“I’m not going to sit here and complain about coverage of the campaign,” said Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. “As a candidate, if you do that, you’re losing.”Cross-posted at The Political Environment.
At the time of his selection, a number of pundits argued Ryan’s strategic benefits, suggesting he would boost Romney by energizing conservatives, or by allowing Romney to run as the candidate of big ideas, or that he would at least be the party’s best defender of the Medicare plan Romney was going to have to defend whether he wanted to or not. This seemed like a stretch at the time—after all, Ryan’s Medicare plan proved to be a massive liability the one time voters weighed in on it. But who could say for sure?Read the rest of his take here.
Well, fast forward a month-and-a-half and the numbers look pretty persuasive. This week the New York Times released a set of polls, conducted by Quinnipiac, assessing the state of the race in Ohio and Florida. The top-line numbers were jaw-dropping enough: Obama’s lead in Ohio grew from six to ten over the last month, and from three to nine in Florida. (It’s better to focus on the change here than the magnitude, which is highly sensitive to polling methodology.) But once you look at the internal numbers, they’re even less kind to Romney. More to the point, they suggest Ryan has done enormous damage to the ticket.
"Our country has a critical decision to make," responds Ryan. "Will we leave something better or worse for our children? Politicians from both parties have made empty promises, which will soon become broken promises if we fail to act now. We must take action to prevent the most predictable economic crisis in our country's history. Washington promotes a culture of dependency; we need a culture of accountability and personal responsibility."Here's the ad:
Conservatives initially saw the selection of Mr. Ryan as a hopeful sign that Mr. Romney had fully embraced their small-government agenda and eagerness to turn the election into a head-on clash of ideologies. But now, with Mr. Romney encountering a host of problems and Republicans openly fretting about the outcome in November, Mr. Ryan’s slow fade back into the secondary and sometimes afterthought role traditionally played by running mates has given conservatives a new outlet for frustration over the state of the race.
“I was enthused when Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan because I thought it was a signal that this guy was getting serious, he was getting bold,” Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Mr. Ryan’s home state, told a Milwaukee radio show host on Friday. “It’s not necessarily even a frustration over the way Paul Ryan’s been used but rather in the larger context: I just haven’t seen that kind of passion I know that Paul has transferred over to our nominee, and I think it’s a little bit of some pushback from some of the folks in the national campaign.”
[S]ix weeks after Mr. Ryan’s selection the political value of adding him to the Republican ticket seems to be dissipating. His presence has fired up Republican partisans, but it has energized Democrats as well. Mr. Ryan’s signature issue-- overhauling Medicare-- has moved front and center, but polls suggest that so far it is playing to Mr. Obama’s advantage.
Even the possibility that he could help Mr. Romney win Wisconsin, a state that Republicans had high hopes of capturing, seems to be in doubt, with a number of recent polls giving the Democratic ticket a small advantage there.
Paul Ryan was heralded for injecting the Mitt Romney campaign with conservative cred and a true believer’s zest for battle when he joined the ticket. But instead of Ryanizing Romney, the congressman’s supporters fear just the opposite has happened.Scott Walker is described as "bewildered":
Ryan has been used as a mini-Mitt.
The congressman’s role now is as little more than a dutiful No. 2, tossing out attack lines to crowds on less conspicuous stops. Instead of being a catalyst for big ideas, critics believe the campaign has been stuck in a pre-Ryan messaging rut. There hasn’t been anywhere near enough of Ryan, they say, who has skipped most major national interviews and hewed to a specific script.
“I thought (picking Ryan) was a signal that this guy (Romney) was getting serious, he’s getting bold, it’s not necessarily even a frustration over the way Paul Ryan’s been used but rather in the larger context. I just haven’t seen that kind of passion I know Paul has transferred over to our nominee, and I think it’s a little bit of push-back from the folks in the national campaign. But I think for him to win he’s gotta (do) that.”
"Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it’s a welfare transfer system," Ryan said.As Adele Stan notes at Alternet, Ryan's dim view extended to Medicare as well in this speech:
Ryan continued, describing attempts by Republicans to privatize, laughing at using the word "personalizing" instead.
Ryan says "if we actually accomplish this goal of personalizing Social Security, think of what we will accomplish." He adds "every worker, every laborer in America will not only be a laborer but a capitalist. They will be an owner of society, they will be an owner and a participant of our free enterprise system, of our capitalist system."
Medicare, in Ryan’s view is no better. After complaining about the projected growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Ryan says, according to a transcript of a video of the speech, prepared by Vincent Miller, contributor to the America blog, In All Things, and Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture at the University of Dayton:Listen:
If we do not succeed in switching these programs, in reforming these programs from what some people call a defined benefit system, to a defined contribution system– from switching these programs—and this is where I’m talking about health care, as well -- from a third party or socialist based system to an individually owned, individually prefunded, individually directed system.
Described by many pundits as the top intellectual mind of the Republican Party, Ryan excels in economic and fiscal policies. He’s a policy wonk for sure, but also possesses the finesse to communicate his ideas in a relatable format.
But Ryan’s ideas and voting record are now the subject to national scrutiny by journalists, bloggers, economists, think tank analysts, and partisan advocacy organizations. What can a debate with an untested county supervisor add to the national discussion?
Ryan has not been timid about his views on pretty much anything from entitlement spending to tax reform. For years, Ryan has sounded the fiscal alarm, introducing multiple budgetary plans that sought to reform third rail issues like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.Yes Ryan loves to talk about his "views" on almost anything, as long as he can control the debate and the questions. If he does at least he understands his weakness and refuses to ever answer a question from someone who he does not know!
If Ryan refuses a debate Rob Zerban, it’s not because he’s ducking a challenge by a formidable opponent. It’s because the debate is unnecessary. Debates tend to prove two things: who has the better ideas and who is better at communicating them. Fortunately for Ryan, he has skills in both areas.The problem here is, that Aaron just does not live reality. Here is a quick exchange betweenRyan and some reporters that you have seen over and over and over again:
Ryan declined to address Obama's charge that he was among House Republicans "standing in the way" of legislation designed to help the drought-stricken heartland. He said only that he would get into "those policy things later."Mr. Transparency and exchange of ideas!
"Right now I just want to enjoy the fair," he said.
Even if Zerban were a quick study and proficient at communicating, the debate would likely be a wash. If he’s not particularly adroit, he’ll last about as long with Ryan as a balloon in a room full of kittens.Yes it is very hard to debate this logic:
Critics of Mitt Romney's tax reform plan say his proposal leaves out too many details, but Paul Ryan, the Republican presidential nominee's running mate, says keeping the proposal vague gives it the best chance for passage through Congress.During an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, Ryan said Romney is following Ronald Reagan's playbook by not divulging the details about what specific tax loopholes he would close and the rates that would be set under his administration. Ryan said the reason is "because we want to get it done."
Um...@paulryanvp opens up VA event: "What a day, what a week...we’re going to get this thing fixed by Nov. 6."
— Lis Smith (@Lis_Smith) September 19, 2012
In fact, most people do not lie, said Michael Sachs, an exercise psychologist at Temple University. That is one reason athletes often are so outraged when they catch someone who fibs about his or her performance in a competition...
So it should come as no surprise that Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, was called out recently when he told a radio interviewer he had run a marathon in around 2 hours 50 minutes...
...his actual time in the marathon he was referring to, the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., was 4 hours 1 minute, for an average pace of 9 minutes 12 seconds a mile...
Mr. Ryan is not alone, of course, in substantially misstating his achievement... “They want to present themselves in an overly optimistic way,” said Dan Ariely, a behavioral economics professor at Duke who has studied lying...
“People find excuses,” Dr. Ariely said, and those who dissemble often start believing their own lies.Cross-posted at The Political Environment.
The ads are aimed at sharpening their depiction of Republicans as steadfast supporters of Ryan’s controversial budget plan and Medicare overhaul. Party strategists say the commercials go further than many of the previous ads they ran, which merely mentioned the budget but did not include the Wisconsin congressman’s picture.
The latest offensive will come today, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee releases a commercial casting New York Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle as a Ryan pawn. “Only in Washington would this happen. Ann Marie Buerkle voted to increase taxes on middle-class families by $1,400. And where does the money go? To give millionaires a $265,000 tax cut,” the ad says as a picture of Ryan flashes on screen. “It’s Paul Ryan’s plan — and Anne Marie Buerkle voted for it.”
The ad was the House Democratic campaign arm’s second to feature Ryan – late last week it came out with another which showed a stick-figure-like New York Rep. Chris Gibson standing alongside Ryan.
Read more and see link to the other ad here This is the ad being unveiled today. :
"All eyes of the world markets are here on congress. It's a heavy load to bury. It's a heavy load to bear." Paul Ryan
Tom Edsall has a very good piece on one of the key evasions in the Ryan budget plan, the huge unspecified cuts in discretionary spending. Edsall goes into more detail than anyone else I’ve read about just how much is hidden in that “sinkhole” and how it calls everything else Ryan claims into question.
But can I point out that this basic piece of flimflam was obvious all along? From my original Ryan takedown, more than two years ago:Finally, let’s talk about those spending cuts. In its first decade, most of the alleged savings in the Ryan plan come from assuming zero dollar growth in domestic discretionary spending, which includes everything from energy policy to education to the court system. This would amount to a 25 percent cut once you adjust for inflation and population growth. How would such a severe cut be achieved? What specific programs would be slashed? Mr. Ryan doesn’t say.
And yet until very recently the whole Beltway was united in praising Ryan as a Serious deficit hawk, with a detailed plan-- he even received a big award for fiscal responsibility.
So the Ryan story isn’t just about Ryan; it’s about how the establishment allowed itself to be taken in by such an obvious shyster, despite warnings from many of us that he was, well, an obvious shyster.
This unapologetic evasiveness by the Romney-Ryan ticket won’t be lost on voters because their lack of specifics carries a strong message of its own-- which President Obama and Vice President Biden translated for voters during campaign events in Florida and Ohio on Sunday afternoon. The Vice President put it plainly: “The money’s got to come from somewhere. Guess who? You.” And the President said, “They want your vote, but they don't have a plan. Or at least they don't want to tell you their plan. And that's because they've got the same plan they've had for 30 years.”
That’s all Americans need to know about the Romney-Ryan plan-– it’s the same one that got us into this mess in the first place. In other words, bad math.
First, the complexity of the issue makes it difficult for reporters to understand and write about the subject. After wading my way through all of this, I know what they mean. Second, the Ryan tactic of obscuring the cuts successfully plays to a fundamental ambivalence that amounts to an internal contradiction in public opinion: strong support for spending cuts in the abstract, but opposition to many specific cuts in programs that have popular support....In an interview, Christopher Van Hollen Jr. of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told me that the Ryan budget “is a shell game designed to hide the damage to the country.” Van Hollen is frustrated that the damage to which he alludes has not become a campaign issue: “The magnitude of this budget gimmick takes your breath away.”
So what is this election about? To be sure, it’s about different visions of society — about Medicare versus Vouchercare, about preserving the safety net versus destroying it. But it’s also a test of how far politicians can bend the truth. This is surely the first time one of our major parties has run a campaign so completely fraudulent, making claims so at odds with the reality of its policy proposals. But if the Romney/Ryan ticket wins, it won’t be the last.
Campaign insiders say Romney was so determined to capture support of the tea party that reveres Ryan that he was “more than willing” to overlook the Congressman’s casual relationship with the truth.Its gotten so bad that he can not even walk back lies without lying, and while walking them back he is compounding them!
“Paul Ryan is a loose cannon. He’s Mitt Romney’s Sarah Palin and his involvement with the campaign will sink the Republican Party in this election,” said another GOP pro, who also asked to remain anonymous.
“When I heard Ryan was on the short list, my first reaction was ‘oh, Christ, here we go again,’ ” the longtime GOP operative said Sunday. ”The man tells so many whoppers so often that I’m not sure he even knows when he’s lying.”
DAVID GREGORY: Republican leaders agreed to that deal to the extend the debt ceiling.
MITT ROMNEY: And that’s a big mistake. I thought it was a mistake on the part of the White House to propose it. I think it was a mistake for Republicans to go along with it.
“What conservatives like me have been fighting for, for years, are statutory caps on spending, legal caps in law that says government agencies cannot spend over a set amount of money,” Ryan told FOX News’s Sean Hannity shortly after the agreement was reached last August. “And if they breach that amount across the board, sequester comes in to cut that spending, and you can’t turn that off without a super-majority vote. We got that in law.”Trumpeting internal discord at the top of the ticket is probably not the way Republicans hoped their standard bearers would try to counteract Obama's increasingly substantial post-convention bounce.
Update:
Some similar thoughts from the Twittersphere:
Romney Slams GOP Leaders - Including His Own VP Nominee - for 2011 Budget Deal > abcn.ws/QqcVca
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 8, 2012
So now the Romney campaign's making Ryan condemn the sequester he voted for? Remind me why they picked him again?
— delrayser (@delrayser) September 8, 2012
Someone should tell Romney that we wouldn't have the sequester if it wasn't for Paul Ryan.
— Travis Waldron (@Travis_Waldron) September 8, 2012
Romney could have chosen a governor and run against dc dysfunction; instead he tapped paul ryan and is now running against his running mate
— Tim Dickinson (@7im) September 8, 2012
So Mitt Thinks Ryan Has Bad Judgement @thehill: Video: Romney: GOP leaders made 'mistake' on debt deal, defense cuts bit.ly/Ni9FxO
— John Dean (@JohnWDean) September 8, 2012
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign today released a statement, saying that vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan did not climb nearly 40 of Colorado’s fourteeners, but climbed nearly 40 climbs on 28 different peaks.Cross-posted at The Political Environment.
The Nation, a left-of-center magazine, reports on Wednesday that Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2010 to recommend a grant application for the Kenosha Community Health Center Inc., to develop a new facility in Racine.Cross-posted at The Political Environment.
The request is significant because Ryan sought money under the New Access Points funding program, which is funded by the Affordable Care Act. That is the law Ryan has vowed to repeal and replace in Congress.
Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan is barnstorming the country, promising to repeal every provision of the Affordable Care Act if the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected. But a letter he wrote to the Obama administration may undermine this message.Click through for a PDF of the letter.
On December 10, 2010, Ryan penned a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services to recommend a grant application for the Kenosha Community Health Center, Inc to develop a new facility in Racine, Wisconsin, an area within Ryan's district. "The proposed new facility, the Belle City Neighborhood Health Center, will serve both the preventative and comprehensive primary health care needs of thousands of new patients of all ages who are currently without health care," Ryan wrote....
The grant Ryan requested was funded directly by the Affordable Care Act, better known simply as health care reform or Obamacare.
"I don’t buy his comment that it was an honest mistake. He knew exactly what he was saying when he said it. That’s why the running world called him out on it. Anyone who has run a marathon – no matter how long ago – will undoubtedly remember their finish time, probably down to the minute or two and possibly down to the second in many cases. I’ve run a lot of marathons and finished several ironman events. I can tell you my approximate finish times for each race give or take a minute or two. You simply don’t forget these things. Anyone in the running world would tell you it’s an extremely difficult feat to run a sub-3-hour marathon. The average marathon finish time is over 4 hours. Not many people go under 3. I’ve never done it. I’ve come close at 3:08. But even a 3:08 is considered a long way from going under 3."
"It takes a lot of nerve to hold oneself out running under 3 hours when you haven’t. That Ryan said he did is not surprising. After all, he’s in the business of exaggerating. That he thought he could get away with it is the shocking part."
CLEVELAND — Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan declined on Tuesday to back away from statements in his party convention speech that nonpartisan fact checkers have branded as false or misleading.Talker Charlie Sykes this morning in the local conservative echo chamber
In a round of television interviews, the Wisconsin congressman was challenged by network anchors to defend statements on Medicare, the federal deficit and the 2008 closing of a GM plant in his hometown, Janesville.
Ryan said Obama broke his promise to keep a Wisconsin GM plant from closing. But we don't see evidence he explicitly made such a promise -- and more importantly, the Janesville plant shut down before he took office.That was an effort to make President Obama look bad.
A spokesman confirmed late Friday that the Republican vice presidential candidate has run one marathon. That was the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, where Ryan, then 20, is listed as having finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was "Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."If he'd simply said, 'Hey I ran a marathon a long time ago before my back went out and came in a minute over four hours,' people would have said, 'Wow, what a fit guy. Still is. I couldn't do that.'
In a statement issued to Runner's World by a spokesman Friday night, Ryan said of his marathon experience:
"The race was more than 20 years ago, but my brother Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself ran a sub-three. If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight."
How is it that Ryan has those details right right at his command about marathons - - plural - - he says he ran - - then goes on to misstate the finish time by over an hour - - - - then lowers it into a exceptional category - - sub three-hours.HH: But you did run marathons at some point?PR: Yeah, but I can’t do it anymore, because my back is just not that great.HH: I’ve just gotta ask, what’s your personal best?PR: Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.
Paul Ryan Lied About Being Good At MarathonsKrugman:
I remember the 2000 campaign, when Al Gore was constantly hounded by claims of fibbing on trivial issues — claims that, by the way, were all, as far as I could tell, fabricated. These alleged fibs supposedly showed some deep defect in his character. So if Ryan is making false claims about his physical prowess, this is absolutely fair game.On a slow Labor Day weekend between the conventions, this is clearly starting to become a thing:
It's baffling why Paul Ryan would say he ran a sub-3 hour marathon when he quite clearly had not. bit.ly/PGrFO0
— Reid Epstein (@reidepstein) September 1, 2012
Problem with truth? MT@reidepstein: Why would Paul Ryan say he ran a sub-3 hour marathon when he had not? bit.ly/PGrFO0
— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) September 1, 2012
Here's the Runner's World article debunking Paul Ryan's marathon claims that@chrislhayes mentioned: news.runnersworld.com/2012/08/31/pau…#uppers
— Up w/ Chris Hayes (@upwithchris) September 1, 2012
Paul Ryan's marathon lie suggests he is either a pathological liar or a sad man with delusions. Which is worse? newyorker.com/online/blogs/n…
— Jacob Remes (@jacremes) September 1, 2012
If you believe that Paul Ryan ran a marathon in under three hours, he has a plan to "save" Medicare he'd like to sell you.
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) September 1, 2012
Paul Ryan Has Not Run Sub-3:00 Marathon
August 31, 2012 11:59 am
It turns out Paul Ryan has not run a marathon in less than three hours—or even less than four hours.
A spokesman confirmed late Friday that the Republican vice presidential candidate has run one marathon. That was the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, where Ryan, then 20, is listed as having finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was "Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."Cross-posted at The Political Environment.
