Paul Ryan's speech: a round-up of his most audacious untruths

[rpannier]

In his barnstormer of a speech to the swooning crowd at the Republican national convention on Wednesday night, Paul Ryan laid a mound of misdeeds at President Obama's door. To sustained applause from the floor, the vice-presidential candidate accused Obama of raiding Medicare, lying to auto workers and turning his back on the poor. But the speech (transcript here) was not always at pains to adhere to the historical record. At times, we are disappointed to report, Ryan baldly lied. Here's a round-up of Ryan's most audacious untruths:


1. And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly … So they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.

Barack Obama's budget plan calls for $716bn in cuts to Medicare spending over the next 10 years, but in reimbursements to insurers and hospitals, not in payments to beneficiaries, which would be preserved.

Ryan knows this because he has written these same cuts in to successive drafts of his famed budget. The cuts are designed to extend the solvency of Medicare for an estimated eight years. Repealing the cuts would likely increase payments by hundreds of dollars a year for beneficiaries, who share costs with the government.

2. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That's what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year.

Ryan accurately quotes Obama, who visited the plant as a presidential candidate in February 2008. Four months later, GM announced the plant would drastically scale back production. The plant laid off most of its workforce in December 2008, before Obama took office. The "government support" Obama spoke of – his auto bailout plan, which took effect in early 2009 – did not arrive early enough to save the Janesville plant, but it is credited with saving the American auto industry.

link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/30/paul-ryans-speech-audacious-untruths

[No Elephants]

1. In 2008, the government was not there to support anything other than the MIC and the banksters.

So, Ryan inadvertently proved Obama's point. Trouble is, he did it dishonestly.


Polls show that Obama lost a significant number of poll points after people exposed the truth(?) about the guy whose wife died--that Romney (supposedly?) had been out of Bain for years before Bain closed that particular company.

One can only hope that Democrats will expose the Romney Ryan lies in such a way that will cost Romney many points.

[No Elephants]

2. Now, he has the body fat of an Olympic champion, too!

Under three hour marathan time and the body fat of an Olympic champion. Bet he can break the sound barrier while running the mile, too.

Wow, what a physical specimen! I get hot just thinking about it.

If he'd only ask the wizard for a heart, a soul and a brain!