Romney 'inarticulate' in secret video, says Ryan, objecting to style but agreeing on substance

One of these guys is an inarticulate predator. The other is a smooth-talking grifter. Revelations of the real Mitt Romney exposed at what was supposed to be the candidate unplugged at a private fund-raiser have sent many Republicans scurrying to put as much distance between themselves and the GOP presidential nominee as possible. Not that they truly disagree with him. But the nakedness of his disdain expressed for an audience of the elite could go a long way to undermining all the soothing soundbites and images candidates pay consultants to create to shape the responses of the rabble. Paul Ryan has a problem in that regard. He can't distance himself. So, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Tuesday, he went for the could-have-said-it-better critique:

'It was an inarticulate way to make this point: Too many people are having such a hard time getting back on a path to prosperity,' Ryan said about presidential nominee Mitt Romney's comment that 47 percent of Americans pay no income tax and depend on government services.

'Because of the stagnant Obama economy, more and more people are becoming dependent on the government,' Ryan told KCRG's Beth Malicki during an interview Sept. 18. He and Romney are pushing proposals for 're-igniting economic growth ' to get people from government dependency into lives of prosperity and upward mobility.'

Ah, yes. The path of prosperity. That, as you may recall, echoes the name of Ryan's budget plan, the Path to Prosperity that favors plutocrats already wallowing in dough at the expense of people depending on food stamps and unemployment insurance and other government programs in great part because of the policies that he and Romney want to double- and triple-down on. Policies that would give Romney an effective income tax rate of 0.82 percent and stick the middle class with another $2,000 average in taxes each year. All the while eviscerating social programs that keep people from falling into poverty or making life just a sliver better for those who are already impoverished.

As Paul Davidson points out, the Path to Prosperity is actually "a bad trip on the road to ruin."

Ryan may have a smidge more polish than the guy at the top of the ticket. But his basic message is the same: more for those who already have so much and less for those struggling to keep a roof over their heads and provide a better future for their kids. Saying it better doesn't make it more palatable.