Democrats Find Their Bogeyman

It's Rep. Paul Ryan, a master of the federal budget and the guy tagged to give the Republican response to the State of the Union tonight:

Senate Democrats are pouncing on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) role in delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union address to make the case that Republicans are intent on destroying Social Security and Medicare.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the master political strategist for Senate Democrats, wants to turn Ryan into a bogeyman that voters think about whenever they hear about a Republican proposal to cut federal spending.

Schumer's strategy reflects an effort to revitalize a party messaging operation that many Democrats say fell apart after Obama won the White House. Senate Democrats face a daunting political map in 2012 and are looking to launch early, coordinated attacks on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) new majority.

Schumer’s strategy is to highlight the link between GOP efforts to cut as much as $50 billion from the federal budget and a “roadmap” to create private accounts for Social Security and Medicare that Ryan created.

“This is an initial volley in a three-day effort — 72-hour window — to try to muddle Paul Ryan’s foray onto the national scene,” said a senior Senate Democratic aide. “We want to make the House Republicans or Republicans at large own his roadmap and what it would entail for Social Security.”

Democrats hope they can make Ryan’s debut on the national political stage as disastrous as the rebuttal Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) delivered in 2009. Jindal’s stilted performance, which the media skewered, immediately quieted talk of him as a presidential contender in 2012.

Ryan has his work cut out for him. Delivering a speech to a camera without an audience, and right after the president has finished, is one of the toughest assignments you can get. I hope Ryan is up to it.

As far as Chuckie Schumer's plan to demonize him, Ryan isn't enough of a household name for those efforts to be very successful. It also shows how empty the Democrats are in terms of real ideas. They can't fight policies with policies, they have to fight policies with character attacks.