MICKEY KAUS ON THE RYAN BUDGET PLAN: It’s a near-suicidal act that will lead Republicans off the cliff. “Here Republicans were winning the grinding debate over relatively small cuts in the federal discretionary budget. Democrats–the party that desperately needs to convince voters it can be trusted to get rid of $1.6 trillion annual deficits–seemed to be reflexively defending government bloat, measuring success by the amount of spending preserved the way antipoverty activists measure success by the number of people on the dole.”

UPDATE: Ira Stoll: Ryan Plan Isn’t Enough.