“SO WHERE’S THE REST OF THEM?” “The Democrats supposedly think (warning: FDL link) that Paul Ryan’s budget plan is a hideous liability for the Republicans – that is, those Democrats that actually know what the word ‘budget’ even means, which apparently excludes the entire Senate Democratic caucus* – so you would think that this speech by Ryan would and should have been a media circus. Watch the speech: in it Ryan went into how his own Catholic faith informs his fiscal conservatism (Georgetown, remember?), and how his current proposals are not in fact contrary to the Church’s principles when it comes to helping the poor. Given that this is genuinely subversive of the remaining links between American progressives and the Roman Catholic church hierarchy, it seems amazing that progressives weren’t trying their best to, well, at least show up. Or did they?”

Plus: “This is not 2007. We now know what a populist movement looks like; in late April 2010 the Tea Party was putting thousands in the streets in protests on a regular basis. I count… twelve?… in that above picture.”