 10 million people over the next decade. 

The White House also will call for giving states more flexibility to impose work requirements for people in different kinds of anti-poverty programs, people familiar with the budget plan said, potentially leading to a flood of changes in states led by conservative governors. Many anti-poverty programs have elements that are run by both the states and federal government, and a federal order allowing states to stiffen work requirements “for able-bodied Americans” could have a broad impact in terms of limiting who can access anti-poverty payments — and for how long.

If you click here you can hear Trump promising that he would not be for cutting social programs like social security, medicare, and medicaid.

I can't believe at this point there are too many people who actually still think that Donald Trump is not completely full of shit.

Cutting these programs is the GOP white whale and with control over the White House, the Senate, and the Congress of course they are going to try and roll all of these programs back, or get rid of them altogether.

This is why you NEVER vote Republican. EVER!

Bernie Sanders explains that Social Security is NOT going broke. And offers a solution to keep that from ever happening.

Okay I think I felt a little of the Bern there.

Anybody else?

Obama administration pushing to ban Social Security recipients deemed mentally incapable of handling their funds from owning a gun. Well there goes half of the NRA membership.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Seeking tighter controls over firearm purchases, the Obama administration is pushing to ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, a move that could affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others. 

The push is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws regulating who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which is used to prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the country illegally and others. 

A potentially large group within Social Security are people who, in the language of federal gun laws, are unable to manage their own affairs due to "marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease."

Seems fair to me. If you are too mentally impaired to pay your bills on time, or make change for a dollar, you probably should not be trusted with a weapon.

In my opinion there are a whole lot of Americans running around armed to the teeth who really should not even be trusted with a sharpened stick. 

For instance.

This of course did not sit well with the NRA: 

Told of the plan, head NRA lobbyist Chris Cox issued a statement opposing the "executive fiat" and saying "the NRA stands ready to pursue all available avenues to stop them in their tracks."

BREAKING: Obama @SocialSecurity Admin plans to deny 4.2 MILLION people of their #2A rights! http://t.co/AP4hmi8zLx pic.twitter.com/Hi7S3ZKIcp

— NRA (@NRA) July 18, 2015

Is it wrong that I really enjoy watching these asshats freak out?

Yet another reason not to vote for Jeb Bush, he claims that the next President will have to privatize Social Security.

Courtesy of Yahoo News:

 Jeb Bush thinks the next president will need to privatize Social Security, he said at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire on Tuesday – acknowledging that his brother attempted to do so and failed. It’s a position sure to be attacked by both Republicans and Democrats.

....

Speaking in Derry, New Hampshire, Tuesday, Bush acknowledged that when his brother President George W. Bush attempted to privatize Social Security in 2005, he met great bipartisan resistance. 

“My brother tried, got totally wiped out,” Bush said. “Republicans and Democrats wanted nothing to do with it. The next president is going to have to try again.” 

Bush also said Social Security shouldn’t be called an “entitlement.” “I’ve learned that in town hall meetings,” he said, according to a video released by the pro-Democratic group American Bridge. “It’s a supplemental retirement system that’s not actuarially sound, how about that. Medicaid and Medicare are entitlements, and they are growing at a far faster rate than anything else in government.”

Okay well that last part is all bullshit.  Despite Republican attempts to sabotage it Social Security is still solvent.

At least for the time being.

And if you don't believe me, perhaps you WILL believe Bernie Sanders:  

“When people tell you Social Security is going broke, you look them in the eye and tell them they’re not telling you the truth,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at an event on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to petition Congress not to cut Social Security or Medicare. “Today, the Social Security Trust Fund has a $2.8 trillion surplus,” Sanders said. “So when people tell you Social Security is going broke, you look them in the eye and tell them they're not telling you the truth.”

Sanders then lays out the case that Social Security would be in even better shape if we had income equality, and if the Republicans would stop fucking with it. 

When George W. Bush attempted to sell his Social Security "fix" in 2005, it was met with a huge backlash and he ended up taking a political beating. 

The very idea that Jebbie has not learned from this mistake of his brother's, not to mention the mistakes of the Iraq war, make his candidacy completely nonviable in my opinion.

Bernie Sanders blows the lid off of the Koch brothers dirty dealing in the documentary "Koch brothers EXPOSED."

You can watch the entire documentary for free right here.

Wow that Bernie Sanders makes a lot of good sense.

You know he should run for president or something.

Wait.....

Congressman introduces bill that would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990.

Courtesy of Congressman Thomas Massie's website:  

Yesterday, Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced H.R. 86, the Safe Students Act, which would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. 

The bill, originally introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in 2007, repeals the Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) of 1990, which makes it “unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.” In 1995, the Supreme Court held the GFSZA unconstitutional, which prompted Congress to amend the bill in 1996. The Supreme Court has not ruled on the constitutionality of the amended Act. 

“Gun-free school zones are ineffective. They make people less safe by inviting criminals into target-rich, no-risk environments,” said Massie. “Gun-free zones prevent law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves, and create vulnerable populations that are targeted by criminals.”

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massey. Would you let THIS man carry a gun around children?

Actually this bill was introduced last week, so to be clear in the first week of this new Congress they have introduced bills to ban abortions after 20 weeks, allow guns around our school children, and are working to undermine social security.

In a nutshell that is less money for old people, less control for women over their reproductive organs, and more places for Ammosexuals to walk around showing off their metal penis extenders.

And they have only just begun.

Elizabeth Warren's 11 Commandments for Progressives. Oh yeah!

Courtesy of Vox:

1.  "We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we're willing to fight for it." 
2. "We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth." 
3. "We believe that the Internet shouldn't be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality." 
4. "We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage." 
5. "We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them." 
6. "We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt." 
7. "We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions." 
8. "We believe—I can't believe I have to say this in 2014—we believe in equal pay for equal work." 
9. "We believe that equal means equal, and that's true in marriage, it's true in the workplace, it's true in all of America." 
10. "We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform." 
11. "And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!"

You know after reading that I want Warren to be Hillary's running mate in 2016 do badly I can taste it.

Damn that's good stuff!

New study shows that Social Security pumps $2 into the economy for every $1 paid out in benefits.

Courtesy of AARP:  

A new report by the AARP Public Policy Institute, "Social Security's Impact on the National Economy," found that Social Security adds more than $1 trillion to the U.S. economy each year. People who receive Social Security benefits are not saving that money for a rainy day. They're spending it on goods and services — pumping it back into the economy. We have to remember that the typical older American has an income of about $22,000 a year, and Social Security accounts for about half of a typical older family's income. 

Businesses use the income to purchase more goods and services, to realize profits and to hire more employees. Those employees, in turn, spend their wages on more goods and services, which creates more spending and income for more people. This creates a powerful multiplier effect that benefits the economy, businesses and workers. In fact, our report found that every dollar in Social Security benefits paid out generates about $2 of total output for the U.S. economy. 

In 2012, spending by Social Security beneficiaries, combined with the added spending by businesses, generated roughly $1.5 trillion in total economic output. 

This spending in turn supported more than 9 million jobs in the national economy. About 4 million of these jobs were created in just 10 industries. The largest impact was seen in the food services, real estate, health care and retail industries. 

Thanks to the benefits provided by Social Security, nearly 21.4 million Americans avoided poverty: 1.1 million children, 5.8 million adults under 65, and 14.5 million adults 65-plus.

 Of course despite this the Republicans party has been attempting to undermine Social Security since its very inception. And just like Medicare, and now the Affordable Care Act, these are programs that ultimately benefit not just the individual but also the country at large.

I look forward to the day when a report comes out detailing the incredibly positive benefits that Obamacare has had on the nation. Because eventually you KNOW it's coming.

Sarah Palin pimps a 60 Minutes "expose" on the Social Security Disability Insurance program. Well you know what THAT means!

One time Palin supporter, who may be having second thoughts.

Courtesy of the Heartless Harridan's Facebook page:

In case you missed it, "60 Minutes" did an excellent segment on the waste and fraud in the Federal Disability Insurance Program. Kudos to Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and his staff for leading the investigation into this. And thank you, CBS, for covering it! 

She then links to this story on 60 Minutes in which Steve Kroft, with the help of Senator Coburn and some shady attorneys, supposedly lays bare the overwhelming fraud within the Social Security disability programs.

Now in my job I actually do some work with this program so I was surprised at how aggressively and unfairly 60 Minutes seemed to go after them. And apparently I was not alone, as indicated in the comments section of their own website.

Here is a sampling:  

I am a Social Security Disability Attorney in New York City. I watched the website recording of a 60 Minutes spot that aired last night and was disheartened by the sophistry I witnessed. Anytime I hear words like "It's been called a Secret Welfare System," which has been ravaged by waste and fraud, I cringe. First of all, I would like to know who has called it a secret welfare system --incendiary remarks like that must be backed up with facts. Secondly, who says it has been ravaged by waste and fraud -- this uncorroborated remark was left hanging out there as if it accurately reflected the System as a whole.

I also find it troubling and unacceptable that the only attorneys discussed in the program were Binder and Binder and Eric C. Conn. There were so many others you could have contacted about their experiences with the System. 

 Mr. Kroft, this irresponsible and short-sighted report should never have aired. I am surprised and disappointed in 60 Minutes, a program I have long admired, Please go back to the drawing board and deliver a revised program worthy of the name 60 Minutes. 

Here is another: 

Agree with all that this is a shameful 60 Minutes segment. Not that I doubt some lawyers are making money or that some of our fellow citizens are marginal disability recipients. Rather that 60 Minutes has what I hope is sheer ignorance (and not something else) wrapping the sheep's clothing of revealing fraud around the wolf of Tom Coburn who is a fervent advocate of Republican efforts to destroy America's safety net. Coburn's fundamental mission is not to reform Social Security Disability, but to destroy it by privatization. Too bad 60 Minutes is an enabler in his efforts. 

And another: 

I am one of the allegedly evil attorneys on TV .It might help for people to learn the day I heard of this story the two clients I signed up are typical of our business. The first was a fellow with very bad sarcoidosis affecting many aspects of his ability to work including hands , feet, breathing ,stamina. He was trying for many years to learn what was wrong with him but could not get access to treatment or meds. He is a very religious , humble man who would love to work and has been unable for years ; his church may not be able to help any longer. 

The second was a family whose mother described an adult daughter unable to work for many years now with debilitating psych issues since age 8 including a horrific set of symptoms associated with obsessive compulsive disorder along with severe depression . Ridicule and stigmatize her associated panic attacks after you have spoken with her and her family. The mom called because she reported she never wanted to bother with a claim before , but recognizes she can no longer support this adult daughter whom she had home schooled . 

The truth , as I tell interviewees each day, is that contrary to the harsh stereotypes now circulating with the help of 60 Minutes and other media is that it is very hard to get Social Security disability ;they're gonna think and treat you with cynicism and sometimes almost like a fraudster . Scapegoating those on the receiving end of " hard things happen to good people " is not fair reporting and does great damage. Tom

Then I did a quick Google search to find out if any other news outlets had addressed this obviously biased report.

I quickly found this over at Media Matters:  

Things that Liberals are doing to take away your liberty.

Oh yeah, we are horrible people!

Liberals prepare to battle President Obama over proposal to curb Social Security benefits.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other liberals in Congress are ratcheting up pressure on President Obama to back away from a proposal to curb the growth of Social Security benefits. 

Sanders and other liberals are concerned Obama may strike a deficit-reduction deal with Republicans that would reduce Social Security benefits by adopting a less generous way of adjusting benefits for inflation. 

Obama has previously said he would consider using a formula known as chain-Consumer Price Index that would lower the growth of entitlements by slowing benefit increases for inflation. 

Sanders and other liberals are worried Obama will renew that offer in new deficit-reduction talks. Obama had dinner with 12 Senate Republicans Wednesday evening to discuss the path forward on a grand bargain to reduce the deficit, and senators in attendance said entitlements were discussed. 

I think for a lot of us on the outside looking in it may seem reasonable for the President to offer cuts to  some of the social programs in exchange for tax increases, but as Bernie Sanders explains it this conversation should NOT include Social Security:  

“Social Security is facing an unprecedented attack from those who either want to privatize it completely or who want to make substantial cuts,” said Sanders at a press conference. “The argument being used to cut Social Security is that because we have a significant deficit problem and a $16.6 trillion national debt, we just can’t afford to maintain Social Security benefits. 

“This argument is false. Social Security, because it is funded by the payroll tax, not the U.S. Treasury, has not contributed one nickel to our deficit,” he said. 

Sanders estimates switching to a chained-CPI formula for determining benefits for Social Security would result in the average 65 year old living on about $15,000 a year receiving $650 less each year when they turn 75 and $1,000 less a year when they turn 85. 

Since the program adds nothing to the debt than by all rights it should be left out of ANY negotiations that we have to reduce that debt. Right?

I often find myself cautious when criticizing the President since it has become obvious time and time again that he is playing a long game, and that makes it hard to see the eventual outcome of his strategy.

However I remember that after that dinner the Obama treated some Senate Republicans to, reports were that they were surprised to learn that the President HAD offered chained CPI's, which validates the concerns of these Liberals.

I want to trust my President but this really bothers me. So I certainly hope that he has some plan for protecting Social Security, and that this is simply another feint designed to pull the Republicans off balance while he negotiates a much better deal before they can figure out what he is up to.

For those concerned about cuts to Social Security being part of the budget negotiations, don't worry it looks like the Democrats held firm.

As of late today the Senate was still no closer to coming up with a plan to deal with the looming fiscal cliff. 

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Republican senators leaving a GOP conference meeting Sunday afternoon told reporters that they are dropping chained CPI (a measure of inflation that grows more slowly than the way Social Security measures inflation now.)from their fiscal cliff proposal. 

"CPI has to be off the table because it's not a winning argument to say benefits for seniors versus tax breaks for rich people," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). "We need to take CPI off the table -- that's not part of the negotiations -- because we can't win an argument that has Social Security for seniors versus taxes for the rich." 

"There's a realization that in spite of the president's apparent endorsement of a chained CPI, that that proposal deserves more study," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). "My guess, based on what Democrats are saying, is that that reform would not happen during this stage of the negotiations." 

"I don't think anybody ever expected Social Security to be part of this," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). "It's all going to be about taxes of some kind or another."

I ma still not sure that we are going to see a deal before the end of the year, but at least we know that the Republicans are not going to get to starve Granny in exchange for raising taxes on the top 1% of the country.

The daily Show presents "Chaos on Bullshit Mountain."

This is an awesome take down of the Fox News hypocrisy, in two parts. A MUST SEE in my opinion.

Part One.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Part Two.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Don't you DARE challenge Paul Ryan's policies or he will make jokes about you while the police slam you to the ground.

From the YouTube page:

As Congressman Paul Ryan cracked a joke about him, Tom Nielsen found himself face down on the floor being handcuffed by police. The 71-year-old retired plumber from Kenosha was thrown to the ground, placed in handcuffs, and arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest after objecting to Ryan's plans to gut Social Security and Medicare during his congressman's only public appearance scheduled during the August recess -- a $15 Rotary Club luncheon in West Allis on Tuesday. 

Nielsen repeatedly told police that he wasn't fighting them and that he didn't want to make any trouble. He also told them several times that he had a broken shoulder. Police officers ignored his comments as they wrestled him to the ground despite his howls of pain.

That would have made Ryan's heroine Ayn Rand so proud.

So you know how Republicans are always telling us that Social Security is broken and won't be there for our children? Yeah, not so much.

Courtesy of The National Memo:

Which federal program took in more than it spent last year, added $95 billion to its surplus and lifted 20 million Americans of all ages out of poverty? 

Why, Social Security, of course, which ended 2011 with a $2.7 trillion surplus. 

That surplus is almost twice the $1.4 trillion collected in personal and corporate income taxes last year. And it is projected to go on growing until 2021, the year the youngest Baby Boomers turn 67 and qualify for full old-age benefits. 

So why all the talk about Social Security “going broke?” That theme filled the news after release of the latest annual report of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds, as Social Security is formally called. 

The reason is that the people who want to kill Social Security have for years worked hard to persuade the young that the Social Security taxes they pay to support today’s gray hairs will do nothing for them when their own hair turns gray. 

That narrative has become the conventional wisdom because it is easily reduced to a headline or sound bite. The facts, which require more nuance and detail, show that, with a few fixes, Social Security can be safe for as long as we want.

 I am going to start posting quite a lot of this kind of information to use as ammunition to help all of us deal with the attacks that are coming from the Right Wing this election cycle.

Don't worry I will still make time to deal with the Lunatic from Lake Lucille when she rears her road kill bedecked noggin, but I think right now she has to be considered more of a side show freak type distraction then a major concern as we head toward November.

There are bigger, and nastier fish to fry.

Stephen Colbert was very impressed with Rick PArry's debate performance. But like most of us thinks that Rick PErry is a douche.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

I have watched  a lot of pundits address Perry's ridiculous comparison of climate science to the imprisonment of Galilei Galileo, but I really think that only Colbert has put it in the proper perspective.

Plus he made it funny.

Senator Bernie Sanders exposes the Koch brothers.

This might be the most important video you watch today.

If you are as angered as I am by what these corporate assholes are doing to our country, and the lies they are telling Americans about Social Security, please help to spread this video spread as far and wide as possible.

Sarah Palin's butt boy Joe Miller confuses donations from the Tea Party Express with manna from heaven.

Here is a fundraising letter that Miller's campaign has sent out:

Greetings,

We don't want to loose the momentumn of this great campaign!! We are going to get Joe Miller elected, it's just that for reasons we don't understand God wants us to have a waiting spell. :) We need to be wise as serpents (Since when are serpents "wise?") and gentle as doves, and keep the campaign uplifted in constant prayer.

In order for Joe to keep campaigning he needs funds. So far the Lord has always provided the money in this grass roots campaign (And by "God" they mean the "Tea Party Express" who provided $600,000 in funding for thie "grass roots" campaign.  Isn't "God" great!), and this time God is going to use you to provide!

A fundraiser will be held at Campaign Headquarters on Monday from 5:00-8:30 pm. We need as many people to show up and make this a great event for the campaign. Joe and Kathleen will both be joining us, let's encourage them by showing all the support we can. The one way they need us right now is through donating funds!! It cost alot of money to run a clean campaign and we all know that Joe's campaign isn't receiving any monies from corporations or from out of State entities.

Refreshments will be provided

MONDAY 5:00-7:00pm OPEN HOUSE

7:30-8:30pm FUNDRAISER (Joe Miller will be joining us at this time)
Campaign Headquarters

401 East Northern Lights, Suite 202

*Co-Hosted with Senator Fred Dyson & Wes Keller*
*Bring a friend
*Drinks will be provided (soda, water)
*Bring Check Book or Credit Card
*Chips will be provided
*Bring a smile

Invite all your friends and let's come together to have a great evening and donate to the campaign that we all believe in!!

Paid for by Joe Miller for US Senate

Please RSVP with ASAP:

-- Harmony

Hmm an Open House on Monday from 5:00 to 7:00?  Gee I guess I know what I am doing Monday evening.

By the way it looks like if Joe Miller gets his way that those who are born in the near future will not have access to the same Social Security benefits that their parents will enjoy when THEY retire.

KING: "It is an issue that you well know can be easily demagogued, so I want to deliver a statement. You tell me if it's fair or not: That anybody in the system or close to the system is fine. We won't do anything significant to change your benefits. But how about an American born tomorrow or born the day after Joe Miller was sworn in in Washington? Would that person perhaps grow up in an America where there is not a federal Social Security program if you got your way?

MILLER: "Absolutely.

KING: "That's a fair statement?"

MILLER: "No demagoguery there at all."

So apparently any Alaska parents, or future parents, that vote FOR Joe Miller are voting AGAINST their children having social security when they reach 65.  Or perhaps they simply assume that "God" will provide for their offspring in their golden years just like He did for the Miller campaign?

Republican Representative Paul Ryan has a plan to slash Social Security and Medicare. And Teabagger queen Sarah Palin LOVES it!

It’s a radical plan to balance the federal budget by slashing the sacred cows of American entitlement spending: Social Security and Medicare. And it’s scrambling the political landscape: Sarah Palin loves it. Republicans in Washington are split, wary of the electoral fallout of the spending cuts with the midterm looming. And Democrats are gleeful, confident that they can exploit Ryan’s plan to divide the GOP and perhaps even conquer in a few competitive places this fall.

Threatening to cut Social Security and Medicare is considered political suicide, especially with so many voters in America, the baby boomers, just now qualifying for these programs.

That has many Republicans wary of Ryan's plan. But one famous Republican is not hesitating to show her support.

Sarah Palin has been quick to attach herself to Ryan's rising star, giving him a shoutout in her speech to the Tea Party Convention in Nashville and volunteering his name as a promising presidential candidate.

I am always amazed when people give Palin credit for being political savvy. The woman is wandering in a desert of ignorance and her supporters are stumbling along behind her.