It was to be expected that Jennifer Rubin, the Washington Post's resident champion of all things Mitt Romney, would be enthused at Romney's selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, but her blog post this morning on the relationship between Ryan and Romney is an embarrassment for the paper. It's stuffed with so much pixie-dust-and-rainbows nonsense about the new VP nominee that it reads less like the analysis of a Washington Post political blogger and more like terrible fan fiction.

To wit, Rubin offers this observation on Ryan's attitude towards debt and deficits: 

Early on (before George W. Bush left office) Ryan saw the looming debt crisis and the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility if new policies weren't adopted. In 2011, many conservatives, primarily at conservative think tanks and publications, hoped Ryan would be the standard bearer of those ideas as a presidential contender.

“Early on” in this context deliberately excludes 2001-2008, when the Bush administration was busily enacting the policies that not only erased the Clinton-era surpluses but also exploded the debt and the deficit. According to Rubin's own newspaper, Bush's policy initiatives -- the tax cuts (which weren't paid for), the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (which weren't paid for), the Medicare prescription drug benefit (which wasn't paid for), etc. -- were the major factors driving the increase in debt.

Paul Ryan voted for the tax cuts. He voted for the wars. He voted for the prescription drug benefit. So what Rubin is saying is that Ryan was “early” to recognize the consequences of the Bush administration's “fiscal irresponsibility” after voting for the fiscally irresponsible policies.

Accompanying this nonsense are several paragraphs of sappy prose about Romney's and Ryan's “bond” and the standard-issue right-wing fawning over Ryan's love of “ideas:”

Just prior to the Wisconsin Republican presidential primary, Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) hit the campaign trail together. During their travels the pair clearly had a ball. At one point, I was told, Ryan was busy in the car -- “eating cherry pie with the governor.” In other words, this was a buddy movie in the making. The report below is based on dozens of interviews and conversations over the last year or so with those involved, both inside the campaigns and in the conservative think tank community.

[...]

Ryan, a protégé of conservative intellectuals Bill Bennett and Jack Kemp, has always been a man in love with ideas. Beginning in 2007 with development of the Roadmap for America ( a comprehensive tax-entitlement-health-care agenda), Ryan was convinced that Republicans had to be the reforming party of mature, big ideas.

Rubin's piece comes on the heels of her Sunday celebration of all things Paul Ryan, neatly encapsulated by her headline choices: "10 ways Ryan annoys liberal media;" "Republicans invigorated by Ryan;" "Ryan injects gravitas into the GOP ticket."

This isn't analysis. It's factually inaccurate, unserious dreck that serves no function except to keep Washington Post readers apprised of how deep in the tank Jennifer Rubin is for the Republican presidential nominee.