Monday, August 13, 2012

Romney and Ryan Aren't Being Honest About Budget Plans

It looks to me like Romney/Ryan intend to lie their way to the White House. Ryan is more adept at lying. He doesn't outright lie like Mitt (except for the "you didn't build that" lie. They both outright lied). Ryan doesn't tell whole truths. He leaves a lot of stuff out. Ryan's real legislative record: In 13 years, he authored 2 minor bills.

From the New Yorker:
And the general reaction from the media has been that this is, in fact, what Ryan’s selection will mean—as the New York Times put it in a banner front-page headline today, by putting Ryan on the ticket, Romney is “pushing fiscal issues to the forefront.” But if that kind of clarifying, substantive debate is in fact to materialize, Ryan (and Romney) will need to be a lot more explicit, and a lot more honest, about what their budget proposals would actually do to the U.S. government.
....


That may sound a bit strange, since so many stories about Ryan emphasize how serious and wonky he is, and insist that, unlike most politicians, he’s actually willing to talk in detail about the policies he’s advocating. Yet the reality of Ryan’s approach is actually very different. His tax plan, for instance, calls for trillions of dollars in tax cuts (heavily weighted, of course, toward high-income earners), but also claims to be revenue-neutral, since Ryan says that the tax cuts will be offset by eliminating loopholes and tax subsidies. But when it comes to detailing exactly what loopholes and subsidies he wants to get rid of, Ryan clams up—just as Romney has done with his tax plan. This is politically astute, since eliminating the tax benefits that have a substantive budget impact would mean eliminating things voters love, like the mortgage-tax deduction. But it’s a far cry from being honest and tough-minded. Read more at New Yorker

CNN Money interviewed Ryan who's sort of in a pickle, accounting for himself as a member of the failed Congress and VP candidate. He blames Congress's do-nothing ways on the Senate and the White House. Nice bipartisanship.

In Iowa, Ryan makes a snide remark about Obama "only knowing left turns." Real grownup. Can you imagine Obama saying republicans only knew right turns? Such a vast difference between Obama and everyone else. You know who handles hecklers really well? Obama. I've never seen him denigrate a heckler. Romney/Ryan aren't astute enough to understand why someone might protest.


Fact checking Ryan's Medicare: