So Paul Ryan claims there are “a dozen” Democrats in Congress who secretly support his budget proposals, but fear to say so because they’d get “killed.”

Wonder how many Republicans there are in Congress who secretly oppose Ryan’s budget–if only because it’s so politically risky–but fear to say so because they would most definitely get “killed” by the commissars of conservative orthodoxy? Bet it’s a lot more than a dozen.

But speaking of secrets: Ryan also says he just can’t understand why his “tax reform” ideas can’t draw bipartisan support:

“Why don’t we stop subsidizing the wealthy, why don’t we stop subsidizing corporations, why don’t we stop corporate welfare?” he asked. “There is an area I think we can get consensus on.”

Gee, Paul, if you’d just bother to actually spell out your tax reform ideas in public, that could happen! Or are you afraid you’d get “killed?”

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.