My normal response to the question “What was he thinking?” (or a variation thereof) is that there was no thinking involved. But is it possible there was no thinking involved on the part of the Republican House members when they passed the Ryan budget? If there was thinking, what could it be?
All but four of them voted to destroy Medicare, slash lots of spending that people like, and lower taxes on the wealthy! They did this even though there was not a chance in hell of the budget becoming law. Next year they have to run for reelection while defending this vote. I assume the primary defense will be “There was no way it would become law, so it was safe to vote for it” which, I am sure, will make everyone feel better about it.
The interesting thing about the Ryan budget is that if it actually passed the Senate and the President signed it, it would make the deficit worse. Why? Because there is no way the “end medicare as we know it” portion would remain intact. The spending cuts the budget lays out would not remain intact. But you can bet your boots the tax cut for the wealthy would stay.
And the deficit would explode.
The deficit is a serious issue, but it can not be solved by pretending that political realities no longer exist.