Sunday, September 30, 2012

Ryan's Losing Boo Hoo Boo-Boo

Chris Christie plays honest pundit on Paul Ryan's whine today about media bias:
“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.

Friday, September 28, 2012

The "Escalating Disaster" That Is Paul Ryan

Noam Scheiber:
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?

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.
Read the rest of his take here.

Paul Ryan - Pimp

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

BREAKING: Ryan's Third House Ad Highlights 47%'s "Culture of Dependency"

Via Amanda Terkel at HuffPo. The ad seems to quadruple-down (or quintuple-down?) on Romney's "47%" comment, lamenting America's "culture of dependency":
"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:

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Will Paul Ryan Sink Romney And The Whole 2012 GOP Enterprise?




As we mentioned yesterday, Paul Ryan dis-invited radical right GOP House candidate Todd Long to his Orlando town hall Sunday. Long has been campaigning on abolishing Social Security and Medicare and recent polls show him scaring away older voters, not just older Democratic and independent voters, but even older Republican voters. One poll shows Alan Grayson winning 25% of older Republicans in the FL-09 race! There are many reasons Ryan may have excised Long from the program: Long was found passed out drunk in a school yard 200 miles from his house; Long was banned from the biggest shopping mall in central Florida for making a nuisance of himself, again, drunk; Long's wife testified in court that he had been abusing her-- and even Republicans know wife beaters are a no-no at election time-- and Ryan may have wanted nothing to do with Long because Long has vowed to vote against Ryan cronies John Boehner and Eric Cantor for House Leadership positions if he's elected, because, he says, they're "too liberal." But the one reason Ryan shouldn't have banned Long is over policy. Long's policy statements may have been inelegantly-- even embarrassingly-- stated but they are, at their core, straight out of Ryan's "Plan For the World," his dystopian, Ayn Randian budget. 

You may have seen the Gallup poll released yesterday that shows that by a widening margin of 51-43% Americans trust Obama more on Medicare issues than Romney. There's an even worse poll out for Romney-Ryan. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, taken even before Ryan was booed by seniors at the AARP convention in New Orleans last week "indicates that during the past two weeks-- since just after the Democratic National Convention-- support for Romney among Americans age 60 and older has crumbled, from a 20-point lead over President Obama to less than 4 points. Romney's double-digit advantages among older voters on the issues of healthcare and Medicare-- the nation's health insurance program for those over 65 and the disabled-- also have evaporated, and Obama has begun to build an advantage in both areas. ... Romney's selection of Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate put the federal budget and Medicare at center stage in the campaign. But the debate over spending and entitlement programs that Romney seemed to be seeking has not unfolded the way Republicans wanted." Here's Paul Ryan being Paul Ryan in 2010 when he refers to the Cayman Islands, where Romney has stashed tens of millions of dollars to avoid paying his fair share of taxes, as "the place to hide your money." Yeah let Ryan be Ryan...


And the clamour on the far right in response to all this? Double down, triple down. Let Ryan Go Rogue! Let Ryan Be Ryan! Far right extremists want to embrace sociopaths like Todd Akin and Todd Long-- the GOP Tard Strategy.

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.”


Dan Senor has been assigned to keep Ryan in check and make sure he doesn't pull any Sarah Palin moves. He's with Ryan every day and watches him like a hawk (aside from trying to teach him a little something about foreign policy). But if Ryan is anything it's a craven little lackey who obeys authority. He's "not the kind of No. 2 whose ambition or temperament inclines him to buck the boss."

[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.


Goal Thermometer
And now there's even a rumor that the Democratic Establishment, long overtly hostile to any Democrat seeking to seriously challenge Wall Street's favorite congressman, is warming up to Rob Zerban and may actually give the greenlight to Democratic donors to help fund his campaign. At a town hall on Long Island this weekend, Ryan-protector Steve Israel hinted there may be a change coming soon in terms of the DCCC's refusal to challenge Ryan. 'Til then, there's always this... for people who know better than waiting for the DCCC to get serious. Ending Paul Ryan's political career should have been a top priority for Democrats for the last decade. Instead, led by the DCCC, they enabled him, taking cash from the same Wall Street special interests who are determined to see Ryan in the White House... no matter how long it takes and no matter how much they have to spend on the project.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Romney Will Not Become Dependent On Paul Ryan Going Rogue

The right's meme these last few days for saving Mitt Romney (in advance of the release of "Who Lost The Election" due out Nov. 7th) is that Paul Ryan needs to go rogue (Sarah Palin), or be used more visibly (Charlie Sykes), or as ideologue-in-chief (Scott Walker).

I doubt this transformation is going to happen, because a) Mitt Romney is not a rogueish sort, and b) as the Presidential candidate - - the guy who has been running since 2007, spending millions, and enduring all the political plastic surgery it took to get where he is today - - Romney is not going to concede Ann Coulter was right all along, that he doesn't have the right Right stuff and needs to turn things over to someone 20 years younger.

Politicians and their egos are simply not constituted that way, and when you hear Romney say 'I've got a budget and that's the one we're running on,' he's letting everyone know he's the CEO of the campaign, too.

Ryan's job on the ticket, and in a Romney administration should they win, is supportive, subsumed and secondary.

If they play golf together, Ryan lets Romney win. You don't show up the boss - - in a presidential campaign, on the squash court, in a joint appearance, on a conference call, during a meeting. Period.

Romney also understands that the more Ryan is showcased, the more Ryan's radical plan for Medicare takes center-stage - - to Romney's disadvantage and to President Obama's benefit.

The same is true for the tax plan Ryan pushed that would have brought Mitt Romney's rate to below 1% - - a discussion Romney does not want or need while trying to convince the American people that 14.1% for a multi-millionaire is a fair rate for Romney to have paid last year.

For better or worse, candidates for President do not turn over the campaign to their #2.

And in a campaign stalled for a week over Romney's unforced "47%" error and damaging comments about voter dependency on government, Romney is not going to let his opponents say his ratification as POTUS is dependent on Paul Ryan.

Cross-posted at Purple Wisconsin and The Political Environment.

Friday, September 21, 2012

"Mini-Mitt" Not A Hit With Walker


(Update: Audio above via HuffPo)

Politico:
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.

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.
Scott Walker is described as "bewildered":
“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.”

AUDIO: Paul Ryan Calls For End to Social Security, Medicare in 2005

BuzzFeed just posted this audio clip of Paul Ryan speaking at an Ayn Rand fanboy event in 2005 -- celebrating her 100th birthday -- that had been transcribed and posted by the liberal Catholic publication America earlier this week.

In the full clip, Ryan leaves no doubt about his fevered ideological opposition to the existence of Social Security:

"Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it’s a welfare transfer system," Ryan said.

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."
As Adele Stan notes at Alternet, Ryan's dim view extended to Medicare as well in this speech:

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:

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.
Listen:

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Paul Ryan Has No Spine For A Debate!

JSONLINE recently retained the services of some local bloggers on "both sides" and dubbed it the purple project.  It has really turned into a pretty red project with just more opportunity to push the WPRI agenda for free.

I have a hard time taking any project seriously that includes Christian Schneider.  Schneider does not take himself seriously so why should anyone else?  This however is about the one righty blogger of this group that I actually like and how ridiculously bad his most recent post is!

In his post, Rodriguez tries to give Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) cover for ducking debates with his challenger Rob Zerban!  Aaron also fails miserably, let's take a look.

  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. 

Granted, thebar is not very high, however, outside of schneider(who once compared Paul Ryan to Batman, no kidding), and Rodriguez you would be hard find to find "many" more people to describe Paul that way, especially since his convention speech.   You will however find "many" who would call Paul ryan a fraud(27,900,000 google matches to be exact).  From Chuck Schumer, to Paul Krugman to Bill Maher and many others. 



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?

Umm Aaron, Paul ryan is also running to be congressman from the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin.   Ryan understands that his prospects of becoming VP are not looking good, so he hedged his bets and bought $2,000,000 worth of ad buys.   So he must feel the need to get his "message" out to the voters of the First Congressional District.   WHat is $2 MILLION dollar ad buy going to ad to the "national debate"?

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!

We have seen Paul in action over and over have complete disdain for his constituents who want to ask him a question.    When is the last time you saw paul on anything that was less than extremely friendly to him?   I have been trying for over a year to get an interview with him.  

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."
"Right now I just want to enjoy the fair," he said.
 Mr. Transparency and exchange of ideas!

 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."

It does take a lot of balls to tell people we will not tell you what your plan is as a politician UNTIL your elected.  The "just trust me" approach, has a hard time working with someone who is a well known liar!

So to wrap up, let's be perfectly clear.  Paul Ryan (R-Ayn Rand), is ducking a debate with Rob Zerban because he is scared of losing his Congressional seat.  Paul Ryan enjoys the wonders of a government paycheck every week.  

Please sign the petition telling Paul Ryan to debate Rob Zerban!!

Help Rob Zerban retire Paul Ryan







Cross posted @Cog Dis @JeffSimpson7

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Ryan Going Rogue?

Paul Ryan, moments ago in Virginia, presenting himself as Mr. Fix-It for a campaign in chaos:


A day after calling Romney "inarticulate."

What a week, indeed.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Romney, Mr. CEO, Will Not Like This

Ryan calls Romney "inarticulate."

Yipes!

Paul Ryan Calls for Fewer Jobs and Higher Unemployment in America

Brad DeLong explains.

Ryan Makes The NY Times...In Story About Sports' Liars

Really, he's got no one to blame but himself for finding himself in this story:
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.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Paul & The Terrorists!

Paul Ryan spoke recently at the 'Values Voters Summit" where he held top billing with a Self Proclaimed former terrorist Kamal Saleem.

Just to be clear, on the day that the bodies of our four brave Americans who were killed in service to our country, were being brought home, Paul Ryan shared a speaking engagement with a former terrorist who claims to be a friend to Arafat, Qaddafi & Saddam Hussein. 

The "values voters', value a former terrorist and Paul Ryan equally enough to share a stage.   Does that say more about the "values voters" or more about Paul Ryan?

 Rachel Maddow breaks it down very well right here:




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Friday, September 14, 2012

Dem House ads give Ryan leading role -- as villain

Paul Ryan is about to get a leading role in some commercials about House races -- and he's cast as a villain.  Politico reports:
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.  :

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Ryan Record!

  • "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


Paul Ryan in his own words, begging his comrades to pass the bail out.  Just think this is the guy who is a "tea party" hero, and preaches less government?  

Then there is Ryans record of voting YES:





Ryan's record of voting NO:

And Paul Ryan's ridiculous budget:



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

GOP Veep Candidate Ryan Is Somewhere Today Remembering 9/11, But...

As a Congressman, he opposed extending health care coverage to 9/11 first-responders, calling it "deeply flawed" and an "entitlement," this Daily Kos report says.

Turning Lyin' Ryan Into Cryin' Ryan



Maybe the Obama bounce-- even from right-wing polling-- is all about what a relatively flawless convention the Democrats staged in Charlotte, compared to the confused mess Romney presided over in Tampa. Or maybe not. Maybe it has more to do with the confused, incoherent mess the Romney/Ryan campaign has become. Nothing is going right, mostly because Romney is an egg shell-walking flip flopper with no core beyond a hodge-podge of crazy Mormon doctrine and because, as Krugman, so eloquently put it yesterday, Ryan is nothing but a shyster-- an obvious shyster. And anyone who is just becoming aware of this, obviously hasn't been paying attention for the last half dozen years as Wall Street picked out, succored, and pushed forward their freaky and empty-headed little Frankenstein monster from Janesville, Wisconsin.
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.

How lucky is Rob Zerban to have minds like Paul Krugman and Tom Edsall tuned in to Ryan's chicanery and doing his opposition research for him? It almost makes up for the sabotage to his congressional campaign from inveterate Ryan protectors Steve Israel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. They're not only not helping Zerban beat Ryan in a very winnable Wisconsin district that Obama took in 2008, they're actually working behind the scenes to hurt his campaign. These are two of the most horrible people in the Democratic Party. Nancy Pelosi passed over one to be DCCC chair and gave the other one the job, who she describes as "reptillian." You can help Rob stop Paul Ryan from turning our country over to his Wall Street masters here-- because they're also Israel's masters and Wasserman Schultz's masters and those two will never help get rid of Ryan. What Ryan and Romney are hiding is that to implement their increase in military spending and their lowering of taxes on the rich, they will have to ease out the mortgage interest deduction on the middle class. No one could say that and hope to win an election. So they're not. Watch the video above where everyone dances around it. When releasing it, OFA put out, in part, this statement:
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.

President Obama is doing very well against Romney/Ryan. Thank God. Rob Zerban, however, doesn't have the resources available to make the case in WI-01. Israel and Wasserman Schultz have seen to that. In Edsall's Sunday column Krugman referred to, he makes the point that one of the "most striking aspect of the omissions in the Ryan budget is the failure of Obama and other Democrats to capitalize on it." He cites two factors Democratic leaders say limit their ability to mount a counter-attack.
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.

Goal Thermometer...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.”

Instead of sabotaging his campaign and telling institutional donors not to give him any money, Israel and Wasserman Schultz should be helping to finance Zerban in a way to significantly threaten Ryan's political career. They never will. We should do it instead.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan won't answer the most basic questions

Brutal video recap of yesterday's Sunday show debacle for Romney-Ryan:

 

Here's Paul Ryan's idea of campaigning by telling the American people "hard truths":


STEPHANOPOULOS: But why not specify the... loopholes now?
RYAN: ...we want to have this -- George, because we want to have this debate in the public. We want to have this debate with Congress. And we want to do this with the consent of the elected representatives of the people, and figure out what loopholes should stay or go and who should or should not get them.
And our priorities are high-income earners should not get these kinds of loopholes. And we should have broad-based policies that go to middle-class taxpayers, to make sure we can advance things that we care about, like charities. But that is a debate we shouldn't cut in a back room, shouldn't hatch a secret plan like ObamaCare. We should do it out in the public view where the public can participate.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's exactly what I'm suggesting, having it in public before the election so voters can have that information before they make up their minds.
RYAN: We think the best way to get -- look, I've been in Congress a number of years. I've been on the Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. And we think the best way to do this is to get this framework in place, and then negotiate, work with Democrats, work with people across the aisle, have these kinds of hearings, have this conversation to get this objective.

Ryan is Lyin

Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.)  has been subject to the national spotlight and it is not going well for him!

Last week Ryan gave his VP Acceptance speech and he was immediately awarded , the "most dishonest convention speech ever".   It was so dishonest that even Fox news had to choice to but to call it out as pure BS!   Ryan filled his speech so full of BULLSH*T because he was betting on his true believers and the ignorance of the American people.  

Then we learned that Paul Ryan would lie about such things as his marathon time so there are no limits to what he will embellish. 


This lie left Ryan open to comparisons between himself and Rosie Ruiz, and Paul Krugman took full advantage!

 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.

 You can leave your favorite Paul Ryan accomplishment here!

Now we know why Paul Rayn (R- Ayn Rand), was NOT the first choice of the people on the Romney campaign who want to win.   It seems that his reputation of lying has preceded him, amongst those in the know in DC. 

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.

“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.”
 Its gotten so bad that he can not even walk back lies without lying, and while walking them back he is compounding them


Hey though, have you heard Paul rAYN has a black ex-girlfriend(of course she supports President Obama)? It turns out the republican party is the big tent party.





What an embarrassment to our state the republicans have become!



Cross Posted @ Cog DIs!




Saturday, September 8, 2012

On Meet the Press, Romney Rips Ryan's Vote for Defense Sequester

In a Meet the Press interview aiming to stanch the bleeding after a miserable convention fortnight for the GOP, Mitt Romney slammed the defense cuts in the sequester portion of the debt agreement reached last summer.

The same deal that Paul Ryan voted for.

Here's Mitt from the interview, airing tomorrow morning:
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's more, as TPM's Benjy Sarlin notes, Ryan didn't just vote for the sequester. He specifically noted how proud he was of the fact that the impact of the sequester -- including the defense cuts -- would be so hard to avoid:
“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:

Does Paul Ryan Support The Troops?

Not so much:

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Friday, September 7, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Ryan's Mountain Climbing Prowess, Record, Get Clarified

The numbers guy strikes again.
’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.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Ryan Reportedly Sought Obamacare Funding For Local Project

How many strikes does Paul Ryan get in the hypocrisy game before he's called out?
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.

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.
Cross-posted at The Political Environment.

Breaking: Paul Ryan Requested Obamacare Funds For District

Lee Fang at The Nation has what appears to be a scoop:
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.

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.
Click through for a PDF of the letter.

As Fang notes, Paul Ryan clearly has not been alone in "shaking his fist at health reform with one hand while extending an open palm behind closed doors." But still, this is yet another blow to the reputation of a politician whose honesty on even trivial issues is increasingly becoming a national joke on the internets and beyond -- and who just last week proclaimed to a rapturous crowd at the Republican Convention that the Affordable Care Act had "no place in a free country."

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Attention, Runners: The Paul Ryan Marathon Tool Is Now Available

Thank goodness we all have access to this tool.

Why Marathon Runners Know Paul Ryan’s Lying -- And Why The Lie Matters


Not to beat a dead Pheidippides (the Greek soldier who ran what’s considered the first marathon in 490 B.C. and then promptly collapsed and died), but Ryan’s lie about his marathon run can’t be dismissed as a simple error.

Ask some dedicated runners what they think. We did. We contacted one in another state, someone who is not an activist or a political professional. We simply asked him what he thought about the situation. The response:

















"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."
In the scheme of things, it’s more important that he’s lying about policies that will affect our lives – Medicare, his budget, health care, aid to the poor, abortion, the national debt – and lying about things like the GM Janesville plant in an effort to get him and Mitt Romney to the White House and get them more power over our lives.

This lie about the marathon, while not directly about us, is very much about Paul Ryan's character. It wasn’t a memory lapse. It was a lie. 

And when he’s willing to lie about this, nothing he says can be trusted.

The marathon lie signals more huge whoppers buried in his past -- and coming down the road. As with Pheidippides, we’re the ones who will suffer (hopefully to a much lesser degree) if he gets away with them.


Ryan Running Slow Truthiness Marathon

National media have Paul Ryan on the defensive about Medicare, GM and other dubious claims he's made, the LA Times reports:

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.

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.
Talker Charlie Sykes this morning in the local conservative echo chamber WGOP AM 620 WTMJ tried to spin Ryan's problems as routine mainstream media victimization, forgetting or omitting that this mess is entirely Ryan's creation.


Cross-posted at The Political Environment.



Saturday, September 1, 2012

Paul Ryan Caught Using Performance-Enhancing Rhetoric

Paul Ryan has to be hoping that the Labor Day holiday weekend can make his Jon Lovitz/Tommy Flanagan-inspired battle with the truth disappear.

Ryan's marathon struggle with facts began when he earned a "False" rating from PolitiFact over his assertion that President Obama was responsible through a broken promise for the closing of the General Motors assembly plant in Ryan's hometown of Janesville, WI that produced its last GM SUV - - photos, here - - while George W. Bush was president.

From PolitiFact:

False
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.

But Ryan's claim that he ran a sub three-hour marathon when he finished the one marathon he ran at just over four hours, records show was flat-out and unnecessary political plastic surgery to make himself look more accomplished than he really is.

Call it a dose of self-administered performance-enhancing rhetoric.

At how many campaign bean feeds and on how many first dates or in bull sessions at the gym or the deer stand has Ryan been impressing people with that story?

Here are Ryan and his campaign's word salad to distract and spin away from it?
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."

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."
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.'

But here in his own words is what he told Hugh Hewitt, a righty talk show host last week, and now can't back up:
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.
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.

You could say the GM fabrication was politics as usual - - though that's awfully cynical.

But unless Ryan can produce the results of another 26-mile, 365-yard race he ran extremely fast, his marathon story reveals a character flaw.

Basically - - why do that?

"A two-hour and fifty-something" time?

What else in the Ryan bio needs a fresh fact-checking?

Cross-posted at The Political Environment.

Paul Ryan Lied About Being Good At Marathons

What type of person makes a false public claim about something as trivial a personal best race time? Paul Ryan.

Deadspin headline this morning puts it succinctly:
Paul Ryan Lied About Being Good At Marathons
Krugman:
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:

Ryan Marathon Time Not Verified; Story Will Have Stronger Legs

After his now-infamous GM plant closing "false" PolitiFact FUBAR, this story won't die over the Labor Day weekend:

Paul Ryan Has Not Run Sub-3:00 Marathon








Updated 12:29 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.