Paul Ryan is not ready for primetime.  This is embarrassing.  Brit Hume lobs some basic softballs at him but does a very good job in terms of his follow-up questions and I applaud him for that.  But Ryan’s responses are cringe worthy.

So let’s cover some of the highlights from the interview:

#1 – Hume asks him how they can attack Obama for cuts in Medicare if those same cuts are in Paul Ryan’s budget.  Paul Ryan’s response is a huge fumble.  In other words – yes … Paul Ryan’s budget includes the same spending cuts that President Obama puts in his plan except Paul Ryan’s cuts come from seniors whereas President Obama’s cuts come 100% from insurance companies and medical providers (not seniors).

We’ve had this discussion HERE about what the Obama and Ryan plans really do and the politics behind it.

#2 – Hume asks Ryan when the Romney/Ryan budget gets balanced.  ”I don’t know exactly when it gets balanced” is the best thing he can muster.  And Ryan even acknowledges that his own budget doesn’t balance until the 2030′s.

In other words – there is nothing conservative about it.  And there is a simple reason for that.  You can’t cut taxes by $5 trillion and balance the budget unless you cut Medicare and Social Security unless you cut the defense budget but we know that Romney has already said he’d increase spending on defense by another 25% or so.

#3 – Hume says that Romney hasn’t provided enough details.  Ryan says they’ve provided more details than the President.  Hume counters the President provided a full blown budget.  This is Mitt’s ENTIRE economic plan:

#4 – Hume asks him how he would respond to the charge they only want to cut taxes for the richest.  Ryan says – they plan on removing deductions that only the wealthy benefit from.  Hume asks … well when are we going to see a list of those deductions you’re going to eliminate.  Ryan’s response is that you’ll see it when they pass the bill in Congress.  In other words – after you hire Romney … then you’ll see his deductions.  Hume asks if they can eliminate tax deductions to lower tax rates without eliminating the mortgage tax deduction.  Ryan says yes.

Except – the list below shows the value of tax deductions by “cost”.  The top three have HUGE benefits to the middle class and are very popular.  Any decision to remove those three would result in very unhappy voters.  And even though it’s nearly impossible to reduce tax rates and maintain the same revenues by eliminating deductions without touching the top 3 …. Paul Ryan promises they can do it – they just won’t tell you which deductions they’ll stop giving you tax credits on from below.

And if you do cut taxes and do not cut an equal amount in the items below … that means you’re really cutting the net effective tax rate.  And independent analysts have concluded that no matter what – if you cut the marginal tax rate … the only possible solution even if you cut these items below would lead to a tax increase on the middle class and a tax cut for the wealthy.  Period.

#6 – Brit Hume asks Paul Ryan about Ayn Rand but Paul Ryan says he doesn’t agree with her philosophy.  Except Paul Ryan is on record many times of saying that he referred to Rand’s works for guidance.  He said famously, “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand.”  We delved into his history with Ayn Rand HERE.

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