It's "a great development"

From Eric Dondero:

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post scored an interview with Budget Chairman and Ayn Randist Republican Rep. Paul Ryan immediately after Mitt Romney released his budget proposal on Friday.

Ryan was enthused and came very close to endorsing the former Massachusetts Governor.

From WaPo "EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Paul Ryan has nothing but praise for Romney plan":

Ryan told me, Look at what he put out! This is a great development. It shows that the elusive adult conversation is taking place, but all on one side.” He ticked off the proposals including block-granting, cutting the federal workforce and entitlement reform. He said, “This tracks perfectly with the House budget.” He was careful not to forget the other GOP candidates, adding that “Romney and others are serious” about real fiscal reform.

On defense he's firmly in the "hawk" camp

On another matter of particular interest to pro-defense libertarians, Ryan praised Romney for not backing deep defense cuts.

I asked him about Romney’s decision to offer traditional Medicare as one option in the premium support plan. He said that he and former Fed vice chairwoman Alice Rivlin had discussed that idea, and so long as the government, as Romney detailed, would provide a capped amount to be used either for traditional Medicare or for private plans, the same cost savings could be obtained under Romney’s plan as under the plan Ryan proposed as part of the 2012 budget. Ryan deemed this approach as “perfectly in keeping with serious reform.”

On the defense side, the congressman pointed out that Romney, like Ryan, did not take an ax to defense. According to Ryan, this places Romney firmly in the “hawk” camp, while setting forth attainable means for getting spending down to 20 percent or lower of GDP.