What Makes Paul Ryan An Intellectual Leader?

I read about it…..in a book.

This will be short, but I have been wondering what makes Republican vice-president candidate Paul Ryan an intellectual leader?  I know the media has declared him as such.  But what exactly does Ryan specifically bring to the table that makes him so gosh darn smart?  Is it that he has something called the “Ryan Plan”?  Ok, here’s my plan:

1. Eliminate the deficit.
2. Run yearly surpluses.
3. Pay down the debt.
4. The country prospers.

I’m the intellectual leader of the world!  What, you want details?  Details, sheeptails.  That’s up to Congress!  See, the Ryan plan also lacks many details.  Details in the plan to cut taxes?  Yeah, that’s pretty detailed.  Details to replace Medicare with a voucher system?  Yeah, that’s there too.  Details in the plan to pay for those tax cuts? Details for other planned budget cuts? Not so much.  (I would argue that we should keep an eye on parts of the plan that are detailed out and those parts that are not.  The parts that have the detail are the parts of the plan that have priority and what Ryan wants to implement.  He doesn’t detail the rest because he’s not that interested in it.)  The latest Ryan plan is not even scored by the Congressional Budget Office because it lacks the details to do so.

Also, in his address at the Republican National Convention, Ryan relied on misleading statements, half-truths, and outright lies.  It was so bad, he was even called out by Fox News.com.  Yes, Fox News.  Anyway, I would say that a person that has to do that to make his/her point is not that intelligent.

Maybe Ryan is being judged on a Palin/Akin curve?  I wouldn’t say Ryan is as dumb as a box of rocks (then again, Ryan did introduce the idea of “forcible” rape into abortion legislation he sponsored, which does not seem that far removed from “legitimate” rape).  But I just don’t see the guy as having any special level of intelligence.