The "cruel" meme:

It's out there. Andrew Sullivan, writing in favor of the Ryan budget:

As for the cruelty argument, the truth is: the past fiscal recklessness makes some cruelty a mathematical necessity.

Jonathan Chait, writing against:

The new GOP budget unveiled by Paul Ryan is a wildly cruel document.

UPDATE: Annie Lowrey in Slate, discussing alternatives to Ryan:

The fiscally responsible choice is to raise taxes while also reforming entitlements, as any of the half-dozen more feasible and less cruel plans floating around do.

UPDATE 2: Paul Krugman:

this plan isn’t remotely serious; on the contrary, it’s ludicrous.

And it’s also cruel.

posted by Quiddity at 4/06/2011 08:12:00 PM