Before Paul Ryan was pinned as an "extreme" and "radical" ideologue, Democrats actually kind of liked the guy.
Several clips of prominent Democrats -- including President Obama -- praising Ryan have surged through the Internet in the days since Mitt Romney tapped the Wisconsin congressman as his running mate. They once called his ideas "serious" and "honest," which is not what the Obama campaign and its affiliates are saying about him now.
Arguably the most robust praise came from Erskine Bowles, the White House chief of staff under former President Bill Clinton who recently co-chaired President Obama's deficit-reduction committee.
In a late 2011 talk at the University of North Carolina, Bowles told the audience "this guy is amazing."
"I always thought I was okay with arithmetic. This guy can run circles around me, and he is honest, he is straightforward, he is sincere," Bowles said. "And the budget he came forward with is just like Paul Ryan. It is a sensible, straightforward, honest, serious budget."
Bowles went on to criticize the spending plans that had come out of the Obama White House.
North Carolina's News & Observer newspaper dug up the rest of that speech, finding that at one point, Bowles also called Ryan's controversial Medicare overhaul "a pretty radical change" that he'd rather avoid.
But in a March 29, 2012, PBS interview, Bowles said that Ryan's plan to offer government payments to buy private insurance should nevertheless remain an "option" going forward. He even said "you would want to consider" a newer version of the Ryan plan that lets people keep traditional Medicare as an alternative.
Bowles repeated his sentiment that Ryan is a "very smart, stable, honest, hardworking guy."
In 2010 on the same program, Bowles said: "I wish we had more people like Paul who are thinkers and do their homework."
Around the same time, Obama was similarly upbeat on Ryan's role in the Republican Party.
In 2010, Obama said at a Republican retreat that Ryan had "made a serious proposal" with his budget. Obama criticized the idea of giving "vouchers" for Medicare, but acknowledged the need to address the deficit spending that Medicare and Medicaid fuel.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/14/videos-surface-dems-praising-ryan-in-contrast-to-extreme-claims/
