Don't Let Them Run From Their Words

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), May 17, 2011: "You want to make sure that the bondholder has confidence that the government's going to be able to pay them.... That's what I'm hearing from most people, which is if a bondholder misses a payment for a day or two or three or four what is more important that you're putting the government in a materially better position to be able to pay their bonds later on."

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), June 24, 2011 on administration warnings of "catastrophic consequences" of not raising debt limit: "I don't believe them, it's not true."

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), July 18, 2011: "I am a little bit cynical about the scare mongering and putting America's back up against this Aug. 2 deadline just to get an increase in the American credit card."

TPM is keeping the list current

Ryan/GOP ransom note: 'Give us Medicare or we crash the economy'

John Nichols in The Capital Times:

... Ryan is a desperate man, as are his partners in crime. Under pressure to deliver for their paymasters in the insurance industry — who have made Ryan one of his party’s prime recipients of corporate campaign cash — they decided to take a hostage.

Faced with a routine request to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, Ryan and the Republicans balked. Even when they were told by business analysts that cutting off America’s credit would wreck the U.S. economy, they held firm, declaring that they would back a debt-ceiling increase only if it was accompanied by massive spending cuts in the form of “entitlement reform.”

Translation: Give us the Medicare money or we tank the economy...

This is serious business. The Republicans are desperate, they’re motivated, and they want Medicare.

Read it here.