Right Wings Trolls believed Paul Ryan again...and were duped again.

Politifact's latest take down of Paul Ryan should make voters wonder why anyone takes this guy seriously:

But even worse is the blind mindless support he gets from an unquestioning right wing base...they're not afraid to look the fool....

Paul Ryan gets his ass handed to him....

Paul Ryan continues to get away with his horrific plan for health care, thanks to a very lazy media.

Fox News' Chris Wallace tried and failed to get Ryan to divulge his secret "health care surprise," and there's a reason for that; no ones going to like what he has planned. And yes, he's going to force it down our throats, a take it or leave deal. Here's the general idea.

Ryan treats health care like a consumer product because he sees it as a part of the insurance industry. It's neither. 

For example, in Wisconsin Scott Walker actually said the poor should be in the exchange so they could shop for insurance. That's right, people just over the poverty line, must contribute to an insurers bottom line. Medicaid (BadgerCare) gets in the way of corporate profits.

YOU MUST SEE THIS!!! See the real Paul Ryan! I've watch and edited a lot Paul Ryan videos, but this is the first time I've seen him act like this. The word belligerent comes to mind.

1. Ryan wants health care "freedom:" HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell cleared up that misdirection play by saying the marketplace offers private sector free market insurers, and their plans. And 20% more insurers came into the marketplace, offering more choices.

2. Ryan subtly suggests the supreme court might deem the exchanges are not CONSTITUTIONAL: Sec. Burwell had to correct our policy wonk by saying the tax credit, not the constitutionality of the ACA, is before the court. Ryan still didn't get it, apparently, when he said "you're not going to answer the question are you?"

3. Ryan tried to preempt what he knows will be a simple Democratic bill and solution that would strike the four words from the ACA. Stirring up phony outrage, Ryan predicted Obama will say "It's my way or the highway." No, just strike the controversial four words.

When Ryan was done, Rep. Sander Levin responded methodically, in the most remarkable way to Ryan, addressing every point. See Ryan ignore him and carry on a conversation with someone behind Levin while he was speaking. See smarty pants Ryan leaning way back in his chair with a big smirk on his face, appearing to humor the Democratic response:

Ryan Lyin' again about Affordable Care Act Premium Increases and those problematic tax credits.

Paul Ryan is at it again, making broad unmistakably big lies about the Affordable Care Act.

Ryan knows if he sounded really-really convinced, and took a ridiculously strong position, many Americans would just assume what he's saying is true. Like this:

Rep. Paul Ryan spoke as his panel began questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell about the law. Ryan cited requests by many insurance companies for double-digit rate increases for next year as evidence that the health care overhaul isn't working. 

Oops, if that were the standard use to determine the success or failure of ObamaCare, then health insurance before the Affordable Care Act was also a massive failure.

The chart above shows the incredible premium increases prior to the Great Recession starting in 1999 to 2007. The recession forced insurers to stop raising prices due to the struggling economy.  

Below, Ryan read carefully from his prepared statement, because he had to get the biggest lie just right;

"ObamaCare is just flat busted. It just doesn't work. And no fix can change that fact."

Wow. And he had nothing to back that up except his strongly asserted lie.

Also in the video clip is Democratic Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who surprised me with a very effective attack on Ryan's blatant agenda.

Doggett: "...we have an historic moment, where chairman Paul Ryan is saying to that supreme court, "Please deny $52 million a month in federal tax relief to the people of Wisconsin because I have such an ideological commitment to destroy this president and his health care plan..."

MSNBC's Steve Benen wrote this about our not so wonkish "genius:"

GOP lawmakers have gone from making a series of spectacularly wrong predictions to simply buying their heads in the sand, pretending real-world results don’t exist. It’s almost sad to watch.

The L.A. Times’ Michael Hiltzik flagged this gem yesterday: Ryan seemed to think that would be a good thing, or at least that providing subsidies so people can have coverage is a bad thing. The federal government, he said, “has sent millions of subsidies out the door, putting millions of people at risk.” Interesting outlook: he’s saying that helping people puts them at risk, and a lawsuit backed by the Republican establishment that would strip away that assistance will be good for them.

Sahil Kapur flagged this Bloomberg Politics report, which reinforced fears that Paul Ryan simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Representative Paul Ryan said, “We will have a Republican alternative to deal with this, so that people who are caught in the crossfire of this unconstitutional law – should the court determine that it’s unconstitutional…” 

But King v. Burwell isn’t a challenge to the law’s constitutionality … the frequency with which Paul Ryan makes absurd claims should cast doubt over his credibility. 

Ryan fumbles, lies at Town Hall in response to question about recent attempt at Race Baiting.

How many more town halls will result in the following kind of confrontation between Paul Ryan and his fed up constituents about his recent attempt at race baiting? I've edited together 3 segments: Joy Reid's coverage on MSNBC, Luke Russert's more complete segment, and a clip where one constituent told Ryan he liked ObamaCare. Ryan then tried to sell him on taxpayer subsidies to insurers by paying for the sick, and leaving the profits to the insurers (transcript at bottom). 

Think Progress pretty much sums it up:

Black Constituent Confronts Paul Ryan Over ‘Inner City’ Remarks: RACINE: If you could pinpoint the moment when Paul Ryan lost control of his message on Wednesday, it was when he began explaining to an African American constituent why his recent comments about lazy “inner city” men actually had nothing to do with race.

“You said what you meant,” Alfonso Gardner, a 61-year-old African American man from Racine, told Ryan at a town hall meeting. “[Inner city is] a code word for black.”

Ryan remained defiant though. “There is nothing whatsoever about race in my comments at all,” he said. He admonished Gardner for drawing a connection between his “inner city” remarks and race. “I think when we throw these charges around, it should be based on something.”

ThinkProgress spoke with Gardner after the town hall to get his reaction. He said Ryan’s trying to have it both ways, saying different things to different people. “He’s out here shucking and jiving,” Gardner said. “He’s been in Congress eight terms and just now talking about poverty?”

Gardner isn’t the only constituent taking offense. ThinkProgress interviewed a number of Racine residents this week about Ryan’s statement. They were not amused with their congressman’s words.

In the video, Ryan told Gardner to read the next paragraph, which suggested some clarification. But PolitiFact offered up the entire transcript, in context, and nothing Ryan said changed his race baiting comments. Here's what Ryan said after his remarks:

Ryan: And produce. To just be -- I mean, achievement and accomplishment are so self-rewarding, it’s earned success, and that’s how people flourish when they feel the pride of succeeding and achieving a goal and they teach and pass those lessons on to their kids or to the kids they’re mentoring. And that is really what helps revitalize society and helps human flourishing, it helps people reach their potential. That’s the American idea. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote beautifully about this. We’re losing it in so many areas and we’ve got to get it back and each and every one of us has a role to play in that. (There’s a little banter between Bennett and Ryan.)

Ryan: What I find is the status quo is, right now, a poverty management system -- in many ways, to the benefit of the managers. And so when you question the status quo of the government’s poverty -- this war on poverty -- you get all the criticisms from the adherents of the status quo who just don’t want to see anything change. We’ve got to have the courage to face that down, just like we did in welfare reform in the late 1990s. And if we succeed, we can help resuscitate this culture and get people back to work and get people back to meeting their potential and so many things can get fixed and healed in our communities and in our economy, as well.

Here's the transcript of the somewhat muddy audio of the satisfied ObamaCare constituent, and Ryan's taxpayer bailout to insurers, otherwise known as "risk pools:"

MARTINCIC: What Obama did was get this law passed. Whether it’s good, bad, or not, it got passed. It’s actually helping some people grow, helped this other guy [with] medication. The Republicans….By myself…I could actually…get some kind of subsidy, which would help me…

RYAN: With the ACA, one thing I want to say is we didn’t have 51 votes to repeal it altogether 51 times. I think that’s sort of like this urban legend that we said, ‘let’s repeal it.’ It’s like we did a repeal vote on the whole law. There are many pieces of this law that we’ve gone after—several of them that were made into law, so please know—I think even Democrats would acknowledge that there are a lot of problems with this law. And so we passed a lot of things changing this law—several of which were made into law—but I really do believe there’s a better way to do it than with this health care law.My argument is that I think there are better ways at dealing with these extremely important and legitimate problems, like people with preexisting conditions—this is why I’m a big fan of risk pools. We had the [??] system in Wisconsin—it worked well, and then it had the federal government attached to it, so it was even more affordable for people with preexisting conditions. That was one of our proposals. So I do think that there are better ways of fixing this problem—affordable coverage for everybody, including people with preexisting conditions that’s a lot better than [this law]. It’s going to hurt our hospitals, it’s going to hurt Medicare, it’s going to make people buy things they don’t want to buy.

Lawless Obama? Where was Paul Ryan when a lawless Bush extended Medicare Part D Deadlines and waived Penalties?

It’s amazing what a little investigative reporting can turn up!

MSNBC: It was easy to note the similarities between its difficulties and those associated with the Bush/Cheney Medicare Part D policy. On Friday, Sam Stein had a terrific report noting just how deep the parallels go. Stein’s report is quite comprehensive … Both the ACA and Plan D struggled during the rollout; both suffered technical glitches; both shrunk networks to the surprise of consumers; both struggled with overwhelmed call centers; both suffered in the polls.

Here’s a new wrinkle that should embarrass Paul Ryan, who has based his “lawless Obama” claim on the “illegal” delays Obama put in place regarding the Affordable Care Act. But Ryan said nothing about his own backing and roll-out of Medicare’s Plan D implementation:

When Plan D implementation struggled, the Bush/Cheney administration unilaterally extended deadlines and waived penalties – relying on nothing but executive discretion and regularity authority. Why is this important? In general, it’s not, except now that the Obama administration is taking similar steps, Republicans are characterizing it as the end of our constitutional system of government.

Here's a list of Obama offenses:

-President Obama is creating a “government of one” by ignoring the Constitution and further delaying ObamaCare’s employer mandate, according to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah).

-The Republican senator said on “Fox News Sunday” that the president seemed to be flouting the law in order to improve Democrats’ chances in the 2014 midterm elections. “The president knows this is wrong and it’s not defensible,” Lee said.

-There is something wrong with holding one leader to a new standard – an “Obama standard” – that doesn’t apply to anyone else.

-When other presidents issue executive orders, it’s fine. When Obama does it, Republicans insist it’s scandalous.

-When other presidents rely on “czars,” it’s fine. When Obama does it, Republicans insist it’s scandalous.

-When other presidents make recess appointments, it’s fine. When Obama does it, Republicans insist it’s scandalous.

-When other presidents decide not to defend certain federal laws against court challenges, it’s fine. 

-When Obama does it, Republicans insist it’s scandalous.

-When Bush used his powers to improve implementation of a federal health care policy, no one raised a fuss, but now that Obama’s done the same thing, congressional Republicans are convinced he’s a lawless radical violating the Constitution.

Paul Ryan takes Projection to breath taking new heights.

Like I've told my conservative friend in Milwaukee many times, Republicans are completely wrong about how Democrats, progressives and liberals think. We really don’t think like them…not at all. Not a chance. It's even insulting.

Rep. Paul Ryan, who should lose his reelection bid in 2014, made a recent attempt to described progressives to his panting idol worshipers. His explanation was either wishful thinking or a clear attempt to justify the twisted logic of conservative dogma. Like Democrats do it too.

Honestly, I don’t know who’s he’s describing here, but it sure isn't a progressive:  

The Hill: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) blasted progressive principles: “Progressivism is well-intentioned but it is also — in my humble opinion — arrogant and condescending,” Ryan said at the American Enterprise Institute. “Instead of helping people make their own decisions, it makes those decisions for them. It makes Washington the center of power and politicians the center of attention.”

Would any progressive think centralize power is a good thing, or make a politician the center of attention (a "leader")? Surreal stuff to be sure. But Ryan isn't done describing those “arrogant and condescending” fictionalized opponents who’s populist message seems to strike the public's fancy. Oh, and did you know liberals were the ones who said they were "the heirs of the Founders?" I could have sworn that was a tea party claim…

“This vision proved compelling,” Ryan said. “It drew thousands of people into government … they seized the moral high ground. They said they were the heirs of the Founders, when in reality, they were the replacements. They said they were for the people. And their opponents? They were for the rich. They were selfish.”

Yes, especially that last part about the rich and selfish, we did say that. Ryan mixes a dash of truth in for fun. The next statement is oh so wrong; in uncertain times, people look for security from conservatives, who promise to shred the constitution with things like the Patriot Act and Homeland Security.

“Yet the Left keeps winning elections. Why? Well, you can see the appeal. In uncertain times, people look for security. Progressives seem to have an answer … the progressive state offers a sense of security. But it’s a false sense of security because government can’t keep all its promises.”

This is the most under reported statement made by Republicans. What Ryan is saying is that if Republicans were in charge, nothing is certain, no promises kept. Pretty breathtaking huh? 

Ryan can't Hide any longer.

This may be a little bit in the weeds, but a fascinating peek into the convoluted wonkiness of Paul Ryan. In this revealing look by Jonathan Chait, from his article “Paul Ryan Breaks Down Under Wonkterrogation,” Ryan hides pure ideological mumbo jumbo with accounting terms that when taken together don't mean anything.

Ryan usually manages to elide the contradiction between the irreconcilable hopes placed in him by evading questioning, using weasel words, or just filibustering long enough to exhaust the topic. That’s what makes his talk Wednesday with Ezra Klein … Ryan tried to evade the question, but Klein wouldn’t let him until Ryan had made it perfectly clear he would not accept higher revenue at all, under any conditions.

Ryan claims Obama got his tax increase, so now owes Republicans their cuts:

Ryan simply hurls up nonsensical rationales one after another, and finally offers his actual reason when he has run out of gibberish. “They already got their revenues,” Ryan said. “So what, we’ll roll over and they get more revenues? We’ve yet to get anything as a result of it.” 

But Ryan’s lying, as revealed in this response calling him out on his spending cut omission:

There were $2.2 trillion in spending cuts in 2011. So you could just as easily say Republicans already got their spending cuts and there should be no more, right? Ryan replies:

“That was last session,” Ryan said. “We’re going forward now.”

Notice how fast Ryan has flipped his logic. First he asserts that there can’t be more revenue because we already increased some revenue. When reminded that we cut spending even more, he says it’s “last session” and irrelevant. Ryan was asked this very thing. ("If you have a bill that has real spending cuts in it and you add $700 billion of revenues, does that mean that the spending cuts aren't real anymore?") Ryan's reply: 

"Well, look, I’m not going to get into that." Yes, why get into the inherent logical fallacy that undergirds your entire argument?]

Ryan then circled back to his “we already increased revenue” point, and then got to his real position: “And by the way, I think that revenue level is way too high, I don’t see how you get there.” (This) final confession is the tell. Ryan opposes more revenue because he thinks revenue is too high. He would like to cut spending, but keeping taxes low is the maximal priority.

If you like Republican anti-tax orthodoxy, you’ll like Paul Ryan. (Ryan mentor and current Kansas governor Brownback is currently implementing a plan, the most explicit version of Ryan's budget, to raise taxes on the poor while cutting them on the rich.) If you think Ryan’s the guy to change that orthodoxy, you’re kidding yourself. 

Ryan's "Kick the Can Down the Road" Answer to Great Government.

Tired of manufactured fear mongering over the debt ceiling and deficits? Paul Ryan isn't, apparently.

Paul Ryan is finally exposed at the biggest poser Wisconsin has ever seen, while getting praise heaped on him by gullible low information conservatives and pundits. 

The guy who feigned outrage during the campaign for "kicking the can down the road," is now "kicking the can down the road" on the debt ceiling. He wants to debate this month to month. 

Ryan calls it a "short term debt limit extension." Most of us would call it a nightmare. MSNBC's Martin Bashir, Jonathan Alter and Jared Bernstein. 

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.

Ryan Requested even more Stimulus Money....

Like Chris Hayes said the other night in an interview with Rachel Maddow, Republicans don't really care about small government, they just care about who's in control of it.

That's why Paul Ryan's growing reputation for hypocrisy, and spending money, knows no bounds: 

Huffington Post: During Thursday night's vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden attacked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for criticizing the president's stimulus act despite having sent two separate requests for stimulus funds for his district. Biden was wrong. Ryan sent at least four requests.

But the letters' language reveals a congressman who was involved in reviewing the applications and determining that taxpayer money could be useful economically. Moreover, the direct petitioning of the EPA could prove awkward for the Republican ticket, owing to the insistence among many in the GOP that the agency is a hindrance and should be eliminated. Paul Ryan Letters.

Ryan/Romney Play Victim Card to Manipulate Conservative Voters on Libya.

Exploitation of a tragedy. The Benghazi attack was the opportunity of a lifetime for Republicans, who were desperately losing the national security credentials. Of course they lost that when Bin Laden attacked on 9/11, and when they gave up the search for the terrorist leader. But the myth lived on within the lazy media. The Romney campaign needed to trump up something quick.

With the help of the lazy media, who will always appear balanced regardless of the facts, Republicans are again winning the hearts and minds of the low information independents. Paul Ryan, with his cartoonishly forced puppy dog eyes, took a shot at the embassy tragedy during the debate. Here are the budget cuts and comment from Hilary Clinton on those cuts:

The public might just be voting in what is largely a fake, unqualified candidate and VP for the ultimate goal of one party rule. A win is a win. The details back up Joe Biden's comments during the debate: 

NY Times: Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said White House officials were not told about requests for any additional security. “We weren’t told they wanted more security again,” Mr. Biden said.

-Diplomats on the ground sounded increasingly urgent alarms … embassy security officers warned their superiors at the State Department of a worsening threat from Islamic extremists, and requested that the teams of military personnel and State Department security guards who were already on duty be kept in service. The requests were denied, but they were largely focused on extending the tours of security guards at the American Embassy in Tripoli — not at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, 400 miles away. 

-Based on Congressional testimony, those security decisions appear to have been made largely by midlevel State Department security officials, and did not involve Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton or her top aides. Patrick F. Kennedy, under secretary of state for management, said at Wednesday’s hearing. “We are not an armed camp ready to fight it out.” “Our people can’t live in bunkers and do their jobs,” Mrs. Clinton said Friday. 

-At American diplomatic facilities overseas, the host nation is primarily responsible for providing security outside the compound’s walls. Inside the compound, the State Department is in charge, relying on a mix of diplomatic security officers, local contract guards and Marines. The Marines are responsible for guarding classified documents, which they are instructed to destroy if there is a breach of the compound. Senior diplomats are protected by diplomatic security officers, not a detachment of Marines, as Mr. Ryan asserted in Thursday night’s debate.

-NY Times: White House spokesperson Jay Carney accused Republicans of hypocrisy for voting against diplomatic security spending, singling out Mr. Ryan. “I find it rich that charges are made about concern over diplomatic security by those who routinely slash funding for diplomatic security to pay for tax cuts,” he said.

-Senior administration officials said Mr. Biden’s answer was accurate because while the embassy in Tripoli requested an extension of duty for 13 military or diplomatic security officers — which the State Department denied — it did not request additional guards for the mission in Benghazi. Moreover, they said, the request did not reach the White House.

Playing the Victim Card (just for good measure): The Romney/Ryan campaign will do anything to “win.”  Playing on the popular conservative notion that they’re being “victimized” again by the mean old liberals, Ryan successfully manipulated voter support for their bold faced lie and conspiracy theory. Ryan even admits responsibility for revving up the anger:

“First they blame a YouTube video and a nonexistent riot,” Mr. Ryan told supporters in Lancaster, Ohio. “Then when the country’s getting upset about it, they blame Romney and Ryan for getting people upset about it.” 

Paul Ryan will continue what he's done to his district.

Paul Ryan has been exposed. In his VP role, the whole nation is now being exposed to his Ayn Randian platitudes backed up by nothing. Nothing but promises based on a fictional anti-government vision. 

Chris Hayes tweeted that the Ryan campaign wants Paul to be referred to as "Mr. Ryan" during the debate, abandoning his title and long time role as a congressman. Take notice Rob Zerban.

But what has he really done? He's destroyed his own district, all the while the state media never questioned his record or theories. New York Magazine noticed and wrote:

The Washington Post reported this weekend that Ryan has opposed bipartisan compromises to reduce the budget deficit. The facts in the story aren’t new. (If anything, they understate the active, crucial role Ryan has played in killing these deals.) What’s new is that the publicly available facts about Ryan’s opposition to bipartisan deficit reduction is penetrating the media narrative about him, which has always presented him as the very opposite. Ryan’s role in the budget discourse was not to be questioned, but to question others. 

If he was asked to comment, it was to express his sadness over Obama’s alleged unwillingness to enact the bipartisan debt plans that Ryan in fact killed. Update: Ryan explains his strategy to a talk radio host, "When you're offering very specific, bold solutions, confusion can be your enemy's best weapon." In other words, when you're specific and bold, your enemy will try to trap you into being specific. Don't let them! 

For an even more in-depth look, check out what John Nichols and Russ Feingold had to say about his record on manufacturing in this state. From Sly in the Morning:



Ryan also couldn't handle a simple question about abortion. Good luck in the debate?:

Democrats mistake; Repeating a False Claim will be misremembered as true by many.

I’ve always tried to understand the conservative mind, and why Republicans never seem to learn from their mistakes. It’s the lies.

While Germany’s Joseph Geobbels loved repeating a lie often, many unintentionally repeated that lie while disproving it. Big mistake. The following is a short sample of a story at Think Progress by Joe Romm, about his Kindle book “Language Intelligence.” Never forget the lesson here:

This post reviews why you shouldn’t repeat a myth you are trying to debunk.

President Obama’s failure to speak out repeatedly on the urgency of climate action is his biggest communications mistake. If our leaders don’t talk about an issue, it generally won’t become sufficiently salient for either the media or the public.

But Obama’s statement at the Democratic convention — responding to Romney’s mockery of his 2008 pledge of climate action — also contained a classic messaging mistake:

"And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet – because climate change is not a hoax...."

The social science literature is quite clear that repeating a myth is not the best way to debunk it. Indeed, there is evidence that it can actually end up promoting that myth.

Even more insidious, “when people find a claim familiar because of prior exposure but do not recall the original context or source of the claim, they tend to think that the claim is true,” as noted a 2005 journal article, “How Warnings about False Claims Become Recommendations,” which concluded ... Telling people that a consumer claim is false can make them misremember it as true.

A Paul Ryan comment we can laugh at...

It's a whole new season for Saturday Night Live, and Paul Ryan was ripe for getting the treatment after his "marathon" lie:

Sean Duffy Competes with Lyin' Ryan, saying Ryan's $716 billion Cut to Medicare Keeps the money in the Plan.

This was too good to pass up. During an interview with Upfront's Mike Gousha, Rep. Sean Duffy was asked if he agreed with Paul Ryan's cuts to the Medicare plan. Duffy started with a complete fiction:

Duffy: "Medicare is going broke, if we don't do something to reform it, fix it, it's going to impact our current seniors." 

I was unaware of any current funding problems. Can anyone help me with that one? (What reporters should ask conservatives? Who would opt to take the voucher, if you can still get standard Medicare? Personally, I hope all teabillies take the voucher, save the standard plan money, and end up devastated paying out of pocket on their fixed incomes.)

Duffy is either stupid or lying about Obamacare taking money out of the current Medicare plan. It actually saves money for current seniors filling the prescription donut hole along with providing free checkups.



As far as Ryan's similar $716 billion cut to Medicare, Sean says a cut is not a cut...in his world anyway.

Duffy: "In our plan, we keep the money IN MEDICARE. So if you keep the savings in Medicare, you shore it up...keep the money in Medicare."

But it's a $716 billion CUT from Medicare. Will anyone question Duffy's bad math?

Paul Ryan can't defend Medicaid Reductions, Promised Job Numbers, Tax Cuts for Families-the Millionaire type.

ABC's George Stephanopoulos got Paul Ryan to admit his Medicaid reduction plan will do away with guarantees for receiving care for seniors and the disabled. What? Who said life is fair?:



In this clip, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan get caught promising to create the same number of jobs economist predict will happen anyway, according to the currant rate. How bush league is that?:



As the pressure was building, Ryan made the most honest slip of the tongue yet, that the problem isn't that we're overtaxed!!! I'd use it in an ad. Ryan then corrects himself, but it's too late. A simple misstatement, or Freudian slip? He then generalizes the meaning of "family," which not surprising, includes families in the top 2 percent as well. Those are the people Obama wants to return to the Clinton era tax bracket. As for the small business tax, well that catches a whole 2 % of them. What a con.

Lyin' Ryan the talk of the Nation.

Here's Thom Hartmann dissection of Paul Ryan's endless stream of lies at the Republican National Convention. Thom's real point though is just as important; Ryan wouldn't have tried pulling his convention speech fast one on the American public, if the press had a history of doing its job.

Feingold Blasts Ryan in at Conventions.

Russ Feingold is in Charlotte, N.C. telling the truth about Paul Ryan.

jsonline: Former Sen. Russ Feingold told delegates: "You have a special responsibility as the Wisconsin delegation to set the record straight on Paul Ryan, and to show this idea of him being tough on spending is an absolute myth."

WISC Channel3000 had this report:

Feingold lambasted Ryan's record in the House and ripped his speech to the GOP convention last week, which Feingold said was full of "fabrications and deceptions."

Feingold's blistering comments are a bit more noteworthy because of his friendly relationship with Ryan over the years ... Feingold singled out Ryan's address which drew criticism in the media ... Feingold charged that Ryan "delivered the least honest of all the Republican convention speeches." In his speech, Ryan seemed to blame Obama for GM's failure to keep the plant running ... The Romney-Ryan campaign has argued that Obama "promised" to either keep the plant open or help it relaunch.

Feingold also blasted Ryan for his support of trade agreements that Feingold blames for the loss of industrial jobs. And Feingold accused Ryan of supporting policies under Bush - including wars and tax cuts - that fueled deficits. In an interview later, Feingold said of his relationship with Ryan, "I assume we'll continue to be polite and collegial to each other. You know our fathers had violent disagreements about politics . . . they were across the hall from each other . . . but the civility was clear and the civility will continue. But when somebody is on the national ticket and intentionally says things that you know (aren't) right, you got to call him on it."

Feingold argued that Ryan's credibility was hurt by the speech. "He had a really good reputation going into that night, and I think it was hurt significantly," said Feingold.

Feingold wasn't the only one leveling off on Ryan:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi attacked Ryan's plan to "voucherize" Medicare, calling it a "transparent trick to end Medicare," Politico reported.

Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison urged Wisconsin Democrats to help "get rid of Paul Ryan."
"What if he lost his House seat too? That'd be nice," said Ellison (Ryan is simultaneously on the ballot for Congress and vice president).

Lee Saunders, head of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told delegates they can help stop Ryan. "You have seen Paul Ryan in action, and you will be our spokespersons all over the country to tell everyone who Paul Ryan really is." Saunders said.

Saunders showed a bit more passion, using the old "Hollywood" empty chair trick:

Did conservative voters read about, or even hear about, Paul Ryan's Lies? Media coverage was there...

What should be noted about Paul Ryan’s VP acceptance speech is the national dialogue about campaign lying and why Ryan thought he could get away with it. This was no small feat.

And yes, I'm weary of reading about about how Ryan lied. But for the record, here's my choice of analysis. 

From a guy who’s written a book entitled "Live from the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the 20th Century and How They Shaped Modern America," I would give Michael Cohen bit more credit than your run of the mill political pundit. He’s even a fellow at the nonpartisan Century Foundation. Having said that, I thought his take on the Ryan's lies were worth reposting (edited for space).

NY Daily News: Yes, Paul Ryan lied, and yes, it matters!

His acceptance speech on Wednesday night was one of the most dishonest political speeches in recent U.S. political history.  While some like Ben Smith at BuzzFeed call Ryan’s flights of factual fancy "policy differences" with President Obama, this misunderstands what actually is a policy difference and what is a lie – and why Ryan’s incessant lying, including about marathon times, is actually pretty important.

1. Ryan claimed that President Obama’s stimulus measure was not only the "the largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government," it was "a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal." Now one can believe that the stimulus was big government run amok, as Ryan clearly does, but his characterization of the stimulus is simply false. The stimulus measure created 2.5 million jobs and, more important, cut taxes for 95% of Americans. It was also highly transparent and virtually fraud-free. It wasn’t the biggest one time expenditure – that would be World War II.

2. Ryan said that Obama’s "first order of economic business" was health-care reform. This is quite obviously not true. The derided stimulus bill passed within a few weeks of Obama taking office, health care a year later. Of course, Ryan’s claim that Obamacare "put the federal government in charge of health care" is an oft-repeated charge that is also a lie.

3. In addition, Ryan has also asserted that Obamacare raises taxes on "millions of small businesses." This is pants on fire untrue. In most cases, Obamacare provides small business with a tax cut.

4. On Medicare, Ryan’s assertion that the President took "$716 billion" and “funneled [it] out of Medicare” is belied by the fact that many of the cuts to Medicare went back into the program, for example filling the so-called "donut hole" in Medicare Part D.  It also ignores the fact that Ryan supported the exact same reductions before he conveniently changed his mind, though in his case the savings would have primarily funded tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy.

5. On the national debt, Ryan claimed that "by his own decisions," President Obama has added "$5 trillion in new debt." But of course this is only true if you believe history began the day Obama was inaugurated. Indeed, the vast majority of debt expansion over the past three-and-a-half years are from policies enacted under President Bush – things like the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, all of which were supported by Ryan. The debt has increased under Obama’s watch. This is unquestionably true. But it’s simply false to say this is primarily a result of Obama’s decisions.

6. In addition, Ryan said that Obama "created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report.  He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing." This is a lie on a number of levels. First, the commission never issued an urgent report or made any recommendations to Obama – because the group’s final report was rejected by the balance of its commissioners, including Paul Ryan.  But it’s certainly one of the most extraordinary, even Orwellian, sins of omission one will ever see.

7. Lastly, there is Ryan’s argument that Obama "did nothing" to deal with the national debt. Here is the President’s proposal for long-term debt reduction sent to Congress in the fall of 2011 – and here’s the report’s crucial paragraph:

"I am sending to the Congress this detailed plan to pay for this jobs bill and realize more than $3 trillion in net deficit reduction over the next 10 years. Combined with the approximately  $1 trillion in savings from the first part of the Budget Control Act, this would generate more than  $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade. This would bring the nation to the point where current spending is no longer adding to our debt and where our debt is no longer increasing as a share of our economy — an important milestone on the way to restoring fiscal discipline and moving us toward balance."

Now one may believe this is a lousy plan or that it won’t work or that it’s not serious. But to say that Obama has done nothing to deal with the debt issue is simply to deny reality.
There are also the inaccuracies like blaming the country’s debt downgrade on the President even though it was, according to Standard & Poor, largely the result of congressional gridlock and in particular a refusal to raise taxes (Republican), Or the implication in Ryan’s speech that Obama was responsible for a GM plant closing in Ryan’s home district even though the closure was set in motion before Obama even took office.

And this is just one speech! This isn’t even counting the Romney campaign’s more egregious lie – namely that President Obama’s granting of welfare waivers to states, a waiver requested by Republican governors, represents a "gutting" of welfare-work requirements. It’s pretty hard to imagine a situation in which that pattern of lying isn’t a relevant political issue.