Maureen Dowd is trying to sell the idea that Paul Ryan is a cruel man. "Cute" but cruel, for wanting to cut unaffordable and unsustainable government entitlements for future beneficiaries (people under the age of 55).

Ms. Dowd writes cute...

Unlike some of the right-wing ayatollahs, Ryan doesn’t threaten with moral and cultural gusts of sulfur. He seems more like a friendly guidance counselor who wants to teach us how to live, get us in shape, PowerPoint away the social safety net to make the less advantaged more self-reliant, as he makes the rich richer. Burning the village it takes to save it, so we can avoid the fiscal cliff, or as he and his fellow conservative Cassandras ominously call it, “the debt bomb.”

Cute. There is no debt bomb. But what's this...

The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.

This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product.

That's from a year-old story from those conservative Cassandras at USA Today. It is now 2012 and the debt is trillions higher.

Nothing to worry about. Nothing to see here but the scariness of Paul Ryan, who wants to burn down America in order to save it.

Cute.

UPDATE: About as cute as a hissing cat.