… as long as it’s not him, of course. Jonathan Cohn, at TNR, spells out Six Things to Know About Ryan (and Romney):
Many millions of working-age Americans would lose health insurance. Senior citizens would anguish over whether to pay their rent or their medical bills, in a way they haven’t since the 1960s. Government would be so starved of resources that, by 2050, it wouldn’t have enough money for core functions like food inspections and highway maintenance. And the richest Americans would get a huge tax cut.
This is the America that Paul Ryan envisions. And now we know that it is the America Mitt Romney envisions.
Of course, we should have known that already. Romney committed himself to the Ryan agenda during the presidential primaries, both by embracing the Ryan budget rhetorically and specifically proposing key features of Ryan’s agenda, starting with a tight cap on federal spending. But if anybody doubted that Romney was serious about these commitments, the Ryan pick should put those doubts to rest. Maybe Romney sincerely believes these ideas are right for the country and maybe he feels that endorsing them is necessary to please his party’s base. It really doesn’t matter. It’s the way he intends to govern…
1. Ryan really believes in ending Medicare as we know it…
2. Ryan really believes in ending Medicaid as we know it…
3. Ryan really pushed for privatization of Social Security….
4. Ryan really would decimate government funding, to the point it could no longer carry on many routine operations…
5. Ryan really does want the biggest transfer of wealth, from poor and middle class to rich, in modern U.S. history…
6. Ryan really holds an extreme position on abortion rights, even relative to other conservatives….
Full details at the link. Forward this one to your ‘sensible centrist’ acquaintances, the ones who keep meeping about The Deficit.
Michelle Goldberg at the Daily Beast details Ryan’s anti-choice extremism:
… Any Republican vice-presidential candidate is going to be broadly anti-abortion, but Ryan goes much further. He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman’s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization. The National Right to Life Committee has scored his voting record 100 percent every year since he entered the House in 1999. “I’m as pro-life as a person gets,” he told The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack in 2010. “You’re not going to have a truce.”…
Ryan also expressed his willingness to let states criminally prosecute women who have abortions. According to another Journal Sentinel article, he “would let states decide what criminal penalties would be attached to abortions. Ryan said he has never specifically advocated jailing women who have abortions or doctors who perform them, but added, ‘If it’s illegal, it’s illegal.’”
DecidedFenceSitter
At least he’s open about it. Of course, it doesn’t really matter since the public won’t believe he’d actually do all those horrible things and they have to be exaggerations.
beltane
The only reason a good Randian like Ryan could have for outlawing abortion is that he needs a steady supply of newborn infants to dine on.
Mitt Romney might be an asshole but his running mate is a deviant creeper.
BGinCHI
Must-read post by Kthug on Ryan up at his blog.
Here.
For Krugman, it’s all about playing the media so that they mainline Ryan’s Seriousness to the low info voters.
I guess we’ll see if facts and details can be part of our national discussion. Get ready to weep, Jesus.
Triassic Sands
This needs slight modification to be accurate.
2. Ryan really believes in ending Medicaid. Period.
Republicans will do whatever they can get away with, but fundamentally they believe in private charity — the right of everyone to sneer at the poor and pretend that private giving could ever hope to address the problems of poverty and illness in this country.
Hunter Gathers
OT – The weeping drunk that runs the House of Representatives blames drought on Obama. And no, it’s not a story from the Onion.
eric
What are the answers to these related questions: “Do Romney-Ryan vouchers increase at the same rate as health care costs so that people dont lose ground from where they are today?”
And, “Is there anything covered now that wont be covered by the Romney-Ryan vouchers?
(If I am Obama, then I give concrete examples of what this would mean…)
Thoughtcrime
Obama’s been trying to mark Romney with the Ryan budget stink for several months.
Now, by picking Ryan as his running mate, Romney has decided to rub “Eau de Polecat” all over himself to attract the cretins of the right.
Everyone else, though, will be repelled by the stench.
NotMax
More gshort backgrounders about Ryan:
1) Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte
2) What Paul Ryan’s budget actually cuts — and by how much
Valdivia
There’s a rant by Michael Grunwald from last year @Time (hat/tip to Drum, have to give him his due on this) that is a must must read. I had to have a drink after it! :)
Here.
Bulworth
Ryan has also sponsored legislation to tell the Fed not to focus on the “full employment” mandate of it’s dual full employment and price stability mandate.
Although I realize this, too, is incredibly Courageous and Very Serious it’s really very stupid policy and if “America’s Comeback Team” doesn’t want the Fed or any government institution to address high unemployment, which they want to blame Obama for, they should be asked about this.
Thoughtcrime
@Hunter Gathers:
Usual wingnut pre-emptive projection since they know they’ll eventually be (accurately) blamed for the effects of global warming.
NotMax
Love, love love this observation. (h/t to Maddowblog; not going to include the link to the original at Politico)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BGinCHI:
Absolutely, not just with lo-info voters, we saw it with Will Saletan right out of the gate. Your Totebagger family and friends will be stroking their chins about “I don’t agree with all his plans, but it’s a serious plan.” Unless your point is that not all low-info voters are the people who think Paul Ryan is Rand Paul, which is an utterly cromulant point.
Also, too, Paul Ryan is a trust funder whose trust fund originated largely in government spending.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@DecidedFenceSitter:
__
This is the new GOP strategy. Dogwhistles are yesterday’s tactic, because frankly they just don’t work all that well anymore. Now instead they’re using bullhorns to announce the worst they have to offer, and too many people simply will refuse to believe their own lying ears, because who would expect such a thing of those nice Republicans? Ryan could print out his blueprint for grinding the middle class up into Soylent Green crackers, spelled out in excruciating detail, and print it under the title: “My Struggle” and still none of the totebaggers would believe he really meant it, because that nice Mr. Charlie Rose on the TV said there’s nothing to worry about and he always seems so reasonable.
trollhattan
Willard has shreaded the last threads of any
hopebelief he’s “running right but will govern from ‘the center.'” The Ryan choice signals the perfectly lubricated weathervane has rusted into position, pointing right.Valdivia
This is also a good take on what the media is enabling with the ‘serious’ talk. R+R will go around saying we are talking about ideas while they lie and stay in the gutter, and Obama who has been talking about ideas and not lying will get tagged as the liar of the campaign. Assholes.
Maude
If I were really shallow and of course, I’m not, I’d point out that Ryan’s widow’s peak is unfortunate.
Roe V Wade. I am not going into the states can’t abrogate federal law. Do I get a medal for abrogate?
This guy is from the Gilded Age of cruelty.
If he could, and there was a place, he would transport the poor as criminals.
This is the best year for this discussion.
Enough people are hurting and aren’t going to go along with what supplies basic needs being taken away.
Obama is a success. The local RW radio host called him a radical.
What would you say if I called you a radical, a liberal.. has been running though my head all day.
NotMax
Also not only a must read, but something to pass along to seniors, from the Kaiser Foundation:
Linda Featheringill
@Hunter Gathers: #5
You’re right. Boehner is blaming Obama for the drought. But I didn’t find an explanation of his thinking. Exactly how did Obama cause this lack of rain?
peach flavored shampoo
I dont know me my Roe v. Wade very well, but wouldn’t this go against that ruling? In a sense, usurp the judiciary?
feebog
Just saw a clip of Ryan being heckled at the Iowa State Fair. He did not handle it well. He let it get him off track and was visably flustered. I didn’t think there could be a worse campaigner than the Romneybot 2.0, but a few more of these muckups and I may change my mind.
NotMax
@Maude
And dun them for the cost of the ticket.
The Bobs
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You misspelled cromulent, Lisa would not be pleased.
rlrr
@Linda Featheringill:
Obama’s being Muslim makes the baby Jesus sad, so no rain.
Xecky Gilchrist
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Ryan could print out his blueprint for grinding the middle class up into Soylent Green crackers, spelled out in excruciating detail, and print it under the title: “My Struggle” and still none of the totebaggers would believe he really meant it
Totally. This is one of the things that is utterly gobsmacking about reaching middle age – I’ve now reestablished contact with a bunch of old college friends online. We were all impassioned lefties in the day, yelling and sitting-in and whatnot about divesting from South Africa, getting out of Central America, etc., and not a bunch of them are exactly this kind of totebagger.
Hunter Gathers
@Linda Featheringill:
I’m going to go with 4 possibilities:
1 – He’s black
2 – He’s blacker than black
3 – He’s the blackest thing since black came to Blacktown
4 – Boehner was already into his 2nd bottle of scotch, was feeling a little woozy from his latest session in the tanning bed and mistook Obama for Storm from X-Men. You know how all those black people look alike, right?
BGinCHI
Who the FUCK is Carter Eskew and where do I go to punch him in the eye?
I dare you to just read Atrios’s snippet.
Jesus but beltway liberals are the fucking worst. I need a drink.
Waratah
@Valdivia: I thought this was good and I am considering reading his book the The New New Deal.
Spaghetti Lee
I’m just gonna say I don’t like the phrase “Medicare as we know it”. It implies that there’s something better coming along, like those commercials that say “ending TV as we know it.” Like someone upthread said, Ryan wants to destroy Medicare. End of story. He wants to destroy the program that allows high-insurance-risk senior citizens to get health insurance from the government and force them to use private insurance companies. He wants to end Medicare.
beltane
@feebog: He didn’t handle the heckler well and it’s hardly like he had the crowd going the way Palin used to get her crowds going.
The Beltway wingnuts may like Ryan’s “serious” proposals, but the rank-and-file teabaggers are really just white nationalists who need a steady diet of culture war hate-talk to keep enthused.
jl
The double douchebag ticket. What else is there to say?
SatanicPanic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I hear this and the soft bigotry of low expectations of it just gets me. It’s a serious plan like a used car salesman forging Carfax reports is a serious plan. No rational person should be awarding him brownie points for it.
NotMax
@Linda Featheringill
5 – Kenyan witch doctor drought dance.
Xecky Gilchrist
@BGinCHI: I dare you to just read Atrios’s snippet.
From said snippet:
But here’s why I like the pick of Ryan. At least he has an idea, however misguided and derivative.
“Say what you like about the tenets of National Soc1al1sm, at least it’s an ethos.” — Walter Sobchak
jl
@Valdivia: I think you link is blank. Don’t show up and when I scroll over I just see the protocol tag.
Roger Moore
@Hunter Gathers:
Obviously, God is punishing America for electing a Godless, Socialist, Muslim Kenyan Usurper. The drought won’t go away until we elect a Republican.
JPL
John Sununu sounds as though he has had a few too many on Chris Matthews.
jl
But hey, as along as we are talking about ‘blank’, there is a reason these miserable media celeb loons, vicious loons at that, like to say ‘at least Ryan has a serious plan’ and then go on to talk in vague generalities. They are lazy ass, ignorant, innumerate clowns. Paid clowns for their corporations and their audience appeal scores.
As in the miserable Klein, who dissed Social Security because it was so ‘twentieth century’ and so ‘industrial age’.
News and public affairs analysis has become a kind of reality show long ago.
These horrible newsy actors have become Masters of the Horse (to reference an ancient Chinese fable) long ago, and if their lives depended on it, they could not tell you want they actually do.
It is sure not readying, or studying, or knowing anything.
BGinCHI
@Xecky Gilchrist: I raise my Caucasian on the rocks to you, sir.
GOP ethos: “If you will it, Dude, it is no dream.”
gf120581
@feebog: Expect more of it. Ryan is not very well tested with hostile crowds and it’s clear he doesn’t handle it very well. Like Romney he’s very thin-skinned and if someone doesn’t give him the fawning accolades he’s used to getting from the Faux News blowhards and certain members in the MSM (I don’t know if Gregory and Halperin want to interview Ryan or date him), he turns into a whining little brat complaining about the big meanies insulting him.
jl
@JPL:
If so, at least some GOPpers have enough self awareness and common sense to get a little juiced up before they disgrace themselves in front of the country.
beltane
@jl: You’re absolutely correct. The talking heads we see on TV are not journalists, but character actors paid to provide a plausible simulation of journalism.
Redshift
@Valdivia:
The link seems to be broken, so I can’t comment on the specifics, but I will note that this has been Romney’s strategy so far, and it doesn’t seem to be working very well. That’s how he got to the point of nominating a radical VP candidate in the first place.
The Romney campaign has many levels of incompetence, but one of them is a complete inability to think ahead more than a week or two. Even with the worshipful Beltway media, I think there’s only so long you can go presenting yourself as the serious one with ideas, without actually talking about those ideas. The campaign doesn’t seem to grasp that the one thing about the news media is that even if they want to buy what you’re selling, news still depends on new, and just repeating the same BS doesn’t get the same response.
Combine that with the likely stink of failure after the VP/convention bounce is over and the fact that Romney now has a reputation for secrecy, and I don’t think “Ryan is great but I have a different budget plan that that I won’t tell you about but it’s also Truly Conservative™ without any politically unpopular bits” is going to fly for long.
gf120581
@JPL: Isn’t that always how John Sununu always sounds? In the Romney campaign, his role is that of the drunk, obnoxious and possibly abusive uncle everyone tries to avoid at Thanksgiving.
BGinCHI
I can’t wait for the Biden-Ryan debates.
JB’s populist schtick is going to kill in comparison to fiscal austerity. Ryan will say “we have to make tough choices” and then Biden will say “and here is who is going to suffer and here is who is going to benefit.”
A fifth grader could win that debate against a Randian.
Bruce S
This perverted notion that women should be forced to carry fetuses to term after impregnation from acts of rape or incest should be disqualifying. Not just from the Presidential ticket but from polite society. That it is not is a testament to just how crazed the GOP has become, how beholden to folks who are quite literally religious fanatics at the “Ayatollah” level of ferocity, willing to inflict untold pain on other human beings in fulfillment of their zealotry. This is even more insane than his crank and fraudulent “budget.” Which already raises a pretty high bar for insanity.
NotMax
@jl
Case in point, Chris Matthews, whose shtick is a one-note gripe: that [insert politician name here] is not Chris Matthews.
BGinCHI
@Redshift: I endorse this comment. No one buys snake oil twice. Plus, when it generates news to dump on R2, then bloodbath. What is there to report on about Obama? It’s all been said.
JPL
@gf120581: It appears that they are trying to run away from Ryan’s medicare plan but at the same time praising Ryan. He didn’t get the Bain memo cuz he asked Chris why Chris said he wasn’t suppose to talk about Bain.
JCT
@gf120581: Ryan’s whining after Obama took apart his “plan” was EPIC. So put upon, poor Paul Ryan.
Valdivia
@jl:
and @redshift
Hope this link works
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/106096/can-romney-and-ryan-really-take-the-high-ground
Turgidson
@Linda Featheringill:
I’m sure I didn’t get to this joke first, but I’m sure Boehner said, more in sorrow than anger, that the cloud sector of our economy is holding back its productivity due to crushing regulation and uncertainty about taxes.
BGinCHI
@Valdivia: You get any of that cava on WTSO the other day? Cracking it tonight….
burnspbesq
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The takeaway has to be “a serious but evil plan is still evil.”
Ryan is correct about one thing. Given our current low level of tax revenue, our current level of social-safety-net spending is unsustainable in the long run.
Everything after that is deeply wrong.
jl
Goofy news goofy news goofy goofy news fools
Goofy news goofy news goofy goofy news fools
Can’t add can’t count, what do you do?
Can’t add can’t count, what do you do?
Cluess generalities follow
Must be something with the ratings.
We sure follow fashion
Otherwise would be work
You know we’r e going to bullshit bullshit.
So impolite to call jerk call jerk
Brandon
I’ve been hoping that at some point, we’d just all sit back and collectively laugh at the sh*t show fail parade that is the Romney campaign. But it seems I am the only one laughing.
Do people know something that I don’t? Or does Romney have some secret plan to win that excludes Florida that I have not heard yet?
22over7
His “budget plan” is the means, but what is the end? Seriously, what is the endgame for, say, Grover Norquist? Shut down all cabinet departments, sell the Smithsonian and Yosemite to the Chinese for condo development, disband the army? Then what? Turn over all power to the states? Tell the governors to deal with the masses of sick, starving, heavily-armed Americans?
Does the Chamber of Commerce really think that this is the way to get America moving again? I think not. I think this is just a bunch of talk to keep us talking, while the real plan is to loot and pillage every last cent and acre possible before…something. This is where it gets really fuzzy for me. Maybe all the .001 percenters are moving to Paraguay or something.
WereBear
@BGinCHI: The fiscal austerity thing drives me crazy.
Why is the government short of money? Why are there no jobs? Why does the economy suck?
The rich won’t let go of money. That’s all. There isn’t any shortage.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bulworth:
“America’s Comback Team” is all about bringing back the far more civilized form of government that is feudalism.
Hell, Divine Right is too leftist for these clowns.
Turgidson
@beltane:
And they’re not very good at it. The cast of The Wire should be given a shot at this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@jl:
I assume that’s Joe Klein?
WereBear
@Valdivia: Put a warning on that kind of thing. I just ate!
kindness
So….the TeaHaddists take over the Republican nominating machine and march out Ryan for VP. Then they do everything they can to work some poor SOB Democrat up to the point where they would go out and do something evil to Romney.
How much you wanna bet those teahaddists WANT this to happen but only after Romney has won the election. Isn’t that logic kinda like the Underwear Gnomes in South Park? There is a big # 2 there they should think about before they can hit #3 Profit!
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
Eskew:
At least Eskew can tell that Ryan’s idea is misguided and derivative. Gotta start somewhere.
WaterGirl
@Hunter Gathers: Okay, I am officially a bad person for laughing at that headline:
“Boehner’s Office Says Obama Avoiding Personal Responsibility For Drought”
But then the update on Boehner’s site says this
I have two things to say about that:
I don’t trust Boehner’s word for it that the bipartisan measure in the House is actually reasonable.
So these guys have to be told to pass legislation now? Geez. Somebody remind the Senators to wipe after they go to the bathroom, and wash their hands, too.
jl
@Valdivia:
Even the liberal TNR! admits that Ryan is a whiner, then says, hey, it just might work because he is such a sad sincere seeming whiner.
I dunno, fingernails across a blackboard can be very sincere and method actors trained to put up with that noise (aka pundits) will praise it as being better than it sounds. But I trust the self preservation of the voters to run away from something like that.
Thanks. But now I need a drink.
Turgidson
@Brandon:
The GOP’s calculus: Old people who aren’t particular comfortable with the occupant of the White House being near, and who are exempted from Ryan’s granny starving magnum opus, will probably still vote much more strongly for the upstanding white gentlemen than they have any business doing.
That, and muddy the waters by screaming about the ACA’s alleged Medicare cuts (you know, the ones that harm beneficiaries not at all and make the program more solvent).
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yes, that was Joe Klein. How people can ever take these sad fatuous drones seriously is beyond me.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
This is who they are. His aggressively groomed hair, complete with widow’s peak, simply puts a face on it. Chait makes important points. This is who they are.
BGinCHI
@burnspbesq: The poverty of low expectations that only a 2012 Liverpool fan would put forward.
JesusAnfield weeps.kay
@Brandon:
For me, right now, it just feels like we’re trying to fit this into some coherent plan and it’s not working.
It’s like we say “Florida?” and they say “bold!”
We say “Ohio?” And they say “he has blue eyes!”
Maybe it’ll be clearer at some point but analyzing this as “how do they get to 270?” just seems futile right now.
Do they know? Maybe. Or maybe it’s “bold!” “blue eyes!”
Ben Cisco
@Thoughtcrime: In his defense, he thought he had a bottle of “Eau de la Petite Femme Skunk sans pew.”
Bokonon
OMG! It is that Chicago-style thuggery! Mobs of those terrible, uncivil, impolite Democrats!! Asking impolite and impertinent things in loud voices! Help!!!! Start screening the audiences! Have the police arrest troublemakers! Keep them away from the poor, poor candidate!
[Just don’t bring up the Tea Party’s organized disruption of public meetings – and the scripts that they handed out to their people on how to drown out and intimidate everyone …]
Davis X. Machina
@22over7:
No. They think this is the way that the people who own most of America already can acquire the rest of it. The size of the pie isn’t quite so big an issue if you own all of it.
burnspbesq
@Spaghetti Lee:
It’s the health-insurance equivalent of terminating a defined-benefit plan and replacing it with a 401(k).
We decided, as a society, 48 years ago, that we wanted senior citizens to be able to live out their last years with some modicum of dignity. No, Congressman Ryan, you don’t get to renege on that deal.
Hob
@beltane: Ryan doesn’t care about being a “good Randian” any more than he cares about any other principle. Ever since the religious right figured out that Rand was hostile to Christianity, Ryan’s been flat-out lying and saying he wasn’t really into her.
jl
This is cute. Ryan, the vicious gericidal loon is red meat to the wingnuts who will be demanding, I think, that the campaign will be turned into a referendum on a Ryan regency.
Meanwhile…
Republican Candidates Tip-Toe Around Ryan’s Medicare Plan
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/gop-candidates-tip-toe-on-ryans-medicare-plan.php
Willard going to be able to run and lie, lie and run, run and lie at the same time (assuming that is within his skill level) all the way to November?
Ben Cisco
@Hunter Gathers: LULZ.
Stooleo
And in Illinois, Bain Capital is shipping another factory off to China.
Gex
@Thoughtcrime: I wish they can make up their minds. Are major weather patterns cause because of gays or soshulist Kenyans? I mean, we know it has nothing to do with atmospheric gases, so it has to be one of those two things.
Turgidson
@Bokonon:
Protesting a bill that aims to bring health care coverage to 30 million people and also rein in escalating costs = patriotism at its finest.
Telling a soulless sociopath that his soulless, sociopathic policy ideas are soulless and sociopathic = treason and well beyond the intended scope of the First Amendment.
I hope this PSA was informative for you.
LanceThruster
I had a friend who loved his job at KB Toys and was devastated when they went belly up thanks to the generous help of the Bain boys. Didn’t know who the creeps behind the pilfering were till now.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@kay: I’m not celebrating yet because a lot of the people who will decide this election don’t vote based on issues, they vote based on shit like blue eyes and “seems like a nice guy”. This article on the Warren-Brown race pretty much demonstrates that, as hard as the reporter tries to gin up a small issue to make Warren look bad. Warren seems to be getting stronger in the polls, and I’m inclined to think she will win on the day–Ryan may well prove a drag down ticket around the country–, but a whole lot of people who would tick off boxes against everything SCott Brown actually stands for will vote for him because he talks about the Red Sox and drinks beer out of a bottle.
Redshift
@Valdivia: Okay, then.
No. SATSQ.
It reminds me of the TPM post that Ryan could maybe, possibly, put Wisconsin in the Romney column. Similarly, maybe the media could go straight through to the election just swooning over Paul Ryan.
Neither one will happen. They’re only plausible in the context of extremely sharp Republican campaign running against the kind of well-intentioned but bumbling Democratic campaign we’ve seen too often in the past. Even Rove & Co. didn’t count on the media just falling into his preferred narrative; they were evil but hard-working at it. This time, we’ve got an extremely competent and talented Democratic candidate and campaign staff, and a comically incompetent Republican campaign with a dreadful candidate.
Not gonna happen, and even the incompetent Romney campaign knows it. If they thought they could “seize the high ground,” they wouldn’t be running racist welfare ads in August.
Emma
@Valdivia: Not this time. Obama’s people seem (so far) to be able to challenge their narrative even over the media’s head.
scav
Surely would be simple to run this followed by clips of any number of Tea Party Enhanced Town Hall meetings all carefully noted as to state of origin. And, was he aware that cameras were on and his statement might be broadcast elsewhere in those oh-so-rude other states?
His unfamiliarity with a butter cow is, ahh, nice little (out of) touch State Fair detail.
Valdivia
@BGinCHI:
mmm sounds delightful. I got a few bottles of the spanish stuff they had on the wedsnesday marathon. I am still hoping they will get on rotation some of the Aljibes (my first buy) because that was spectacular.
@WereBear:
hhis. ;)
WaterGirl
@JCT:
I would very much to see that. Is there a linky?
Valdivia
@Redshift: @Emma:
I have utmost faith in the Obama team, I just hate the stenography and fanboi bs from the Village. And in that rage i get a little nervous too. But I did think that it was a good point–that Ryan plays this role and with it he has snookered the whole of the Village and a bunch of ‘centrists’
mclaren
“Granny-starving extremist.” “Child-starver who favors tax cuts for billionaires.”
Hit ’em with these until he crumbles and falls to his knees and begs for the pain to stop.
BGinCHI
@Valdivia: I like the Aljibes too. Have 2 bottles left.
JCT
@WaterGirl: Crooks and Liars did a good job with it!
I’m having a link fail, so here’s the real link: http://gocl.me/gNHBuY
Valdivia
@BGinCHI:
I have one left and I am treating it like a major treasure!
NotMax
Ryan could likely be asked about Ebenezer Scrooge and respond that he was a job creator.
WaterGirl
@scav: Well, if there’s one thing that endears me to someone, it’s being scolded by them. Okay, make it two. The other thing that endears me is being condescended to. I love it when people talk to me as if I’m a child.
I am happy to say, on Ryan-Romney Day 3: What the hell is Ryan thinking?
Hill Dweller
@Valdivia: Ryan hasn’t snookered anybody. The villagers are willing going along with the charade because they think it makes them look ‘objective’ and, ultimately, helps their careers.
Krugman’s two most recent posts perfectly describes the dynamic that turns a complete fraud like Ryan into a “wonk”.
Valdivia
@Hill Dweller:
they willingly fell into his manly arms.
shoot me now.
Brachiator
OT WTF: Might an Middle East War Up the Ante in the US elections?
Wanted to make sure this got out before I left for the day (West Coast Time): Israel plunged into unprecedented debate about war
Any discussions about Ryan not only has to include his opinions on domestic issues, but also his stand on foreign affairs.
Valdivia
@Brachiator:
check out this twitter feed. he has has the best info on this–I was reading it this weekend and it made my hair stand on end. The good news is that the last poll done this weekend showed israelis not supporting the attack (46% against). the talk of war maybe the rollout of the war product.
https://twitter.com/blakehounshell
beltane
@Hill Dweller: It’s interesting as to what crazy scheme gets labeled “serious” and what doesn’t. If, say, Bernie Sander proposed paying off the national debt by assessing a “repatriation fee” on the 1,000 richest Americans consisting of 99% of their net worth in exchange for a one-way ticket out of the US and a 24 hour grace period to collect their personal belongings, the Beltway media would be up in arms. When it comes to the financial extermination of tens of millions of Americans, the media admires the “seriousness” of it all.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Roger Moore:
Worked well for Texas, oh wait….
Ben Franklin
@Brachiator:
The SOB may be setting Obama up. October Surprise of Surprises?
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000773314&fid=1725
Ben Franklin
@Valdivia:
Netanyahoo’s recent grab for power signals he don’t care what the People say.
Violet
@Valdivia: Somewhat OT, were you the one fretting that Bob Schieffer might be one of the moderators of a Presidential debate? If so, your nightmare has come true:
Litlebritdifrnt
@BGinCHI:
The callers to my local RWNJ radio station this evening were just chuckling themselves into wetting their depends about how Ryan is just going to DESTROY Biden in the debate, and the only way that Biden could win was that Ryan was laughing so much at Biden’s gaffes that he couldn’t respond with substance. I kid you not. Me? I think Eddie Munster is crapping his pants about having to debate Joe.
eric
@WaterGirl: aw, sweety, that is good to know. thanks hon.
Valdivia
@Violet:
I saw that. the one slim hope i have is that it will be the foreign policy debate where Obama can just clearly clean Romney’s clock no matter how much help he gets. Though now with the Israel-Iran thing. Who knows?
Martin
Here’s my solution to this problem and the problem in the previous thread:
All taxpayer spending for healthcare, disability, and survivor benefits related to gun violence will be levied as a tax against gun and ammo sales – split 50/50 between them. So if there is $1b in such costs, $500m would need to recouped in taxes each against guns and ammo. If there are expected to be 10m gun sales, that’d be a $100 tax per gun.
The problem with the current debates is that there isn’t a virtuous cycle to get participants to engage. It too easy for gun advocates to reject all controls because they don’t see the costs directly. This would change that. And it would take a chunk of healthcare spending out of entitlement funds.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator:
I don’t think he or Romney have any real interest in foreign affairs, they’ll just hand the keys over to the neo-cons.
Joe Lieberman’s going to be looking for a job next January….
The only bright side is that this will make St Colin nervous, and after a suitable period of pretending to seriously consider both sides, after leaking word of his serious reflection enough to get some attention, then The Second Most Over-Rated Individual In Politics For As Long As John McCain Lives will reluctantly sully himself by necessarily entering the fray to endorse Obama, and as much as I despise TSMORIIPFALAJML, that will leave a mark.
Turgidson
@Litlebritdifrnt:
If Ryan’s back-and-forths with Obama are any indication, he’ll whine about how mean Biden is being to him no more than 15 minutes in. Not sure how that’ll play to undecided voters.
Violet
@Ben Franklin: So an October surprise of Israel attacking Iran? And that would make Romeny/Ryan, who have zero foreign policy experience, more attractive than the man who got Bin Laden? I think Netanyahu might want to rethink that strategy.
NotMax
Couple of goodies from running Paul Davis Ryan through an anagram generator:
Avails Rand? Yup.
Parlay via duns
eric
@Violet: it will give the old more zionist jews in florida something to not like the schwartza for to counter-balance the medicare debacle. good times.
Dennis SGMM
Paul Ryan has had only two of his bills passed during his thirteen fucking years in Congress. Two. And he’s the intellectual leader of the GOP?
Ben Franklin
@Violet:
After Rmoney’s cozy. Reagan-like visit, I am thinking collusion.
I might be paranoid, but that’s what History teaches me.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
If a war starts before the election, Romney and Ryan will have to make a case about how they will best deal with it. They will have to make a case to change administrations in the midst of a conflict in which the US supposedly has a compelling national interest.
Briefiings and the reflections of Colin Powell won’t matter.
@Violet:
Agreed. Which makes you wonder what the hell people are thinking.
As I noted in another thread, the perception of instability in the ranks of the Egyptian army might be affecting thinking over this.
WaterGirl
@eric: If you were trying to communicate something to me with that comment, you failed miserably.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t ever want to find out, but I wonder who would be President Willard’s national security team? McCain at Defense, Lieberman at State?
lacp
@Violet: Netanyahu may believe that attacking Iran during the election will force the President to get the American military into the act (since the Israelis don’t have the capability to really pull this off by themselves). I don’t know if that’s true or, if it is true, that the President would get suckered into such a mess.
WaterGirl
@Dennis SGMM: And did you see what the bills were? ha ha ha
Valdivia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Dan Senor at State or at the UN.
JCT
@Dennis SGMM: Hey! They were very important, quality >>> quantity you know. Just ask the renamed post office and the arrow sellers.
/snark
Calouste
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Avigdor Lieberman, not Joe, at State. If not de jure then at least de facto. Under Romney the US foreign policy will be run out of Jerusalem, not out of DC.
Violet
@lacp: I understand the rationale, but I don’t think Netanyahu has thought it through if he thinks it’s going to help win Romney the election.
In the middle of a serious new war in the Middle East, Netanyahu thinks Americans will decide that changing horses to Romney, with his zero foreign policy experience, is a good idea…why? I just don’t see how it’s a selling point.
Valdivia
@scav:
but following the swooning pattern of the media I saw this reported somewhere as a charming midwestern response by Ryan. lolwut?
Violet
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not sure it matters, since if Romney wins, we’ll all probably get blown up in some nuclear war that Netanyahu’s ego starts.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
John Bolton at State.
trollhattan
Jayzus, Paul Campos dug up a doozy of a Ryan tonguebath delivered with zeal by Erskine Bowles. But why stop there, how about a three-way with Alan Simpson? Ugh.
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2012/08/ladies-and-gentlemen-behold-the-liberal-half-of-bowles-simpson-in-action#comments
Litlebritdifrnt
@Martin:
Martin – I like it, I like it a lot, and it is great because the NRA types can’t whine “but but car wrecks” because everyone is required to carry insurance in order to drive a car. If they bring that up then we can just switch the argument to say “okay then, in order to own a gun you have to have liability insurance for any damage it causes” *insert evil laugh here*
lacp
@Violet: I’m not sure he really cares whether or not Romney is elected, as long as the USA winds up being the fall guy for an attack on Iran.
beltane
@Ben Franklin: There’s no law that says there can’t be a Jewish fascist. Every group’s got them and now we’re seeing it with Netanyahu.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: That would be awesome. Gun insurance! Why hasn’t anyone tried this tactic?
eric
@WaterGirl: i was being snarky….. / snark fail
trollhattan
@Dennis SGMM:
Meanies of the “Democrat Party” stole his lunch money all those years, so he had to pass the two bills while they were behind the Capitol, smoking.
beltane
@lacp: Netanyahu truly overestimates the degree to which the American public will support going through another disastrous war, especially one that is being fought on behalf of a supposed client state. Such a war might make the fundies happy, but everyone else will be pissed.
Redshift
@Litlebritdifrnt: “Biden’s gaffes” has become another one of those wingnut articles of faith like the idea that Obama just reads a teleprompter and can’t think for himself.
They never seem to notice that with rare exceptions, Biden’s “gaffes” are the classic variety of accidentally telling the truth, and reveal a good heart. I wonder if there are any “gaffes” they think hurt him in the debate with Palin.
If there’s any danger from a VP candidate accidentally telling the truth, it’s that Paul Ryan is a true believer who really wants to tell people that everything but defense should be slashed from government, regardless of what is best for the campaign.
jrosen
Murder is punished by stiff sentences or execution. And accessories are just as guilty as the direct perp. So if abortion is murder, should not the doctor and the woman
be given, at least, life sentences?
That would be legally and logically consistent. How many “pro-life” people are willing to embrace that logic, from which there is no escape (if they really mean it)?
Not many, I gather. I’ve posed this question in many a troll-infested blog and never received an answer. The reason is pretty obvious.
scav
@Valdivia: Spiked lemonade with their corn dogs and pig shaped pork patties, I don’t know. No doubt they fell off their chairs laughing hysterically at the rhetorical brilliance and intellectual depth of his Obama only knowing how to make left-hand turns joke.
Todd
@Brachiator:
Whatever Israeli likudniks want, duh. It’s all good after that.
Ben Franklin
@beltane:
There’s no law that says there can’t be a Jewish fascist
Even the Law Covenant?
AHH onna Droid
Ot: very freaked by a super pac as that just aired during the old time Sharpton radio hour. Lies about the Un arms treaty taking your guns, linking Obama and HRC to old skool paranoiac rhetoric about the Un takeover. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Especially bc some Dem leaners are telling themselves that BO will take their guns.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: We could have a mandate, um, I mean, a valid exercise of the tax and spend power to fund it.
JPL
Let’s suppose Paul read Danielle Steel or Helen Gurley Brown (rip) what would his policy views be?
As a female may I say thank you to Helen and thank you to title IX
beltane
@AHH onna Droid: That’s an oldie, I’m surprised this is the first time you’re hearing of it. The NRA has been calling my house repeatedly for the past 3 years with that same old bullshit.
Valdivia
@scav:
wait. he said that?
see I need a drink.
going now to solve that.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Redshift:
I saw a clip of Romney making fun of Obama’s “greek pillars”. Seriuosly, has anyone told this hump the primary is over?
Brachiator
@Todd:
RE: Any discussions about Ryan not only has to include his opinions on domestic issues, but also his stand on foreign affairs.
Then let’s hear him say it.
Fluke bucket
@JCT: Obama had Ryan visibly shaken back in Baltimore too. Ryan is entirely too light weight for the task ahead. Rarely is he exposed to anything other than admiring fans and true believers. He is just like Romney now. He is in way, way over his head.
Ben Franklin
@Fluke bucket:
Rarely is he exposed to anything other than admiring fans and true believers.
Except for courageously gunning down a rabid Bambi and an unsuspecting Turkey.
Maude
Romney said that we should stay in Afghanistan. He can stay in Afghanistan. but first we need to send him there.
Jared86
The Most Cynical Lie Ever
Romney says Ryna’s plan expands Medicare and Medicare advantage:
http://www.dailykos.com/…
Let’s get this in order.
1. Bush and the Republicans in Congress create “Medicare Advantage.” It’s a way for private companies to compete with government money to provide Medicare services, under the theory that business is more cost effective than government. It does not affect Medicare recipients at all, only who the government pays the costs.
2. Surprise! Medicare Advantage actually costs MORE than regular Medicare, meaning that the government has to pay more money for the same care. Turns out government is more efficient than business after all. US deficit goes up to pay for it.
3. Obama proposes healthcare. To avoid Republican attacks that the bill is too expensive, Obama includes cutting the wasteful Medicare Advantage spending in the bill. This has no impact on seniors, only private companies who will no longer be able to milk taxpayers.
4. Despite Obama making the health care bill pay for itself, Republicans attack it as “too expensive.” They also attack Obama for “cutting Medicare,” and creating “death panels.”
5. Paul Ryan creates a budget that cuts Medicare Advantage spending and eliminates Medicare entirely, replacing it with a voucher system that is not enough to meet the needs of most seniors. EVERY Republican in Congress votes for it.
6. Republicans and biased fact checkers complain that it is “unfair” for Democrats to run ads attacking Ryan’s budget as ending Medicare, enen though it ends Medicare.
7. Romney picks Ryan as his running mate.
8. Romney says Ryan’s budget plans aren’t relevant because he’ll release his own budget as President. He doesn’t say what the details will be.
8. Romney flip flops, says that Ryan’s medicare plan doesn’t matter Obama was the one that attacked Medicare by cutting Medicare Advantage
9. Romney flip flops AGAIN, says that Ryan’s budget actually strengthens Medicare by INCREASING Medicare Advantage spending, even though it actually cuts such spending, and destroys the program entirely.
ARGH!!!
I have nothing further.
WaterGirl
@eric: I thought you were just being mean, and I didn’t understand why.
As I typed that just now, I realized the snark was you being condescending. Perhaps if you had scolded me also, I would have picked up on the snark.
:-)
The Other Chuck
Ryan is toast. He was vilified for his eponymous budget plan before he was even running for anything else other than his congressional seat. And it’s not like he really has anything else to define him in a positive light, so while the Democrats will define him by his budget, he only ever defines himself with his budget. He has zero crossover appeal.
Oh but hey maybe he’ll pick up the all-important noodler vote.
JPL
Earlier I mentioned Sununu defending Romney/Ryan after having several drinks.. here is a link
The Romney campaign is now running away from the Ryan budget. As we know Ryan doesn’t have foreign policy experience so what makes him qualified to be president if Romney is already dissing his budget? Didn’t Romney say the number one qualification was that Ryan could be president?
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
check here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/12/1119097/-Remember-when-Pres-Obama-Peeled-Paul-Ryan-Apart
Anya
@WaterGirl: President Obama’s speech makes the Baby Paul Ryan cry
middlewest
John Rogers has a post up about Ryan and the famous quote.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JPL: I guess it’s like complaining that the food is bad on the Titanic, but I think Sununu being used as a surrogate is one of hte weirdest things about the Romney campaign. Were Al D’Amato, Phil Gramm and other charmers unavailable?
JPL
@middlewest: His wife’s family makes more money in oil and gas so hell with the roads.
beltane
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Al D’Amato would be considered a far-left liberal in today’s GOP. Didn’t he endorse Andrew Cuomo over that teabagger lunatic whose name escapes me at the moment?
Older_Wiser
Seriously. The early warning signs of fascism. Pay attention, folks: http://www.thepragmaticpundit.com/2012/08/if-obama-is-socialist-romney-is-fascist.html
“A fascist is one whose lust for money and/or power is combined with an intense intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit to attain his ends.
“They poison the channels of public information and use the news to deceive the public.
Fascists put money and power ahead of human beings, engaging in the
systematic looting of the middle class for the benefit of corporations and the rich;
in the same way tax cuts extract from the national treasury and
redistributes the wealth of the nation to those who are already
wealthy. The Republicans not only fight to continue this standard, but
proudly promotes a budget that seeks to perpetuate a path to the poorhouse for millions of Americans.”
It’s all happening if you have eyes to see clearly and a brain to think critically.
Patricia Kayden
So to Ryan, women who become pregnant are completely subordinate to the fetuses in their wombs. They have absolutely no agency. If in the course of giving birth or continuing the pregnancy they die, so be it. Also, if they act in their own best interest to end the pregnancy, put their behinds in jail.
WOW! Can any sensible woman vote for such a man? And no doubt, Ryan supports the Blunt Amendment (as Romneybot 2.0 does).
These guys are scary as hell.
Suffern Ace
@Turgidson: It won’t play at all. Eddie Haskell getting his butt slapped is a welcome sight and Ryan isn’t even smart enough to compliment your dress in hopes that you’ll find him endearing. He’s a snot, not a bully, and no one really cares for a snot.
Uncle Cosmo
@jl:
Douche & Douchier?
NotMax
His manly good looks, buffed bod and piercing, serious Care Bear stare will make foreigners swoon and eagerly accede to our foreign policy demands.
And if we can just hike defense spending enough, the Pentagon will get that ‘gay bomb‘ they wanted. Then Ryan can bestride the battlefield like a colossus, with the enemy abandoning their weapons and positions, scrambling over one another just to be near him, and win any war all by himself.
jl
Krazy Train getting warmed up. He gets up a head of steam by the end, before some media celeb cuts him off.
08 13 12 Vice President Joe Biden in Durham, NC
http://youtu.be/z-uTdN-dkL0
jl
More Krazy Train warming up. Bizarrely, the person who posted this on youtube thinks clip shows somehow that Ryan will wipe the floor with Biden’s ass. Really?
Ryan is going to beat Biden’s truth and everyman sensibility and humor with Ryan’s snot-nose-punk whining? I would not bet on that.
Biden Romney Voice, Sign of the Cross
http://youtu.be/i9qFTbPn8fI
Mr Stagger Lee
@Xecky Gilchrist: I am 48 years old and I grew out of my Alex Keaton Stage, unlike many of my classmates(hell they have icons of Ronald Reagan like many of the old timers I grew up with had pictures of FDR or JFK) , well they would be happy to walk into gas chambers if it means all those “others” are lined up in front of a belt fed machine gun.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Patricia Kayden: It’s our job to make the information available to GOP leaning women that Double Douchebags consider woman as incubators – period. With fewer rights than the contents of their uterus. Vote GOP at women’s risk. While we’re at it, we should be sure all men who care about women of childbearing age understand that a GOP vote can turn us into walking, talking (only if asked to do so, of course)incubators. This is who they are.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Humor fail.