August 12, 2012
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12 Things To Know About Paul Ryan
- Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand.
- Ryan wants to raises taxes on the middle class, cuts them for millionaires.
- Ryan wants to end Medicare, replace it with a voucher system.
- Ryan thinks Social Security is a “ponzi scheme.”
- Ryan’s budget would result in 4.1 million lost jobs in 2 years.
- Ryan wants to eliminate Pell Grants for more more than 1 million students.
- Ryan supports $40 billion in subsides for big oil.
- Ryan has ownership stakes in companies that benefit from oil subsidies.
- Ryan claimed Romneycare has led to “rationing and benefit cuts.”
- Ryan believes that Romneycare is “not that dissimilar to Obamacare.”
- Ryan accused generals of lying about their support for Obama’s military budget.
- Ryan co-sponsored a “personhood” amendment, an extreme anti-abortion measure.
You don’t pick a candidate this extreme unless you don’t think you can win on your own. We saw the same thing last election when John McCain picked Sarah Palin. At least the Republicans have learned something from that debacle, and have vetted Ryan thoroughly. Hell, Romney’s been quoting Ryan on his budget plan for his whole campaign. But basically, Romney’s really going to have to step up his voter suppression now that he’s lost the moderate undecided vote.
Comments (67)
I suppose we should be shaking his hand and thanking him. Choosing such a fanatical whackjob for his VP has just about assured Obama a second term.
@ZombieMom_Speaks - I dunno, we have 3 months in which the whole Euro zone could take another big hit, which would directly impact our economy. Our economy drops again, there goes Obama’s edge. Even if Europe can wait until November 7th to take a dive, whoever wins the election is going to be going into 2013 with a new hit on our economy to deal with.
You could add that he collected Social Security after his dad died…to pay for his college education. I wonder how much he got in Pell Grant money, before he decided it was all socialistic?
@GodlessLiberal - True, but Obama is used to working a budget under pressure. We’re still recovering from Commander Chimpy’s disastrous policies and while Euro could cause problems here, he’s already had a trial by fire in working with someone else’s screwups.
re 11: and Ryan got huge backlash after calling the generals liars. he apologized the next day but you know he needs to believe they are liars since he hasn’t changed that part of his budget plan, or any part for that matter.
13. He used to drive the Oscar Meyer weiner truck.
Everybody knows the middle class is collapsing. Social mobility, opportunity, and higher education are pretty much the domain of the wealthy. So who is voting for these douches? I don’t get it.
at a Romney/Ryan rally today Ryan said this country is based on an ideal. he finished that idea by saying (and i’m paraphrasing) “We follow the laws of God and Nature, not government”, but let’s break that down. Ryan is, in his own words, a Catholic and his economic plan is based on Catholic values yet he has a problem with that. the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops have denounced his plan and has said it is not in keeping with Catholic values. a group of Catholic nuns are presently on a national bus tour. the purpose of the tour is to make people aware that Paul Ryan’s plan is immoral and Sister Simone Campbell who is spearheading the bus tour has said Ryan’s idea of the Catholic teachings is incorrect so one has to ask, what does Ryan think God’s laws are? that’s not to mention we actually are a nation of laws legislated by a democratically elected government.
you might add another point:
13) Paul Ryan has signed the Grover Norquist Pledge each time he’s run for office. i heard Grover Norquist confirm that about 1/2 hour ago when interviewed on a special edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews. even republicans, almost all of who have signed the pledge are beginning to break ranks from that pledge since the American public has become aware of the pledge and that it supersedes and overrides the Congressional Oath to serve the American people to the best of one’s ability.
taking the Congressional Oath after having signed the Grover Norquist Pledge is like swearing on the Bible to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God while crossing your fingers behind your back.
there is a wisdom i’m hearing out there that Romney has up until now played everything safe but finding himself sinking not only in nationwide polls particularly among swing States but even within his own party he picked a radical in Paul Ryan to try and inject some life into his campaign. to me it’s a bit reminiscent of John McCain’s decision to pick Sarah Palin as his running mate.
I’m sure that by mid November, Romney will have retroactively chosen someone else than Paul Ryan as his vp candidate.
Everybody across the political spectrum whines but Republicans make themselves heard at the ballot box as well–and that’s where it counts.
voting is stupid. and I’m pretty sure I could Google about 12 reasons why everybody involved sucks.
You’re doing it wrong.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/mitt-romney-would-pay-082-percent-in-taxes-under-paul-ryans-plan/261027/#
is way better to troll with
haha, he had a lot of candidates to choose from, and he picked another dumb shit, right wing, stereotypical, greedy, rich ass politician. I can’t wait to see the debates!
What? I never saw this coming. I thought you would embrace the Republican candidate.
It is sort of funny how anyone who supports balancing the budget is always cast as extreme.
Romney’s scary enough all on his own!
@nerdyveggiegirl - I’m with you on that one. The debates should be hilarious. /stocks up on popcorn
@TheTheologiansCafe - There’s a big difference between balancing the budget and budgeting an increase in military funds and help for rich people while slashing anything that would benefit the poor or sick.
@GodlessLiberal - Bingo.
(Rec’ing through comment. The pc I’m on is not letting me rec anything!!!)
Paul Ryan is the pal of Ron Paul’s son, Rand Paul; but unlike Paul, who likes Ayn Rand, Ryan prefers all things Papal.
@TheSutraDude - You know, if it wasn’t that the republicans willingly supported this Norquist bastard, I’d think him culpable for treason. Stand him up and shoot him in the street.
@Outdoor_Furniture_Design - i’ve thought it treasonous too that Norquist, a powerful Washington lobbyist blackmails politicians with the threat of losing their elections if they don’t sign on his dotted line. Boehner too who told Americans Norquist is just some random person he did not want to answer questions about and a week later his republicans met behind closed doors with Norquist. republicans in Congress today lie to us because they know if they tell the truth Americans will vote them out of there.Romney was caught lying about his taxes in 2002 and he’s asking us to trust him again, as he did before he was caught in 2002.
it’s fair to say i am worried about our future, no matter what.
12 Things To Know About Barack Obama:
1. Obama re-signed the Patriot Act
2. Obama signed NDAA, a Bill which declares America a warzone and allows any American to be imprisoned indefinitly
3. Obama also signed into law “Free Speech Zones,” under which protesting in certain areas is a felony
4. Obama endorses the use of Drone attacks, which to date have killed more civilians than enemy combatants
5. Obama continues the needless, expensive wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East. If the US spent half the amount of money on education and science that it does on war, mankind would likely have moon bases and hydrogen cars already
6. Under Obama’s presidency, over 100 million Americans are in poverty and 15% are jobless
7. Obama failed to actively oppose SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA
8. Obama supported bailouts for banks and corporations–bailouts which were promptly wasted, mismanaged, or turned into retirement bonuses for fatcat CEOS. One company bought twelve lear jets with their *bailout*
9. Despite promises to the contrary, Obama has done nothing to legalize gay marraige on the national scale
10. Instead of providing **Free** health care, Obamacare forces Americans to buy health care from the government or other insurance companies, who are already exploiting the fact that everyone **must** have insurance. When auto insurance became mandatory, premiums increased by over $300 percent
11. Obama has made several important foreign policy blunders, including telling Putin that he would be much more supportive of Russia in the next four years, which succeeded only in pissing off Medvedev (the actual Russian president), the Caucauses, and many other US allies in the region.
12. The United States has options besides Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It is long past time we woke up and realized it.
13. Paul Ryan would not look good in a swimsuit.
Hook me up with where you got the Pell Grant remark from.
@Rob_of_the_Sky - Beat me to it.
@we_deny_everything - That is the question that has baffled me for the last year. I just had friends spend the night with me so they could go to the state fair, because they couldn’t afford a motel room. I gave them my house because she is my best childhood friend. Her husband is a conservative, you know the type that votes because their parents voted Republican? His wife had to go on Title 19 for a pregnancy that made her diabetic. She had to collect unemployment because her plant laid her off, and in the past, she had to collect food stamps and she has an uncle who collect SSI and Medicare. Yet, even knowing that I will need to apply for SSD, which my tax dollars has paid for, he still supports these guys who want to cut these programs. Why??? I can’t get a good answer out of them except because they go to church and they support these guys for moral values (even though I had to yank my kid out of LDS church for brain washing. The youngest hated that church.) I was raised Christian, but according to my teachings… Jesus would be on the side of Obama. Of course they tell me that my religion is wrong and that Satan influenced it. I hate the old cop out line… “the devil made me do it!”
(A Catholic friend brought up a good point. We just love watching the old people lay in bed in the hospital, collecting social security and medicare, but watching Fox news and cheering Romney on. I just don’t get it.)
If you have any thoughts on this, please share them with me because my head is raw from me rubbing it!
@hesacontradiction - Blame it on oversimplified, formulaic right wing news and oversimplified religion. I do not know. It appears you’ve thought this through further than me. A a co-worker once solemnly assured me that Obama is both a marxist and a Muslim — but didn’t bother to explain how such an incongruity might be possible. By way of proof, he said that the communists were sending Christian children to prison. Wow. Here is a person who abhors analytical thought, who has been betrayed by it again and again. I suppose some people crave simplicity; they’re addicted to it. Obviously, Paul Ryan-omics will tax the middle class to near extinction while making Mitt Romney richer. How smart do you have to be to understand this?
Paul Ryan married into money. His in laws is why he supports fracking and oil subsidies. Paul Ryan is as far right as Michele Bachman and is the most non centralist vice president candidate in a long while. I suppose the Biden/Ryan debate will be interesting.
@TheTheologiansCafe - it’s sort of funny how that balance swings so heavily in favour of the wealthy
@twotothefightingeighthpower - It wasn’t until just now, as I’m re-reading Catch-22 that I understood your Xanga name.
@autumn_cannibal76 - I’m not actually very pro-Obama (although I think he’s a superhero compared to the alternative we’ve been given). I’ll be voting Green Party pretty much across the board this election, since my district and state is about as blue as San Francisco.
On topic though, I feel that much of what you’re objecting to is due largely to an obstructionist Congress and a overly-filibustered Senate.
@emily_shannon - I’ll do that.
So…we should vote for the candidate who has gone over and above the extremes of George Bush and vote for Obama?
I’m starting to wonder if Romney even WANTS to win..
@GodlessLiberal - That’s fair. The fact that this congress acts more like a bunch of toddlers playing tug-of-war than a governing body is just further proof that the US needs more than two voices in government. I want to see Green, Libertarian, Constitutionalist, Independent, and lots of other parties rise to equal prominence–because I refuse to believe that America can be boiled down to two antagonistic groups of people.
@autumn_cannibal76 - Most of those are misleading at best. I can’t speak to the claims in the blog but would like some sources.
@autumn_cannibal76 - That was bound to happen when one person needs to win over half the votes in the nation… it’s bound to become a “one or the other” type thing, because a third party could end up with the “winner” nabbing under 270 electoral college votes, and thus not winning at all.
@GodlessLiberal - my favourite novel!
Why are politics such a goddamn fight this time around?
@agnophilo - The first four (NDAA, Patriot Act, CISPA, exc.) are laws Obama has signed and are a matter of public record. The drone source is Daniel L. Byman of the Federally funded Brookings Institution, who stated that ten civilians have been killed for every insurgent killed in a drone strike. The information about the 12 jets purchased with bailout money is from a CNN newscast. The 300% increase in auto insurance is from KY state statistics as a comparison of when auto insurance was mandatory compared to before, adjusted for inflation. If you Google some of what I posted, you’ll probably find the sources you need.
@autumn_cannibal76 - I would enjoy seeing a source for each affirmative claim you make, especially those in 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10.
Several of them are simply wrong as a factual matter, such as # 6 (unemployment is between 8-10%, depending on the source, well below the unemployment rate when Bush left office and the rate for much of Reagan’s first term, despite inheriting a relatively health economy). I am not going to rebut them until you provide sources, though.
Also: you need to provide links. If we can’t verify it, we aren’t going to just take your assertions on faith. That’s not reasonable, especially since I couldn’t find reliable sources for most of your claims after a cursory search.
Ryan is going to benefit Romney in the fashion that McCain hoped Sarah Palin would bolster his campaign. Ryan will shore up the whack-job, fringe right behind the “too moderate” POTUS candidate while duping some independents with some folksy hokum. He’s a more likeable, less retarded, more experienced Sarah Palin. Biden will destroy him in their debates, but Ryan will probable earn more undecided votes than the curmudgeon-y Biden will.
I doubt either candidate will have a significant impact on the race, though. It will come down mostly to Obama v. Romney, which should favor Obama because Romney is a snake who sucks in pretty much every conceivable way.
And he sacrifices virgins every Tuesday afternoon, do not forget that!
@angelwingfive - One side has failed to do anything worth voting for, so their only option left is to demonize the opposition. They would have run the “I may not be very good but the other guy is an extremist devil” campaign no matter who was running against them
@ShamelesslyRed - If Obama is just like Bush, then why are so many people shouting “communist” about him? So many politicians say that if Obama is reelected it’s the end of our country as we know it, all of whom were ardent Bush supporters.
@autumn_cannibal76 - He didn’t reauthorize the entire laws, just a few provisions, thus it is deceptive. The free speech zones stuff is more world net daily conspiracy theory bullshit, as is blaming the president for a recession and a downward spiral of poverty that started long before he took office as though he invented it. Just as a few examples.
@agnophilo - Also, in addition to what you mention, it’s always strange to hear anarcho-capitalist libertarians bitch about how Obama continued the War in Iraq without mentioning that Obama had significant successes in the Middle East, including killing Bin Laden and helping topple Gaddafi. Oh, he also ended the War in Iraq (though post-war initiatives are still being conducted).
Anyone that thinks Obama could have/should have immediately pulled out of Iraq is either really ignorant or simply doesn’t care about how devastated Iraq would have been without the additional infrastructure we have been helping them build over there for the last 6-10 years. Don’t get me wrong, I am generally a non-interventionalist and wish Obama withdrew from Iraq earlier, but 9-11 and the many subsequent terrorist plots against the U.S. since then have completely and utterly disproved the idea that extreme non-interventionalism is a good idea at this point in time. The bottom line is that there are bad people in the world with the intent and means to do terrible things to this country (and others) unless stopped.
What’s even more strange is that most of these people fully supported the War in Iraq when Bush was president, despite the fact it was being horribly mismanaged. I attribute it to the Darwinian conservative mind: adapt your positions on issues as is necessary to continue towing the party line.
Can you provide the sources for these 12 facts? I want to make an informed decision this election season.
@TheTheologiansCafe - While it may be true GL isn’t necessarily going to embrace a republican candidate, that doesn’t mean his points aren’t (or are) valid. Its crazy to me how little this election is about actual issues. (and even scarier how little people even understand the issues whatsoever). But I think its telling that almost every moderate I know is totally against Romney/Ryan. And I don’t get why Ryan is hailed as a deficit hawk. Sure the rhetoric is all there…but does anyone actually think the deficit will be cut with all the tax cuts, decrease in revenue, and increase in defense spending? I highly doubt it.
@GodlessLiberal - People on the left called Bush a fascist. In monetary/economic policy, foreign policy, domestic policy etc., can you tell me the major – most notable differences between Bush and Obama….and then again between Obama and Romney regarding their policies of record?
@UTRow1 - What was controversial about the iraq/afghanistan wars was the bullshit basis for starting them and how they were executed, but once the damage is done we have a responsibility to try to end it well. It’s like hating someone who sticks around to clean up a burned out building as though they were the one who set the fire in the first place. The drone thing is a valid criticism, though since the drone strikes are aimed at the leaders of these groups the argument could be made that civilian casualties are justifiable losses or that the net good done is greater. I don’t like it either way, but I’m not a fan of warfare in general, it’s always horrifying.
@ShamelesslyRed - How many wars did obama start unilaterally, without international or congressional support based on false intelligence? How many americans did he spy on illegally? How many no-bid oil contracts did he give to his friends? The only “war” obama fought that he didn’t inherit was in lybia and it cost zero american lives and less than one one thousandth the cost of either of bush’s wars. Not quite identical.
@ShamelesslyRed - The reason for much of the similarity is because obama is not the emperor of the united states, many of the policies you’re talking about come from congress (which is practically shut down for business by partisan in-fighting) or are left over policies that did not originate with his administration.
@GodlessLiberal - Yes, every single person who doesn’t like obama supported bush, without exception.
Generalize much?
@agnophilo - Mark, we’re in more military points of aggression around the world than we were with Bush. Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Pakistan. Obama has a drone war going on, killing more people – INNOCENT people, than Bush ever did. // The reason for much of the similarity is because obama is not the emperor of the united states, many of the policies you’re talking about come from congress (which is practically shut down for business by partisan in-fighting) or are left over policies that did not originate with his administration.// Baloney. Obama at one point is president, then at the next, when faced with his crap policy, liberals want to make him the victim. Obama is responsible for renewing Bush policy. You don’t have to like, that’s a fact though
@UTRow1 - to @autumn_cannibal76 Also: you need to provide links. If we can’t verify it, we aren’t going to just take your assertions on faith.
What links did GodlessLiberal provide about Ryan? You took those on faith.
@ShamelesslyRed - Military action doesn’t equal all-out trillion dollar wars. You think the military is killing more people under obama? Military actions started under obama killed hundreds of civillians, ones under bush killed thousands of times as many. Impeach his military actions if you will but there is no comparison. Obama has used the armed forces as a scalpel, not a sledge hammer the way bush did.
@ShamelesslyRed - Bear in mind I’m not even defending the policies, I’m just refuting the notion that bush and obama are the same person with a different name.
@agnophilo - So what are you arguing? That since Obama has killed less civilians than Bush and has spent less money doing it, that it somehow makes him a kinder,more reputable guy, worthy of re-election? //Obama has used the armed forces as a scalpel, not a sledge hammer the way bush did// Yes, in the wake of extrajudicial killings of many on a secret kill list, including Americans, I can see your point. The fact that Obama labels EVERY male killed a “militant” while there is zero evidence that they are guilty of nothing, again… I can see your point. (note my use of sarcasm) What a load of crap. The use of drone strikes that have killed countless innocent peoples can be hardly be described as a “scalpel”. Obama is the caliber of criminal that Bush is. Rendition, ignoring the Constitution, and grabbing power that even Bush didn’t. I tell ya…. what drives me crazy the most about conversations like these, is the base intellectual dishonesty of liberals who defend the indefensible actions of their President. Somehow they’ve found a place to linger in lies and complete apathy, when the truth is that if it were a Republican in the WH doing what Obama is doing, the democrats and liberals of the US would be in a unending tirade.
@agnophilo - Obama is Bush on steroids. No difference at all except for small ideologies – and ones that don’t even matter at that
@agnophilo - This same dishonesty is also found in Republicans who think that Romney isn’t like Obama. These guys are all supported by the same interests. It’s almost funny that people are so blind to truth and simple reasoning that they can’t see this dog and pony show for what it is. However, like Obama supporters who were dying to have someone SO different than Bush, that they couldn’t wait to vote for Obama – i can’t blame Romney supporters who want to get Obama out of office with the same energy. What’s sick and sad about it all, is that too many people actually buy into this game, not knowing the game is rigged. People are getting a choice between a plate of sh*t or a plate of sh*t with parsley on top. There is no choice for something that actually is good
@ShamelesslyRed - When you want to read what I wrote before lecturing me let me know. You couldn’t even be bothered to read an entire one sentence reply before asking me a question answered by the second half of the sentence.
@agnophilo - I did read it, hence my second and third reply.
It would be refreshing if all reigning politicians would resign from their present political office when seeking a different political office. It has happened, but not often enough. Bob Dole resigned from the U s Senate to campaign for the presidency.
@ShamelesslyRed - Most of these claims are simply false and/or misleading. For instance, the number of civilian casualties under Obama have been significantly lower than under Bush. Furthermore, even if we are engaging in military activity in more geographic areas than we were under Bush, the withdrawal from Iraq pretty much in and of itself makes the total amount of military activity (at least in the sense most people care about – Americans overseas participating in wars and being killed) less than it has been since 9-11.
@musterion99 - When did I ever say that I accepted GL’s claims about Ryan? I didn’t.
I didn’t ask GL to provide links because others already had and none of the claims he made interested me. I know enough about Ryan already to know I am not supporting him. However, the claims about Obama interested me because they directly relate to issues that interest me, and I know they were factually wrong.
It’s election season! Time to watch conservatives go to tremendous lengths to avoid supporting their claims.