Ex-Janesville GM plant employee: Paul Ryan 'ought to be ashamed of himself'

[cynatnite]

Unique in their unanimity, for once, mainstream and more opinionated media outlets have been calling out Paul Ryan for the multiple distortions in his speech to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. One assertion has received a little more attention than the rest: Ryan's charge that Obama is to blame for the closing of the GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin.

One problem: the plant closed all but a few last operations on December 23, 2008 - and Obama was inaugurated as President in January 2009.

Though the fact-check articles have piled up, The Ed Show went one step further on Friday night. The best fact checkers are "the people actually given notice they were losing their jobs," said host Ed Schultz, who brought a former Janesville GM plant worker on the show.

Brad Dutcher, an employee who was at the meeting when then-Senator Obama spoke inside the plant, said Obama "had nothing to do with the decision to close our factory." He also said "there was never a promise made...to keep our plant open. That is completely false."

Four years after the closing of the plant, Janesville families are still feeling the effects. "We still have families that are separated, we have moms and dads that drive 4, 5 states away that come home on the weekends to see their families," said Dutcher. "To turn this plant closing into a political football is shameful, and he [Paul Ryan] ought to be ashamed of himself." The crowd behind him cheered and affirmed that comment, an audience comprised of people holding pro-union placards.

Schultz also pointed out another key date before the plant closure: November 18, 2008, when Mitt Romney wrote the now-infamous "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" op-ed column.

http://leanforward.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/31/13597416-ex-janesville-gm-plant-employee-paul-ryan-ought-to-be-ashamed-of-himself?lite

[a geek named Bob]

1. I'm not sure

The builders included that chip...

[svip]

2. Ryan did build 'it' ..

.. too bad the 'it' he built is a steaming pile of bullsh..

Really though, I hope the convention planners were closely paying attention to these workers. They were angry and upset their local Congressman would falsely use them to score political points.

Put these guys on the convention stage, and give them a good speaking slot to tell their story. Use these lies to paint the Republicans as not fit for office. Paint the picture that if someone like Ryan is willing to lie about his hometown, and his friends, how can the rest of America trust this man?

Do not let this just be something where the lie is rebuffed, and allow the Repubs to move on to another outrageous lie. Punish them for this lie. And use the angry people of Ryan's own hometown to dole out the punishment. Those people can speak louder on this subject than any politician could in proving how dishonest the right has been in an attempt to gain some extra votes.

[jsmirman]

3. I think things are going to get medieval at our convention

they fucked up.

They fucked up bad.

Obama's had a hard hand to play. Frankly, I worried about that amidst the excitement of working for the campaign in 2008. I knew we had to win - but I also thought, "Jesus. Things are really fucked up. It's like the world's worst catch. You get to be President. But you also inherit this giant shitball."

However, there's one thing we've always known. The Obama team knows how to drive home a point. They're canny and they're opportunistic.

The Republicans just gave them a whole bunch of openings. They're going to land those punches, and hard.

The opportunity is to both attack AND be positive.

The Republicans have fooled themselves into thinking that even making a really bad case still equals making a case. Their contortions to claim that Ryan didn't lie? The narrowest of ground that Romney always tip-toes across, retreating to the minimal cover of furiously spun justifications?

This is the kind of stuff that gets smashed at an effective Convention. You don't win by having a legal argument. They've given the Obama team the opportunity to have bold, clear, digestible sentences that voters can understand and get behind.

I think Charlotte is where a forceful case meets a filigreed case.

Mitt Romney has some complicated, cockamamie bullshit reason that when he said "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," he didn't really mean what we think he meant?

Ok, buddy.

Stuff like that is going to get wrecked in Charlotte.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Willard is not fit to be president

[B Calm]

5. The outsourcing bastard is not fit to be a citizen

let alone president! Where in the hell did the GOP find this clown?