The Washington Post has a front-page story on Rep. Paul Ryan (R, Wisc.) and his fiscal “Roadmap.” The piece focuses on the reluctance of GOP party leaders to embrace Ryan’s plan, which is fair enough. While Ryan’s plan for reforming Medicare and Social Security–or something like it–is necessary if we’re ever going to solve our fiscal crisis, no one denies that politically it’s going to be very difficult to implement changes to Medicare.

What makes Republicans particularly afraid of embracing Ryan’s plan is that it’s so easy for Democrats to misconstrue it and scare seniors into thinking that Ryan’s plan would affect those currently on Medicare. That’s not true. Ryan’s plan doesn’t touch entitlements for those 55 and older.