> LOL: Paul Ryan's 'road map' takes toll on Republicans

He?s not quite a political archvillain on a par with Karl Rove or Nancy Pelosi, but Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is rapidly emerging as a top Democratic bogeyman on the campaign trail.

At issue is his legislative ?road map,? which Ryan crafted as the top Republican on the House Budget Committee. Among his specific proposals: eventually adding private accounts to Social Security and fundamentally changing Medicare by giving subsidies to seniors to buy private insurance.

Democrats ? from President Barack Obama on down ? say the plan would devastate the social safety net that their party has crafted over the past 75 years ? and they?re pounding GOP opponents with it across the country.

Ryan?s plan restates President George W. Bush?s 2005 plan to ?privatize Social Security and turn it from a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble,? said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi?s spokesman, Nadeam Elshami.

And the liberal interest group Americans United for Change this week launched a Web-based attack, ?Meet the Young Guns ? They want to privatize Social Security and Medicare.?

Even Obama has joined the attacks. In a Saturday radio address in August, the president accused Republicans of ?pushing to make privatizing Social Security a key part of their legislative agenda if they win a majority in Congress.?

Already, the Democratic attacks are taking a toll ? GOP challengers are backing away from the road map?s specifics. And while Ryan?s House Republican ?Young Gun? colleagues might call him ?the brain,? they didn?t use any of his ideas in their new ?Pledge to America? ? and he didn?t attend its rollout last week.

It?s a far cry from the embrace Ryan?s ideas received earlier in the year when he was celebrated, with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), as one of a trio of emerging leaders set to catapult to power should Republicans take back the House in November.

Martha Roby, GOP challenger to Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) who said earlier this year that ?conservative leaders like Rep. Paul Ryan are offering real solutions,? now has a page on her website devoted to opposing the privatization of Social Security. Former Marine Sgt. Jesse Kelly, who is running against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), spent the first few days of his general election campaign telling voters how hard he would work to protect Social Security ? a marked shift from his earlier primary election rhetoric focusing on refor


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