By now we all know that Willard Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, has a budget plan that is supported by Romney and would cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid, putting a heavier financial burden on seniors.

In fact, Ryan said that the Affordable Care Act would “put America on a glide path toward European-style socialism”. He managed to offend the British, picking up where his boss left off.

Oops.

Yes, Team Romney is back to their alienating ways. You see, the National Health Service (NHS), the publicly funded healthcare system in the United Kingdom, was celebrated in the London Olympics opening ceremonies because it’s their pride and joy.

HuffPo explains the rest:

Paul Ryan said nationalised healthcare systems such as Britain were slower to develop lifesaving drugs and had a detrimental effect on the economy.

But Labour shadow health minister Jamie Reed hit back, saying Ryan’s criticisms were a “lie” and that the NHS was one of the “defining achievements of Britain”.

And Stephen Dorrell, a former Conservative health secretary, said he thought the vice presidential candidate appeared not to understand how the NHS worked and that it was not the “devil incarnate”. [...] Writing in the Wall Street Journal in January 2009, the Wisconsin congressman singled out the NHS as an example of bad practice as Republican’s battled to block Obama’s health care reforms.

Labour’s Jamie Reed:

“The facts are that the NHS is one of the most effective and efficient healthcare systems anywhere in the world: it’s a lie to claim otherwise…  It simply isn’t true or credible to state that publicly funded healthcare delays the development of new medicines or other treatments and the NHS - as the Olympic opening ceremony again underlined – is one of the defining achievements of Britain and a cornerstone of British life and culture.

“It’s benefits for the economy and every other part of British life have been incalculable. It seems that every time certain Republicans panic, they reach out to criticise the NHS. They should resist speaking about what they don’t understand.”

How’s that “bold” thing workin’ for ya, Paul Ryan?

H/t: @marcbernstein