Ryan's Paymasters Will Never Let Him Give Up Trying To Enslave Ordinary Americans-- Really

Wednesday the House Budget Committee approved Paul Ryan's latest Ayn Rand Budget, which cuts trillions in healthcare spending and repeals the Affordable Care Act. "His budget," reports Hospital CFO, "would make significant changes to Medicare, reducing program spending by $129 billion over the next 10 years. Starting in 2012, it would convert Medicare to a premium support program, under which beneficiaries would receive funds from the government with which they could purchase either traditional Medicare coverage or private health plans." A report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a nonpartisan policy organization, reports that "Some 69% of the cuts in House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new budget would come from programs that serve people of limited means." While Ryan claims to want to strengthen Medicare, the CBPP report said $2.7 trillion of the cuts will come from Medicaid and at least 40 million Americans would become uninsured by 2024. None of the popular parts of the Affordable Care Act would survive the Republicans' meat cleaver. He's says they're too expensive and have got to go.

The committee vote to approve Ryan's drastic budget was 22-16. All the Republicans voted for it and all the Democrats voted against it. Several Republicans not on the committee said they will vote against it next week when the full House takes it up. Walter Jones (R-NC) said he will oppose any budget with foreign aid in it and is one of the few Republicans who agrees with the Democrats that Ryan's scheme to convert Medicare into a partially privatized insurance system would be a catastrophe for American seniors. Other likely Republican "no" votes next week include Jack Kingston (R-GA), Justin Amash (R-MI), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), Raúl Labrador (R-ID), Tom Massie (R-KY), and Rick Crawford (R-AR). These are the Republicans on the Budget Committee"

• Paul Ryan (WI-01), Chairman
• Tom Price (GA-06), Vice-Chairman
• Scott Garrett (NJ-05)
• John Campbell (CA-45)
• Ken Calvert (CA-42)
• Tom Cole (OK-04)
• Tom McClintock (CA-04)
• James Lankford (OK-05)
• Diane Black (TN-06)
• Reid Ribble (WI-08)
• Bill Flores (TX-17)
• Todd Rokita (IN-04)
• Rob Woodall (GA-07)
• Marsha Blackburn (TN-07)
• Alan Nunnelee (MS-01)
• Scott Rigell (VA-02)
• Vicky Hartzler (MO-04)
• Jackie Walorski (IN-02)
• Luke Messer (IN-06)
• Tom Rice (SC-07)
• Roger Williams (TX-25)
• Sean Duffy (WI-07)

Meanwhile, House Democrats have been furious about Ryan's slash-and-burn Austerity approach to programs that provide services and benefits to the middle class and those least able to afford the cuts. Barbara Lee (D-CA) pointed out yesterday was the 46th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, and that Ryan's Godless budget cuts are “exactly the opposite of what Dr. King stood for.” Ryan's adolescent ideas, straight from his favorite school girl Ayn Rand novel, have already failed in Europe; he wants to implement them here anyway. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), who would become Budget Chairman if Nancy Pelosi removed Steve Israel as head of the DCCC and allowed the Democrats to win back the House in November, said that the Ryan cuts approved by the Republicans on the committee "tells the American public exactly what Republicans in Congress would do to the country if they have the power to impose their will."

"It's the budget that ransacks the future of America's children," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said during a press briefing in the Capitol. "Education is the best investment that a person, a parent, a country can make in its future... This is key to employment, to growth, to innovation and for the success of our economy.

"I view the Ryan budget as an ideological manifesto," she added.

Other Democrats piled on.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said the Ryan plan would cut $18 billion in early education programs, $89 billion in K-12 programs and $205 billion in higher education initiatives over the next decade, versus the levels established by December's budget deal between Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee, said the GOP budget would eliminate more than 170,000 spots for early education benefits-- "and it gets worse every year after that," he added.

"These are the exact children that we know, if they have an opportunity in early childhood education, they will do much better in school, they're more likely to graduate, they're more likely to get a job, they're less likely to go to jail and they're more likely to earn a higher income than children who don't get that opportunity," Miller said.

"Clearly they [Republicans] don't care about these children."

President Obama doesn't think so either. In his weekly address to the nation this morning, he contrasted his own budget with the Ryan document. "[T]he budget I sent Congress earlier this year," he said, "is built on the idea of opportunity for all. It will grow the middle class and shrink the deficits we’ve already cut in half since I took office. It’s an opportunity agenda with four goals. Number one is creating more good jobs that pay good wages. Number two is training more Americans with the skills to fill those jobs. Number three is guaranteeing every child access to a great education. And number four is making work pay-- with wages you can live on, savings you can retire on, and health care that’s there for you when you need it." He has a very different view of what Ryan presented on April Fool's Day.

This week, the Republicans in Congress put forward a very different budget. And it does just the opposite: it shrinks opportunity and makes it harder for Americans who work hard to get ahead.

The Republican budget begins by handing out massive tax cuts to households making more than $1 million a year. Then, to keep from blowing a hole in the deficit, they’d have to raise taxes on middle-class families with kids. Next, their budget forces deep cuts to investments that help our economy create jobs, like education and scientific research.

Now, they won’t tell you where these cuts will fall. But compared to my budget, if they cut everything evenly, then within a few years, about 170,000 kids will be cut from early education programs. About 200,000 new mothers and kids will be cut off from programs to help them get healthy food. Schools across the country will lose funding that supports 21,000 special education teachers. And if they want to make smaller cuts to one of these areas, that means larger cuts in others.

Unsurprisingly, the Republican budget also tries to repeal the Affordable Care Act-- even though that would take away health coverage from the more than seven million Americans who’ve done the responsible thing and signed up to buy health insurance. And for good measure, their budget guts the rules we put in place to protect the middle class from another financial crisis like the one we’ve had to fight so hard to recover from.

Policies that benefit a fortunate few while making it harder for working Americans to succeed are not what we need right now. Our economy doesn’t grow best from the top-down; it grows best from the middle-out.  That’s what my opportunity agenda does-- and it’s what I’ll keep fighting for.

Did you know Blue America has a special page set up for the sole purpose of defeating Paul Ryan. This isn't to "send him a message" by electing some Blue Dog with values not so different from his in some backward red district. This page is dedicated to defeating him and replacing him with a progressive Democrat, Rob Zerban. Rob on Ryan's budget: "Ryan and his Republican colleagues fail to honestly account for their own policies. Free trade deals that have hollowed out our manufacturing industry, giveaways to Wall Street that have let billionaires accumulate all the benefits of our economy-- these are the things that cause poverty, not food stamps or early education programs. I agree with the New York Times that Ryan's report distorts the facts and that his ideas are ‘small and tired.' As the Times says, ‘most successful programs, including the (earned income) tax credit, Medicaid and food stamps, have been those that are carefully designed, properly managed and well-financed.’ I am a shining example of how smart programs can work. My single mother raised us in poverty, and we needed federal nutrition programs to have enough to eat. I needed Pell Grants and Stafford Loans to go to college, but I used all that help to get an education, and then build two successful businesses and employ dozens of people. The truth is that many of these programs are extremely successful, but years of budget cuts, free trade deals, refusal to increase the minimum wage, and giveaways to Wall Street resulted in the Great Recession and driven more and more people into poverty.”

Paul Ryan Launches New Budget/Austerity Plan-- Rob Zerban Launches Exploratory Committee

Yesterday, Jerry Nadler (D-NY) was one of several Democrats on the House floor raging against Ryan's extremely ideological Law of the Jungle budget-- what he referred to as "merely a repackaging of the same extreme agenda that the American people rejected last fall."

“The House Republicans’ budget would again try to end Medicare as we know it by replacing the guarantee of health coverage with a private voucher program that would reduce benefits. This throws seniors back onto the mercy of the private insurance market, while every year giving them less and less of the health benefits they have earned through a lifetime of hard work.

"The Republican budget would not only make permanent the arbitrary, across-the-board budget cuts known as ‘sequestration,’ it would go further-- making even more savage cuts to domestic programs. Critical social services like food stamps, college assistance for low-income families, Section 8 housing, home heating assistance, and Medicaid-- all would face drastic cuts. Under the Republican proposal, our transportation investments would be cut by 20% over the next 10 years, exacerbating the challenges posed by our outdated roads, bridges, and airports. The bill also completely eliminates support for PBS, NPR, AmeriCorps, and the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities.

"The Republican budget makes all of these cuts while refusing to cut a dime of military spending. What’s worse, the Republican plan actually reverses planned reductions to military spending by increasing cuts to vital social programs-- a callously unfair proposal that will have terrible consequences for millions of American families.

"To add insult to injury, the bill before us today would make sweeping, regressive changes to the tax code which would raise taxes on middle class families by up to $3,000. Millionaires, however, would actually see a tax cut that averages $245,000 a year. This is just wrong. Working families should never have to pay more just so the rich can pay less, which is just one more reason why we must defeat this bill.

"According to the Economic Policy Institute, the net effect of all of these policies would decrease GDP by 1.7%, resulting in 2 million jobs lost in 2014 alone. If budgets are truly a reflection of our values, then what does it say about the priorities of House Republicans when their budget increases health care costs for seniors, cuts 2 million jobs, and hits middle class families with a tax increase in order to subsidize another tax cut for the rich?"

And just as Ryan was introducing his toxic Austerity Agenda, Cyprus' new right-wing government was verging on the brink of social collapse for adopting their own version of the Ryan Roadmap and... better news... Ryan's 2012 opponent, Rob Zerban announced the formation of an exploratory committee. (In other words... he's running against Ryan again, hopefully, this time with the support of the DCCC, which stood in implacable opposition to anyone taking on Ryan in 2012.) Last year, even with DCCC hostility, Zerban gave Ryan the closest challenge of his Congressional career-- and shaved nearly 20 points off Ryan's average victory margin, even while Ryan was on the national news almost everyday as part of the Romney presidential ticket. It was the closest 2012 Congressional election in Wisconsin and caused Paul Ryan to lose his home ward, his home town, and his home county. Rob:

"Since the election, I have been inundated with phone calls and emails from people all over the First District urging me to come forward again to give the people of Southeast Wisconsin a viable alternative to Paul Ryan. I've been listening to people from Janesville to Racine talk about their need for jobs and economic security, good schools and fair pay, and a strong social safety net for the hardships life sometimes throws our way. The formation of this exploratory committee is simply a formalizing of that process of listening to my friends and neighbors.

"My hope is that, over the next few months, we will begin to have a conversation about what the people of the Wisconsin's First District really want: a secure future, not federal austerity."

A poll released Monday by the very pro-Republican Rasmussen bunch shows Ryan's approval rating sinking like a stone. What a difference a day makes! Last August fully half the voters had a favorable impression of Ryan and less than a third was through him. Now only 35% of likely voters said they had a favorable impression of him, while 54% said they viewed him negatively. Even Republicans-- who once thought Ryan could do no wrong and backed him with a stunning 83% approval-- are not nearly as sold on the bill of good he's peddling. Only a slim majority (52%) of Republican voters approve.

Ryan's toxic budget passed this morning 221-207. Even more interesting than every single Democrat voting NO-- even the worst right-wing shills in the party (like Kirkpatrick, Matheson, Barrow, Negrete McLeod, Schrader and McIntyre)-- is that 10 Republicans voted against it. The Republicans were a mixture of Libertarians, mainstream conservatives and insane neo-fascists who found Ryan "too moderate" (like the 2 crackpot psychopaths competing for the open Georgia Senate seat, Broun and Gingrey). Raúl Grijalva and Keith Ellison, co-chairs of the Progressive Caucus, obviously both voted against it. They issued a joint statement: "Budgets are about choices, and the Back to Work Budget chooses investing in America’s working families. The Republican Ryan budget ignores the results of the 2012 elections and protects the world’s biggest corporations at working families’ expense. The country needs jobs right now, not a budget that takes away health care and gives massive tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires."

Although Ryan's detractors include many on the lunatic fringe-- like the aforementioned lunatics from Georgia-- the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was horrified by Ryan's jihad against the poor. Although Ryan makes a show of trying to portray himself as a good Catholic, he long ago tossed Jesus' message aside for the admittedly anti-Christian greed-and-selfishness preachings of his favorite childhood story teller, Ayn Rand. Watch:

In twin letters sent to the House and Senate, the bishops said they “support the goal of reducing future unsustainable deficits, but insist that this worthy goal be pursued in ways that protect poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad.”

The bishops blasted the Ryan budget as failing to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs like food stamps that “serve poor and vulnerable people.”

...The bishops said the revamped plan would “drastically cut” spending by $800 billion over 10 years.

“This figure is very concerning, since 70 percent of the spending in this budget category goes for programs to help poor and vulnerable people,” they wrote.

The bishops warned the Ryan budget would likely slash safety net programs likes Pell Grants, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, school lunches and the Earned Income Tax Credit, among others.

Ryan first drew the ire of the bishops last year when he said his Catholic faith helped shape his budget plan.

He said that by accelerating the debt crisis, President Obama’s policies will be more damaging to the poor. Ryan also said the USCCB doesn’t represent the views of all Catholic bishops.

The USCCB shot back, saying the officials who penned the congressional letters were elected to represent the bishops on policy matters at the national level.

After you watch Rand trying to whitewash the Robber Barons during her 1959 interview with Mike Wallace, take a look at the clip below from the History Channel:

Political Life just got tougher for Paul Ryan

Rep. Paul Ryan can no longer hide behind his superficial "local boy" image. He's been found out; he lies and isn't the wonk we thought he was. The media spotlight revealed a huckster, who's convention speech will forever be remembered as the most dishonest in history.

His road map depends on job increases and decent pay, two shaky area's that has seen some dramatic ups and downs. If that's what makes Ryan's vision work, and drives his base of support, then voters are amazingly naive or just plain stupid.

Kenosha's Rob Zerban put together an effective campaign, one I hope he repeats in a few years. He's crashed Ryan's gate and if given a chance to debate him, would trash Ryan's purely unworkable ideological budget. The press oddly thinks Ryan is more powerful than ever. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 Here's Sly in the Morning with John Nichols talking about a Zerban press release detailing the final vote counts in Ryan's home town.

  

Ryan's 11-point victory Tuesday was down nearly 20 points from his previous seven wins in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional DistrictA Smart Politics review of Wisconsin election data finds Paul Ryan won his narrowest ever congressional contest in 2012 - nearly 20 points closer than his average victory margin during his previous seven wins since 1998.

Representative Ryan defeated Democrat Rob Zerban by just 11.5 points - down from 29.3 points four years ago when Obama won Wisconsin by double digits.

Paul Ryan's Symbolism!

This from Rob Zerban:

I am thrilled that the American people have voted tonight for four more years of progress — for a President who wants to expand the American Dream, open new doors of opportunity, and secure a strong future for middle-class families across our country. Tonight, that should give us all cause for celebration.
And in the Senate, we’re going to have a tremendous, progressive champion in Tammy Baldwin!
I’m disappointed to tell you that we didn’t prevail tonight in this individual election against Paul Ryan. But I am so proud of the race we ran and all that we’ve accomplished.

When we first started this campaign, no one thought this district could be a real battleground. That we could force Ryan to dive deep into his warchest of special interest money. That we could hold Ryan accountable on his destructive Kill Medicare budget plan.

But we were determined. And bit by bit, our campaign grew from a ragtag group working out of my living room to a real, professional operation that gave our district hope, that for the first time in a long time, we could defeat Paul Ryan.

That was thanks to you, because our money wasn't coming in from Wall Street or corporate lobbyists. Instead, it was coming in from you. This campaign became a national grassroots movement powered by regular folks across the country, who believe in their own ability to change things for the better.

Our campaign was built by seniors on Social Security and Medicare, students on Pell Grants, and hard-working middle class families who chipped in $5 or $10 -- whatever they could to help us defeat Paul Ryan.  In fact, one number says it all: 96% of the contributions received by this campaign were less than $100 each

So we must be proud of this campaign and this movement we’ve built together. And we must not allow these efforts to have been in vain because the people of the First District deserve representation that belongs to them, not to the moneyed and powerful special interests. Because this fight was never about a single election or a single person. This campaign was about the middle class, working people, and the American Dream itself.

You have my word, I will remain a part of that fight.

Earlier tonight, I left a message for Paul Ryan to concede this election. But there is a grander, much larger battle ahead of us – and that battle, I do not concede.

Sincerely, thank you for all that you have done,

Rob

Paul Ryan just won the closest election of his career, and could not take the time to take the call from the person who represented them.   Looking at the numbers, Paul Ryan lost his hometown and his home county decidedly.   In fact, had the republicans not redistricted so unethically, and helped give Ryan a Waukesha padding, he would have lost his seat!   Yet in the end Paul Ryan thought so little of his opposition and opponent that he could not be bothered to take the call.    

Paul Ryan does not now, nor has he ever, represented the people of WI.  We lost a huge opportunity to make our state better and have the 1st Congressional District actually be represented in Congress by not electing Rob Zerban.    

Let's not make the same mistake in 2014! 

Blue America Tear Sheets-- Wisconsin Edition

Yesterday you saw some of the mobile billboards we're running in PA-16 on behalf of Aryanna Strader and in CA-25 on behalf of Lee Rogers. We have a dozen billboards up in southeast Wisconsin that point out the differences between Paul Ryan and Rob Zerban. YOU built those boards... or at least those of you who have contributed to our Independent Expenditure Committee through Act Blue or by sending a check to Blue America at PO Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Every cent we're getting in now goes straight into our radio and TV ads. (By the way, there's no limit what you can legally give to the I.E. Committee.)

Yesterday I got another batch of almost two dozen tear sheets from weeklies and shoppers in WI-01 that carried our Lyin' Ryan ad. One paper we've been advertising in is the Shepherd Express, which blankets southern Wisconsin. They didn't just send me a tear sheet. The sent me a whole issue. And the whole issue isn't something any campaign can buy. The drawing up top is the entire cover of the magazine. And the story by Lisa Kaiser is pretty powerful stuff-- and shows the stark differences Wisconsin voters will be choosing between in 3 weeks. First, though... our ad that ran in the Shepherd Express:

Voters in southeastern Wisconsin have a historically important choice on Nov. 6. Longtime Republican Congressman Paul Ryan will appear on the ballot twice, as Mitt Romney’s running mate and as the candidate for the 1st Congressional District of Wisconsin.

Ryan is getting a serious challenge for Congress from Kenosha entrepreneur Rob Zerban-- who outraised Ryan this past quarter-- and, nationally, from President Barack Obama, who polls show has been beating the Romney-Ryan ticket in Wisconsin.

Ryan’s campaign did not respond to the Shepherd’s request for an interview about his record, nor has the Janesville native agreed to debate Zerban in the district.

...Here’s how the two agendas compare on taxes, jobs, health care and women’s issues.

  Tax Rates

• Romney-Ryan: Romney and Ryan differ slightly on how they would restructure tax rates. Romney pledges to retain all of the Bush tax cuts-- including the tax breaks for those earning a million dollars a year-- and then reduce all tax rates by 20%. And although Romney denied it during last week’s debate, his plan to cut taxes by 20% across the board would cut taxes by $5 trillion, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Those earning more than a million dollars annually would get a whopping $250,000 in extra tax cuts in a Romney administration on top of the $140,000 average tax cut they received under the Bush plan, CAP found. Romney would also cut tax rates by 20% for middle- and lower-income families, but to make his budget “revenue neutral” he would have to do away with some of the tax deductions that many average Americans rely on, such as the mortgage tax deduction and college savings credits. As a result, middle-class families would see an average tax increase of more than $2,000 a year.

Ryan’s House budget goes even further and would get rid of the top three tax brackets so that top earners would pay 25%, and he’d also combine the 15% and 10% rates into a 10% rate. This would far and away give a bigger tax break to millionaires-- about 125 times as big as a tax break for a middle-class couple, CAP reported.

Neither Romney nor Ryan has specified which tax deductions they would eliminate or modify to fill up the $5 trillion tax hole they would create.

• Obama-Zerban: “I think a good first step would be to end the Bush tax cuts for those making over $250,000, which means going back to the Clinton-era tax rates of 39.6% from what they are right now, 35%,” Zerban said.

In August, the Congressional Budget Office calculated that this would save the government $950 billion over a 10-year period; $823 billion from revenue and $127 billion from lower interest payments on the debt needed to pay for the high-earners’ tax break.

Zerban also supports raising tax rates on capital gains and carried interest, profits earned by hedge fund and private equity managers, saying that they should be taxed as regular income. Similarly, Obama has proposed taxing long-term capital gains for high-income earners at 20%, which the Tax Policy Center found would generate about $36 billion between 2013-2022. Obama also wants to tax carried interest as ordinary income.

“I would also close tax loopholes for corporate jets,” Zerban said. “As a small businessman, I didn’t need a corporate jet tax loophole to employ people. This is just common sense.”

  Outsourcing Jobs

• Romney-Ryan: Currently, big U.S. corporations are allowed to delay payment of their taxes on their foreign profits, an incentive to invest overseas. But Romney and Ryan would give corporations an even bigger incentive to create low-wage jobs in other countries. Both Romney’s agenda and Ryan’s House budget create a “territorial” tax system, one in which overseas profits are never taxed. Never. Foreign profits would be totally tax-exempt in a Romney-Ryan administration.

CAP calculated that the Romney-Ryan outsourcing incentive and their opposition to the clean energy industry would cost Wisconsin 60,000 jobs.

While Romney and Ryan now oppose the auto bailout (Ryan actually voted for it in Congress), the plan saved up to 28,000 auto-related jobs in Wisconsin, CAP found.

• Obama-Zerban: Obama has made “insourcing” a priority by forming an insourcing forum and visiting manufacturers that have brought jobs back to the United States, such as Milwaukee’s Master Lock. In addition, Obama wants to end tax deductions for outsourcing jobs overseas, add incentives for domestic job creators, and create a $2 billion annual tax break for manufacturers to keep them in the United States. His leadership on this issue seems to be working-- in 2010 and 2011, the United States ended its decade-long trend of losing manufacturing jobs by adding them instead. And, of course, his auto bailout helped to save jobs across the country, but especially in hard-hit Midwestern states like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Zerban supports insourcing efforts, saying that corporations’ willingness to invest overseas has cost the 1st Congressional District its General Motors jobs in Janesville, its Chrysler plant in Kenosha, and Delphi jobs in Oak Creek.

“I think there should be a penalty paid by corporations that do ship their jobs overseas, companies that are selling their goods and services in the U.S. and not producing them here,” Zerban said. “We need to make sure that they are paying their fair share to support the infrastructure that they are using to conduct their businesses, whether it’s consumption of energy or transferring their goods on our roads and bridges.”

  Health Care and Medicare

• Romney-Ryan: The Republican standard-bearers would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) immediately upon taking office. They’ve claimed that no seniors currently on Medicare would be affected by the change. However, ACA is already providing benefits to seniors on Medicare, such as free cancer screenings and diabetes testing. CAP found that more than 325,000 Wisconsin seniors are already benefiting from ACA’s Medicare provisions.

Both support turning Medicare into a voucher program for those under 55, which would make Medicare itself unworkable by reducing the purchasing pool and allowing healthy seniors to opt out of the system, leaving the most expensive consumers on the plan.

Another problem is that the Romney-Ryan vouchers would not keep up with medical costs. If their plan were in place today, seniors would have to pay an estimated $6,400 more in out-of-pocket payments for their medical insurance-- and this amount would likely grow each year.

And the Romney-Ryan plan would force those under 55 to save a shocking sum of money for their health care during retirement. According to CAP’s calculations, today’s 54-year-old would need to save $59,450 for his or her health expenses; a 49-year-old would have to save $124,626; a 39-year-old would have to put away $216,631; and today’s 29-year-old would have to save a whopping $331,170 for health expenses that would have been covered under traditional Medicare.

• Obama-Zerban: Zerban supports the ACA, although he said he would have preferred creating a Medicare-for-All system to lower health care costs, reform the health care industry in a holistic manner and increase the risk pool with healthier, younger consumers.

“It’s hurting our economy by not addressing this once and for all in a holistic way,” Zerban said. “Internationally, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage because our companies are paying a disproportionate cost into their health care. Internally, we are not creating the environment that allows a small entrepreneur to survive. People are afraid of being bankrupted by medical bills.”

He said Republicans have never supported Medicare “and their tool to kill it is the Ryan budget.”

Zerban lashed out at the Bush administration’s Medicare Part D-- developed by then-Health Secretary Tommy Thompson and supported by Ryan-- because it prevents the government from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower-cost drugs, calling it a “giveaway to Big Pharma.” The program created $8 trillion in unfunded liabilities, according to a report by Bush-era Comptroller General David Walker.

  Women’s Issues

• Romney-Ryan: Since the top-of-the-ticket Republicans would repeal “Obamacare,” they’d repeal the consumer protections for women that are built into it, such as free cancer and well-woman screenings and no-pay contraception, and allow for-profit insurance companies to charge women more simply because of their gender. CAP estimated that 967,000 women in Wisconsin would lose these preventative services if Romney and Ryan have their way.

Both candidates have danced around the issue of abortion, too. Romney has said he would end funding for Planned Parenthood and both candidates would like to limit legal abortions and end exemptions that Republicans have supported for years. In Congress, Ryan pushed a “personhood” bill that would grant constitutional protections to fertilized eggs. That would jeopardize in-vitro fertilization treatments, some contraceptives and embryonic stem cell research. Along with Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, Ryan attempted to redefine rape. Neither candidate supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier to sue for illegal, unequal pay.

• Obama-Zerban: Both candidates support a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Zerban said he’d like to make them “safe, legal and rare.” Both support the protections built into the ACA for women and both support the Lilly Ledbetter Act. On Jan. 29, 2009, it was the first bill that Obama signed into law.

Obviously Ryan voted for the Ryan Budget. One of the primary reasons Zerban decided to run against him was to oppose that budget and the philosophy of Greed and Selfishness that inspired it. This month the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Democratic staff put together a report on the impact on seniors of the budget on each congressional district in the country. Here's what the Ryan budget would have done, had it passed-- or, if Romney and Ryan are elected along with a GOP Congress, it does pass. Every voter in WI-01 should see this before they cast their ballot. The Ryan budget would:

• Increase prescription drug costs for 9,800 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $90 million for drugs over the next decade.

• Eliminate new preventive care benefits for 112,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district.

• Force 112,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who are currently enrolled in traditional Medicare to pay thousands of dollars more in premiums to remain in traditional Medicare after Medicare becomes a voucher program.

• Reduce coverage for 12,800 Medicare beneficiaries who rely on Medicaid to supplement their Medicare coverage, potentially denying them over $450 million in health benefits.

• Jeopardize nursing home care for 1,900 district residents whose expenses are paid by Medicaid.

• Raise food costs for 5,900 district households with seniors who rely on food stamps by as much as $1,100 per year or eliminate food assistance for many of these households entirely.

• Threaten affordable housing programs that provide rental support for 5,000 district households with seniors.

• Place 96,000 district seniors at increased risk of fraud, scams, and elder abuse by cutting as much as $6 billion in funding for federal consumer protection and law enforcement.

Paul Ryan's Hunger Games!

This weekend the Stevens Point Journal put Paul Ryan(R-Wall St.) on the front page, in more ways then one.

The first one actually addresses Paul Ryan (R- Ayn Rand) by name,  pointing out his immense hypocrisy in asking for stimulus funds while campaigning against them! 

The second story does not mention him by name, but his fingerprints are all over it!  Hunger hits home!

As the days grow colder, it’s easy to flip a switch and turn on the heat without giving it a second thought. But for 41 percent of the households that rely on the Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin food bank, the coming cold can mean a difficult a choice between putting food on the table or heating the house.

Nearly one in every five Oshkosh families with children younger than 18 fell below the poverty level last year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American Communities Survey. Among similar families with a single female parent, that rate was up to 50 percent.


Those numbers are even worse families with children under the age of 5. Nearly 30 percent of all families in Oshkosh with children under 5 were in poverty last year, and nearly 80 percent of families with single female parent were in poverty.

While Paul ryan is trying to advance his career with the power brokers of Wall St, by drinking $350 bottles of wine,  austerity programs for the middle class,disdain for 30% of Americans, leading the charge to  make President Obama fail, and making a career of being one of the most bitter hyper partisans in Washington DC!  

Ryan and his friends primary efforts to derail the economy and keep the president from being re-elected has had real world consequences.   There are now people going hungry in record numbers, right here in Wisconsin and the only "solution" paul tells us is that he does not have the time to explain the details to us!

He does however have time to attend a fundraiser for Tommy G Thompson.  

We start to see more and more why he is too scared to debate Rob Zerban!

It is time to start taking care of Wisconsinites, instead of political ambitions!

Cross Posted @ Cog Dis!

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.

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.

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

Romney Picks... Sanpaku

Was it much of a giveaway when Romney announced last night he would be announcing his choice in Norfolk with the USS Wisconsin in the background? Did anyone think he might pick Scott Walker or Ron Johnson? As Fox warned when they confirmed the pick at 4AM this morning (minutes before that Romney VP app went off), "the announcement comes as some polls, including a recent Fox News survey, show the Republican presidential candidate losing some ground to President Obama." Will Ryan be able to deliver Wisconsin? Will Biden be able to handle him in a debate? What happens in the WI-01 congressional race? Will sales of Ayn Rand's adolescent dystopian books zoom into the stratosphere?

Dick Cheney says he worships the ground that Paul Ryan walks on-- his words (just watch the video below)-- and Paul Ryan says he feels the same way about Ayn Rand, a self-proclaimed anti-Christ (now watch the video way below). Ryan is Wall Street's dream candidate for a complete takeover of America. By forcing him down Romney's throat today-- even if it's going to turn out to be as failed a bid as it now looks-- Ryan will be set up as the GOP presidential nominee for 2016. The Big Business interests and Tea Party financiers who Ryan represents are getting exactly what they want... even if they have to sit through four more years of an ineffective neither-fish-nor-fowl Obama administration. Many GOP propagandists were beating the drum on Ryan all week-- especially since Romney's approval numbers are in the toilet nationally. But Republican columnist David Frum was swimming against the current in his own party-- even as Romney was hinting that Ryan was his man. Frum understands that the people who pushed Ryan on Romney don't like Romney, don't respect Romney and might not even care if he loses... as long as they're setting Ryan up as the next in line.

The clamor you are hearing for Paul Ryan for VP is not about helping the Romney candidacy. It's about controlling the Romney campaign-- and ultimately the Romney presidency. It's about forcing a platform on Romney, and then dictating the agenda for that presidency's first year. The platform happens to be suicidal, and the agenda impossible, but that does not matter to the Ryan advocates. They take the old Tammany Hall point of view: "Better to lose an agenda than lose control of the party."

In that sense, the Ryan proposal is a test of Romney's leadership. If he accedes, it's a big surrender of control-- and a surrender to many of those who most opposed (and who inwardly continue to dislike) his nomination.

John Nichols was, predictably, far more insightful into just what Paul Ryan is, than Frum. Like many in Wisconsin who have watched him most closely, Nichols understands that, at his core, Ryan is just a "hyper-ambitious political careerist-- who has spent his entire adult life as a Congressional aide, think-tank hanger-on and House member" who wants to keep on climbing until he's America's real life John Galt. He knows he could control a doddering fool of a puffed up CEO type like Romney as easily and thoroughly as Cheney controlled Bush. But there's a problem. As Nichols writes, "Vice presidential nominees are supposed to help tickets, not hurt them."

Romney clearly needs help. Just back from a disastrous trip to Europe and the Middle East, mired in controversies about the “vulture capitalism” he practiced at Bain Capital and his refusal to release tax returns that his dad-- former Michigan governor and 1968 Republican presidential contender George Romney-- said contenders for the Oval Office had a responsibility to share with the voters, Romney could use a boost.

But Ryan would be a burden, not a booster, for a Romney-led ticket.

Like Romney, Ryan is a son of privilege who has little real-world experience or understanding. He presents well on Sunday morning talk shows and in the rarified confines of Washington think tanks and dinners with his constituents—the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street-- but his record in Congress and the policies he now promotes are political albatrosses.

Some Republicans, perhaps even Romney, do not get this.

But the Obama campaign recognized, correctly, that Ryan’s positioning of himself as the point man on behalf of an austerity that would remake America as a dramatically weaker and more dysfunctional country makes him the most vulnerable of prominent Republicans.

Ryan scares people who live outside the “bubble” of a modern conservative movement that thinks the wealthiest country in the world is “broke” and that Ayn Rand is a literary and economic seer.

The House Budget Committee chairman imagines himself as a high priest speaking unfortunate truths about debts and deficits, the unforgiving foe of social spending who would gladly sacrifice Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the altar of debt reduction. Ryan has branded himself well within Republican circles, so well that he has parlayed himself into contention for the vice presidential nod. To get that nomination, however, Ryan must count on the prospect that the party that takes as its symbol the memory-rich elephant will suddenly suffer a spell of forgetfulness. That’s because the Republican congressman from Wisconsin, for all his bluster, is anything but a consistent advocate for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets. He is, in fact, a hypocrite.

Or, to be more precise, a hypocritical big spender-- at least when Wall Street, the insurance industry and the military-industrial complex call.

Ryan has been a steady voter for unwise bailouts of big banks, unfunded mandates and unnecessary wars. Few members of Congress have run up such very big tabs while doing so little to figure out how to pay the piper. How has Ryan gotten away with his fool-most-of-the-people-most-of-the-time politics?

For the most part, he has until recently flown under the radar-- dazzling fellow Republicans with fiscal fancy footwork, while dancing around weak Democratic opposition in his home district.

Nichols, without slapping around the DCCC, also notes that Ryan has, until now, never had a legitimate reelection contest. What he's polite enough not to say is that the DCCC had no will to go after Paul Ryan. They-- or at least DCCC Chair "ex"-Blue Dog/ex-Center Aisle founder Steve Israel-- have told their big donors not to contribute to Ryan's progressive opponent, Rob Zerban. The DCCC has a long and shameful history of never opposing Paul Ryan and, in fact, of undermining Democrats in southeastern Wisconsin who wanted to defeat him in this swing district that Obama won neatly, 51-48%, and that sends plenty of local Democrats to Madison.

As we've been explaining for at least the last 5 years, there is no politician anywhere in the country more dangerous to American working families than Paul Ryan. If the DCCC had cared anything about protecting America-- or could even discern the nature of the existential danger Ryan poses-- defeating him would have been Priority #1 for them. Instead, Israel was committed to giving him yet another free pass. Blue America is a small independent PAC. Until today there were very few who wanted to work to defeat Paul Ryan. Will he run for reelection to Congress and for Vice President simultaneously, the way Lieberman did in 2000? I'm guessing we'll know pretty fast. We've been working to help Rob Zerban since he took the courageous step to go up against Goliath-- and we're doing our own independent work to elect him as well. You can help either or both efforts at the StopPaulRyan ActBlue page. Please do it now, before it's too late. (I know it sounds dramatic... but I'm speaking from my heart. This is the guy we need to defeat... for VP, for Congress, for 2016...

Paul Ryan: Fiscal Hypocrite!

H/t John Nichols and the Capital Times!

Ryan has branded himself well, so well that he has parlayed himself into contention for his party's vice presidential nomination.

To get that nomination, however, Ryan must count on the prospect that the party that takes as its symbol the memory-rich elephant will suddenly suffer a spell of forgetfulness.

That's because the Republican congressman from Janesville, for all his bluster, is anything but a consistent advocate for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets.

He is, in fact, a consistent big spender — at least when Wall Street, the insurance industry and the military-industrial complex call.

A steady vote for unwise bailouts of big banks, unfunded mandates and unnecessary wars, few members of Congress have run up such very big tabs while doing so little to figure out how to pay the piper.

 

The Nichols correctly points out that, this year paul ryan has a serious challenger who is not letting up in pointing out the failures of mr. ryan.  

This year, Ryan is being called out by an able challenger with actual experience in the private sector, as well as local government.

Rob Zerban, the congressman's Democratic challenger, is not fooled by Ryan's budgetary blathering.
Zerban is familiar with Ryan's record.

And he is calling the budget committee chairman out on his "faux fiscal credentials."

"Congressman Paul Ryan can grandstand about the debt all he wants, but at the end of the day, Ryan is a root cause of many of the financial issues our country faces today," says Zerban.

"From supporting two unfunded wars, to dumping millions of senior citizens into the Medicare Part D 'donut hole' while tying the hands of the government to negotiate prescription drug prices, and from fighting for subsidies for Big Oil that his family personally benefits from, to supporting the unfunded Bush tax cuts for his wealthiest campaign contributors, Paul Ryan's hypocrisy is astounding."

 

Rep Ryayn (R-WI)

Ever see someone dressed to the nines step out of a fancy car, about to walk into a fancy building for a fancy party and realize he has to get the dogshit off his fancy shoes... fast? That would be Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan. He used to be able to ignore all the videos and blog posts about his infatuation with the adolescent heartthrob he never could quite get over. But now that it's entered the zeitgeist and voters are starting to grok that not only has Ryan based his miserable budget proposals on the anti-social philosophy of Ayn Rand but that his entire political career is predicated on the work of this Republican prophet of gloom and-- for the 99%-- doom... well he can't get it off his shoes fast enough. He hasn't been recorded saying, "Ayn? Ayn who" yet, but if Ron Zerban keeps pressing him of where all the mean-spirited, hysterical, unAmerican selfishness comes from... I hope someone has a tape recorder ready.

Ryan may have been a little embarrassed this when Edward Hudgins, a director at the Randian Atlas Society said he would-- like most Gordon Gekko types-- "like to see Paul Ryan as president one day." That's also Wall Street's goal-- which is why Blue America started StopPaulRyan, perhaps the most crucial page for the future of this country on all of ActBlue.

"I'd love to see him as president or as vice president on the ticket coming up because I know what the man's values are: They're admirable values," Hudgins said. "To what extent he considers himself in agreement with Ayn Rand, as a public figure, a public policy person, you're not going to find them a lot better."

And that isn't all the could be causing the Randian congressman indigestion today. Henry Aaron was the co-creator of Ryan's plan to end Medicare. Yesterday Aaron, who works at the Brookings Institute withdrew his support for the whole idea and told Ryan-- and the world-- that the plan won't work.

Mike Tate, chairman of Wisconsin's Democratic Party agrees with Aaron. "Medical professionals, the faith community and now even the inventor of the central concept of the Romney-Ryan budget, he pointed out after the committee meeting, "have come forward to say that this budget that ends Medicare as we know it is wrong for America. As more experts come forward, and people learn the truth about the Romney-Ryan budget, it becomes more clear that this budget is fundamentally flawed, with the potential to cause real harm if implemented."

Poor misunderstood Ryan would surely like to blame his exposure on that dreadful Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize laureate in economics who has been repeatedly warning his NY Times readers that Ryan is nothing more than a lightweight phony being pumped up by avaricious special interests. Yesterday Krugman told TPM's Sahil Kapur that Paul Ryan's arithmetic just "doesn’t add up at all... All he does is make scary noises about the deficit, with mood music, with organ music in the background about how ominous it is, and then propose a plan that would in fact increase the deficit.”

Rob Zerban is the progressive Democrat taking Ryan on this year-- the first serious reelection campaign Ryan has ever had to face. The DCCC may continue ignoring Ryan for whatever reason but Wisconsinites and people from all over America, sensing the danger, are rallying to Rob. If Ryan's numbers don't add up, Rob's always do. He's not some hack beholden to the wealthy special interests who have molded him into a national personality and conservative celebrity. Rob's always been part of the real world. This is what he had to say about Ryan's support of Republican Party tactics to double the interest rate on student loans:

“Doubling the student loan interest rate and saddling our young people with an extra $1,000.00 in costs each year, at a time when families are already struggling to make sure their children have the opportunity for higher education, is a recipe for disaster.

“I personally know how important these programs are-- they are the reason I was able to attend school and become a job creator that Paul Ryan and his Washington Republican buddies tout. I was able to live my version of the American Dream because our country made a modest investment in me through Pell Grants and Stafford Loans.

“We as a country can never compete in the global economy if we continually put up barriers for young people to thrive in whatever future they choose.  Paul Ryan’s budget does absolutely nothing to help Americans succeed-- it is simply yet another giveaway for the oil & gas companies, Wall Street and corporations who fund his campaigns on the backs of our working families.”

Blue America has endorsed Rob and we've put up a wonderful billboard at the Ryan Road offramp on the I-94 just south of the Milwaukee Airport. Please take a look-- and if you'd like to help us put a few more like that around the district, you can do that here-- where there are no contribution limits.