What the Democrats are saying about Paul Ryan

Given a campaign that would accuse Romney for the death of a woman 6 years after he left Bain Capital or that Romney supposedly didn't pay his taxes for 10 years, these attacks on Paul Ryan are hardly surprising.  Here are some of the emails that I received today.  From Senator Harry Reid:

By choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt just made the most radical choice possible.  Paul Ryan is the Tea Party's darling and architect of the GOP's plan to destroy Medicare. And while dismantling the nation's social safety net, he will give even more tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like Mitt Romney. . . .

From Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod:

“Congressman Ryan is a right wing ideologue and that’s reflected in the positions he’s taken. You know the budget that he constructed for the House Republicans that would include trillions of dollars in new tax cuts skewed to the wealthy, so that we would be giving a millionaire $250,000 tax cuts while we’re cutting college aid for kids and research and development and a whole range of things we need to grow. … He disagrees with Congressman Ryan’s that we should turn Medicare into a voucher program,” said Axelrod. “He disagrees with Congressman Ryan on a woman’s right to choose, Congressman Ryan would ban a woman’s right to choose even in cases of rape or incest,” he continued. . . .

Jim Messina from the Obama campaign:

Congressman Paul Ryan is best known as the author of a budget so radical The New York Times called it "the most extreme budget plan passed by a House of Congress in modern times." With Mitt Romney's support, Ryan would end Medicare as we know it and slash the investments we need to keep our economy growing -- all while cutting taxes for those at the very top. . . .

David Axelrod:

"There's no doubt that I think the appointment...has thrilled the base of the Republican party - the Tea Party Republicans, the social conservatives because Congressman Ryan is a certifiable right-wing ideologue," David Axelrod said on "CBS This Morning." 
"I saw that kind of excitement four years ago, Anthony, when John McCain appointed Sarah Palin as well, there were huge crowds, much the same kind of reaction, and I don't think it worked out very well," he continued. "And I think when the reality catches up with the moment, it's not going to be a plus for Governor Romney." . . .

"I just don't like his views. I think that they are very dangerous views." . . .

National Education Association:

ROMNEY DOUBLES DOWN ON RIGHT WING AGENDA FOR THE MEGA-RICH

WASHINGTON—National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel released the following statement reacting to Gov. Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as his Vice Presidential running mate. 

“For weeks, there’s been speculation about who Gov. Romney would choose to be his running mate and what it would mean. And now we have our answer. By selecting Ryan, Romney has doubled down on his view that opportunity is only for those who can afford it or are willing to game the system.  He's shown yet again that he is more willing to help the rich get richer than ensuring middle class families get ahead. 

“Ryan’s position on fundamental education issues like funding for early childhood education and efforts to keep class sizes small don’t speak to ensuring that every child in this country gets a quality education, it continues Romney’s misguided and out of touch mentality that class size doesn’t matter and children should get as much education as they can ‘afford’. Elections are about choices, and Governor Romney’s VP selection indicates that once again he chose the corporate fat cats and Wall Street barons over students, teachers, bus drivers, nurses and secretaries. The three million members of NEA know you can’t put Americans back to work by cutting jobs, educate our kids by laying off teachers, or level the playing field for small businesses by rigging it in favor of big corporations. 

"Ryan was the architect of the budget plan that would have gutted Medicare and converted it to a voucher program.  Ryan and Romney have shown over and over again that they are more willing to run up trillion dollar deficits to help the rich get richer while undercutting opportunity for middle class families. 

“These are the positions and policies of Governor Romney. And so NEA members know enough to know that a Romney-Ryan administration is bad for our students, families and the wrong direction for America.”

Senator Patty Murray:

Ryan is best known for the extreme budget that bears his name -- one that would end Medicare as we know it while giving huge tax breaks to billionaires and corporations. A Romney-Ryan ticket is a frightening prospect for the middle class and anyone who might one day need Medicare or Social Security. . . .

Huffington Post: VP Ryan: A Nightmare for the Poor and Minorities

His savage cost cutting plan is well-known. He'd cut tens of billions from Medicaid and Medicare, and more than a trillion from everything from food stamps to welfare over the next decade. The Ryan slash and burn plan mercifully hasn't happened during his tenure as House Budget Committee Chair. But as Vice President Ryan, he would be in a commanding position to make his cost cutting plan a nightmare come true for the poor and minorities. . . . 

ABC News: "5 Things Mitt Doesn't Want You to Know About Paul Ryan"
Calling the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities nonpartisan shows ABC News' bias right off the bat.

1. His budget plans include big cuts, and there's ample room for Democrats to continue with their "Romneyhood narrative." The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates 62 percent of Ryan's cuts are to programs for the poor. 

2. Ryan's budget proposals have included big changes to Medicare - including gradually replacing the program with a voucher program for private health care, and gradually raising the retirement age. . . . . 

3. He voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. . . . 

4. He's easily pegged as Washington insider. . . . 

5. This is both a pro and a con to Ryan, depending on who you ask, but he's notably further to the left on the issue of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights than the base of the party. . . .

The New Yorker Magazine

For one thing, Ryan has no significant private-sector experience. Besides summer jobs working at McDonald’s or at his family’s construction company, or waiting tables as a young Washington staffer, Ryan has none of the business-world experience Romney frequently touts as essential for governing. In the run-up to his first campaign for Congress, in 1998, that gap was enough of a concern for Ryan that he briefly became a “marketing consultant” at the family business, an obvious bit of résumé puffing. . . .

Where was the liberal New Yorker's concern over lack of private-sector experience by either Obama or Biden in 2008?

CNN's Candy Crowley claimed some Republicans think this "looks a little bit like some sort of ticket death wish," though she names no Republicans who have said this.