For Paul Ryan and the GOP, a moment to shine
Paul Ryan delivered a damn good speech last night.
You could argue with and dispute many of the points that he made, but that’s the thing about a speech: You don’t get to argue with it while it’s being delivered. A speech of that sort creates a protected reality, giving the speaker an unchallenged, extended moment in which to define himself, his party and his world. Ryan used that moment well.
(The best example of that phenomenon may have been Ryan’s predecessor, Sarah Palin, who in the same speech four years earlier created an attractive image of herself and her world that crumbled the moment she left the stage.)
Ryan, a creature of Washington for all of his adult life, knows his business and his role. As the enthusiastic response of his fellow Republicans demonstrated, last night he made their world his world, succeeding in linking speaker and audience in common outlook and purpose. The larger, more difficult question is whether he made a similar connection with millions of Americans watching from home.
In many ways he probably did. When he spoke of a tough economy — “23 million people, unemployed or underemployed. Nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty. Millions of young Americans have graduated from college during the Obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. Half of them can’t find the work they studied for, or any work at all” — it was an America that everybody in the convention hall and in living rooms recognized.
When he warned of our deepening national debt, and the fear that our children would live more cramped and difficult lives than we have, he echoed fears felt by any American who is paying attention to public life.
But the next morning, once the music has died, the applause has disappeared and the janitors are sweeping the floor of the previous night’s discards, things come into focus a bit more sharply.
For example, it was interesting to watch Ryan bewail the fact that this country’s credit rating had been downgraded, failing to mention that it was downgraded because he and his fellow Republicans conspired to create an artificial and completely unnecessary crisis over the debt ceiling. It went oddly unmentioned.
Ryan also noted that Obama had created a bipartisan debt commission whose report had come to nothing, yet somehow the congressman neglected to point out his own prominent role in its demise. He himself, as a member of the Simpson-Bowles commission, voted against accepting its recommendations and by doing so he made sure the report went nowhere.
Likewise, when Ryan accused Obama of “raiding” Medicare of $716 billion, he failed to note that in his House budget that made him famous, he too diverted $716 billion from Medicare. Instead of using it to extend health care to millions of uninsured Americans, he used it to finance more tax cuts for the wealthy. A difference in prioirities, I suppose.
Finally, in a speech that stressed responsibility and tough decisions, Ryan put the nation’s burgeoning debt entirely on the shoulders of one man.
“Yet by his own decisions, President Obama has added more debt than any other president before him, and more than all the troubled governments of Europe combined,” Ryan charged. “One president, one term, $5 trillion in new debt.”
Surely the chairman of the House Budget Committee, where all spending bills originate, must have played some tiny role in that process, did he not? Surely a politician committed to truth-telling on tough topics would not ignore the role that he and his own party played — budget-busting tax cuts that never produced promised economic growth; two wars, one necessary but badly led, the other a tragic misadventure, and both of them hugely expensive and unfunded; and an economic crisis unmatched in 80 years, touched off by a steady deregulation of Wall Street that he and his fellow Republicans insist even now must be deregulated even further.
Surely these too played a role, did they not?
And if nothing is being done in Washington, it is useful to ask whether a party that scorns compromise, that ejects from its membership any who dare question its holy agenda, and that pursues an extremist economic platform to the exclusion of all else just might, perhaps, maybe bear some responsibility for that state of affairs?
These are the kind of “details” that can be swept away, momentarily, in the emotion of a good speech well-delivered. But they do not go away forever. The next morning — this morning — they still stare all of us in the face.
– Jay Bookman
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440 comments Add your comment
ByteMe - Political thug
August 30th, 2012
9:35 am
Oh well the libs on here can’t seem to grasp the relationship between raising the debt ceiling and debt. Must be that lack comprehension capability that keeps them in their world of delusion.
And you lied and got called out and now refuse to admit your mistake. Buck up, soldier!!
willydoit?
August 30th, 2012
9:35 am
“Yesterday at Mellow Mushroom I was served by a Tech grad who has been unable to find a job (other than serving).”
Big companies tend to hire Tech grads…tell her to hang in there until a republican president can get the job market rolling again.
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
9:36 am
The FOX News domain’s token liberal on the mendacity and dishonesty of the Paul Ryan speech:
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/30/paul-ryans-speech-in-three-words/
DannyX
August 30th, 2012
9:36 am
Ryan’s speech evaluated by Lie-o-Meter (1-5)
4 Mushroom Clouds
ByteMe - Political thug
August 30th, 2012
9:36 am
Ok, this has been entertaining, but too distracting for coding, so I’m off to earn a living. Maybe back for the next thread.
Peter
August 30th, 2012
9:36 am
Mitt Romney, whose estimated net worth is $250 million, won’t release his 2011 tax returns.
Meanwhile, Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan…
Well, his net worth exploded by up to 130% over the last 10 years.
“It’s absolutely stunning,” says political intelligence expert, Robert Williams.
“What Ryan accomplished during a decade marred by deep economic recession is virtually impossible. He must have been playing with a loaded deck.”
Amazing the guys get into those private meetings in Washington, see how policy effects the markets and buy and sell stocks with the inside information……
Our leaders of the future ?
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:37 am
Recon — “Joe, if drinking the Kool-Aid makes you happy it’s okay by me.”
Punkin, you’ve got a PUNCHBOWL full of it in your gut.
Once again, what we’re telling you is simply a matter of historical fact, and refusing to believe it won’t make it go away. I wish my grandpa was still alive, but imagining that he is and wishing for it won’t change reality.
You are going to have a hard time reconciling reality with your fantasy once early November rolls around.
Newby
August 30th, 2012
9:38 am
weretamoe – Ryan also dismissed Erskine-Bowles “with a sniff of disdain”. Your point?
Recon 0311 2533
August 30th, 2012
9:38 am
“Here Recon, facts and reading are your friend. You’ll notice the BOTH parties are mentioned.”
Butch, and your point is?
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:39 am
Recon — “Oh well the libs on here can’t seem to grasp the relationship between raising the debt ceiling and debt.”
That’s got nothing whatsoever to do with what the credit rating agencies said when they downgraded us.
Your aim is off, Marine.
Butch Cassidy (I)
August 30th, 2012
9:39 am
Joe Hussein Mama – “Once again, what we’re telling you is simply a matter of historical fact, and refusing to believe it won’t make it go away.”
What do do you think the odds are that Recon actually read the direct quote I posted from the S&P?
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
August 30th, 2012
9:39 am
weetamoe
August 30th, 2012
9:32 am
Once again—Erskine Bowles of the much talked about, by everyone but Obama, Simpson/Bowles commission puts the blame for the failure to implement the suggestions squarely on Obama’s shoulders. Obama has proposed no plan at all for solving the entitlement problem. Ryan at least has the courage to attempt a solution and Obama has dismissed it with a sniff of disdain. But the big story (to a few of us who watched it) is how Condi Rice’s speech just about demolished the myth of Obama as an intellectual-or even smart. Compare and contrast.
.
.
.
.
Ryan voted against Simpson Bowles.
Did you miss that somehow in your in depth research?
Condi gave a barn burner of a speech, but she’s forever connected
to Bush 43 and the stupid stupid wars.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
August 30th, 2012
9:39 am
Has the peanut thrower been outed yet? GOP would never admit it, but that is what they really believe. Just like when Akin let the abortion cat out of the bag by accident.
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
“You made sexual advances to me, Jay, Del, and Doomy.”
Don’t know bout Jay or Del but Doomy just tightened his cheeks.
Jay
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
“Care to comment on his first point about how when faced with huge jobless numbers and a democratic controlled D.C, Obama decided his first goal was to pass a $800 billion spending bill and try to package it as a ’stimulus’?
How dumb do you think we are?”
—————–
Cynthia, I’ll skip that last question and deal only with the first.
Almost a third of the stimulus in question comprised tax cuts, not spending. It was yet another attempt by Obama at compromise, yet another attempt that was spurned by Republicans.
Every independent economist that has looked at the stimulus, including the CBO, has judged it a success at softening the economic blow of the largest crisis in 80 years and in preserving jobs at a critical moment. Such packages are standard in such situations.
Bush passed a stimulus, including spending increases, shortly after he took office in 2001 (remember those $600 checks mailed out to each household, all of which was added to the deficit?) and again in 2008, when the economy had already begun its steep descent.
Paul Ryan voted in favor of both of them.
Obama is over
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
RECO @ 9:21
EXACTLY
Now that the braintrust here have become credit experts, I wonder what advice they would give Obama’s home state of Illionois? Illionois was downgraded by S & P on Tuesday because of never ending debt accumulation and no plan going forward.. Only one state in the country has a lower bond rating- California. Imagine that. Could it be that entering into above market contracts with organized labor in exchange for voting/campaign contribution support is a failed model that comes at a ridiculous cost for taxpayers? I wonder if Obama will intervene in the threatened longshoremans’ strike in Savannah? In an election year, that would require a spine and a sense of leadership responsibility. Obama has neither.
Fred ™
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
For those (like me) who didn’t see the speech here it is (feel free to steal the link if you want to post it above Jay):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcE1v_Y2hvA
As I’m watching I’m doing something I have never done before. I’m scanning the crowd for Black faces. So far I haven’t seen any. Hispanic and Asian faces are harder to see butI haven’t seen any of those yet either.
Clay Aiken tweeted last night that he was playing a drinking game. Anytime they saw a Black face at the convention they had to drink. He signed it #soberasamormon. I guess he didn’t get to drink much. Of course Big Rich called him a racist for pointing out there were no Blacks at the convention………
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:41 am
B. Cassidy — “What do do you think the odds are that Recon actually read the direct quote I posted from the S&P?”
I don’t think he’s *ever* read it and I don’t think he *will* read it.
Why bother, when he’s already made his mind up about the reasons? It’s the same kind of reasoning process that accepts using the bible as a science textbook.
barking frog
August 30th, 2012
9:42 am
and tonight..Newt. Pathetic
in desperation.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:42 am
Doom — “Don’t know bout Jay or Del but Doomy just tightened his cheeks.”
Keep your Speedos on at all costs, man!
Reagans ghost
August 30th, 2012
9:42 am
Yea Jay, All Bush’s fault…..But your man has had almost four years , armed with a boat load of promises,,,,,,and done little. He likes to blame congress, but gets a brain fart when he forgets to tell us all he had 2 years of control of both houses and political wind at his back… and basically did not nothing but seize 1/6 of the economy with Obamacare, a program that needed tweaking, not overhauling and government take over. The guy is a speech maker, nothing else. He has not the understanding of a free market society ( you didn’t build that) and frankly, not interested in what the private sector can do, it’s what’s he ( gov’t) can do. He’ll tell us that the only thing holding us back is the damn greedy rich people don’t pay enough taxes. He’s a loser Jay…..And most of your regulars on here are also. America may wake up. Let’s Pray they do.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
August 30th, 2012
9:42 am
Scout,
How many times did Reagan, Papa Bush and G. W. raise the debt ceiling?
The Thin Guy
August 30th, 2012
9:43 am
This is what happens when you put Kenyans in charge of the health care system.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Man+128+too+old+for+NHIF+computers+/-/1056/1487718/-/kdckfyz/-/index.html
The dims only hope in the Veep debate is that Plugs goes to the wrong city.
Recon 0311 2533
August 30th, 2012
9:43 am
“You are going to have a hard time reconciling reality with your fantasy once early November rolls around”
Joe, I’ll mark your comment on my calendar and remind you of it in early November. You still have time to plan your underground escape or what new blog handle you can use between now and then.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
August 30th, 2012
9:44 am
So Clay Aiken had 2 drinks? 1 each for Rice & Cain.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 30th, 2012
9:45 am
Well, what did this kid Paul Ryan say? I was too wrapped up in the NCIS Labor Day marathon on USA Network to tune in.
Anyhow, like most people on here my mind is made up. Don’t try and distract me with facts.
And a reminder to all the libruls out there: Be sure and show up at the polls on Nov. 7.
Have a good Thursday everybody.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:46 am
Recon — “Joe, I’ll mark your comment on my calendar and remind you of it in early November.”
I’ve been saying this for over a year and I’ll say it again. 2012 is going to be 2004 with the parties reversed. The GOP is going to lose.
http://www.electoral-vote.com
“You still have time to plan your underground escape or what new blog handle you can use between now and then.”
Sorry, Recon. I’m a better man than that, but we shall certainly have the opportunity to see what kind of man *you* are once November rolls around.
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
9:46 am
Bush passed a stimulus, including spending increases, shortly after he took office in 2001 (remember those $600 checks mailed out to each household, all of which was added to the deficit?) and again in 2008, when the economy had already begun its steep descent.
Jay, I honestly think you’re wasting your time trying to speak reason to people who think facts are a partisan cudgel. These people aren’t interested in actually defending leaders based on actual positions and programs but in participating in a mob mobilization of vague hatred that has little grounding in real facts.
Fred ™
August 30th, 2012
9:47 am
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
9:40 am
“You made sexual advances to me, Jay, Del, and Doomy.”
Don’t know bout Jay or Del but Doomy just tightened his cheeks.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
LOL Doomy, you KNOW you would have told him you don’t swing that way but if he wanted to buy you an expensive dinner and drinks you could meet for that, but only in a PUBLIC place.
OK, you r right
August 30th, 2012
9:47 am
So Jay, doesn’t it seem odd that the shortcomings of our government and country, ect. , (we’ve all seen the bad numbers, debt, suffering, joblessness, downgraded credit rating,lower wages), all of these things have exactly nothing to do with the most powerful man in the world, the leader of the free world, Mr. Obama?
When Ryan talks about leadership, I think you are missing the point. A great leader would not let this happen under his watch. He would find a way to work with the rest of D.C and accomplish something. All of this ‘it’s not Obama’s fault’ line of reasoning is so bogus and such a lame excuse. He’s got zero leadership skills. He does have great persuasive skills over the dumb masses, that is clear. But to debate his record over the past 4 years as being good enough to give him 4 more years, and do it with a straight face, is just laughable.
Simple Truths
August 30th, 2012
9:47 am
Ah, the rhetoric is really turned up today! Almost up to 11!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY
East Lake Ira
August 30th, 2012
9:47 am
Reagan’s Ghost – Two years? Are you really that insane? You are an idjit.
ragnar danneskjold
August 30th, 2012
9:48 am
Leftists are squirming today, as Mr. Ryan gave them a sample of what is to come.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
August 30th, 2012
9:49 am
“and tonight..Newt. Pathetic”
****************
GOP is not that stupid. They know opening night of college football will be on another channel. So hardly anyone will be watching.
The thing about a speech: They make stuff up. It usually is a lie or false statement.
August 30th, 2012
9:49 am
@mm
August 30th, 2012
9:12 am
Ryan’s nose should be 2 feet long after that speech.
************************************************************
Sometimes they just make stuff up.
Paul Ryan put down his CALCULATOR and picked up his bullhorn.
Talking loud and saying nothing.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:49 am
R. Danneskjold — “Leftists are squirming today, as Mr. Ryan gave them a sample of what is to come.”
I don’t squirm at Ryan’s bleatings, lies and misrepresentations. Rather, I chortle.
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
9:50 am
“failing to mention that it was downgraded because he and his fellow Republicans conspired to create an artificial and completely unnecessary crisis over the debt ceiling. It went oddly unmentioned.”
Come on now. That’s a bunch of horse manure. The S & P may give that as a reason in order to appear non-partisan but we’ve been arguing about the debt and deficits for years. They didn’t downgrade the debt cause some folks were arguing about it. They downgraded it because it was getting out of hand and used the excuse that it was about partisan wrangling so as to not take sides. If I remember correctly I think the administration had also leveled not so thinly veiled threats against the rating agencies in the wake of the housing fiasco and the ratings of all those wall street instruments that turned out to be junk.
“Surely the chairman of the House Budget Committee, where all spending bills originate, must have played some tiny role in that process, did he not?”
Well this is kinda breathtaking. On the one hand you criticize Ryan and the Repubs for forcing the debt issue in order to get the Dems to start taking debt reduction seriously. Then you turn around and criticize him for being part of the spending spree that you just criticized him for trying to stop. Geez.
TaxPayer
August 30th, 2012
9:51 am
Oh well the libs on here can’t seem to grasp the relationship between raising the debt ceiling and debt. Must be that lack comprehension capability that keeps them in their world of delusion.
Perhaps it is the conned that fail to understand the relationship given that Paul Ryan’s plan would not balance the budget for 28 years. That means that under his budget, more money must be borrowed each year for 28 years and that means that the debt continues to rise for 28 years and that means that the debt ceiling will continue to rise to compensate for those 28 years.
Mark in mid-town
August 30th, 2012
9:51 am
Jay Bookman writes: “For example, it was interesting to watch Ryan bewail the fact that this country’s credit rating had been downgraded, failing to mention that it was downgraded because he and his fellow Republicans conspired to create an artificial and completely unnecessary crisis over the debt ceiling. It went oddly unmentioned.
—————————————————-
While that’s the narrative the Dmeocrats and their dishonest msm lackeys have created, it’s not the reason why the credit rating was downgraded. The downgrade was because Obama and Congress failed to agree to a fiscal plan that S&P felt would stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.
Chris Sanchez
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
Jay: good blog this morning. About all I can add is that the loose relationship with facts, more to your point, failure to include all of them, is not unique to the GOP. We have heard the same sort of half-truths from the Obama campaign and surrogates this cycle. In fact, both sides do this during every election cycle, debate, or presentation in which one side or the other is trying to sell their ideas to their constituency. In others words, business as usual.
Quagmire
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
BREAKING NEWS………………..Ryan was using a Teleprompter…………………..
Obama is over
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
Wow. Already playing the race card. Quoting Clay Aiken no less. Aiken gives leadership from behind a whole new perspective.
Proud to be me
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
Looks like Jay has inherited the “blame” game from King Obama. I wouldn’t have expected anymore from him. Its ok when the democrats who control the Senate blocks legislation passed by the House. Its ok when the President himself calls together a group of Republicans and Democrats and says basically that things will be done his way because after all “I won” . . . oh the web that Jay continues to weave.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
Dartmouth political scientist Dean Lacy found the more a county receives in federal government payments, the more likely it is to vote RepublicanThe New York Times referred to Lacy’s research in its understated but still rather shocking feature “Even Critics of Safety Net Depend On It.” As Lacy elaborated to a WNYC reporter: “The counties that are getting more in crop subsidies, housing assistance, and Medicaid payments are a lot more Republican. So it really is about that catch-all category that you might call welfare.” Yet because their local congressmen and women tend to defend that type of “welfare,” Lacy says, “they have the luxury of voting on social issues knowing that these federal spending programs will be kept in place.”
So that is why so many posters here on the govt dole have a disconnect.
GT
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
It amazes me that the entire focus of the right is on government borrowed money, they have not kept a similar watch on private sector borrowing money during the Bush administration. A sign similar to the one so Newt Gingrichishly displayed in this Moose Club convention should have had a similar sign during the Bush years that showed the private debt of the American people and corporations.
The debt gave the American people a false impression of their net worth. It was money spent that was not made and the Bush administration let it be their car in every garage, their turkey in every oven. The GOP Enron gave its employees the false impression they were employed at over the qualification salaries they were receiving. I remember Ebbers at MCI having a 600 million dollar personal line of credit with Bank of America and more from his own company. As Obama says these people did not do this by themselves they did it with the help of the private sector, which then reported this easy money as profits giving a false impression of the success of the company, then bringing the price of its stock up above any real premium value. This is where the country went bust and it would have stopped there but one of Bush’s last moves was to bail these banks out endorsing their stupidity or clever greed. Why would you do something like that? They were partners, making a false statement about the condition of this country, one making huge money the other looking like a genius politician with a false economic plan that was really cooking the books. What we see now in this economy is probably what the Bush years would have looked like if he had been honest. And now they want to bring the same people back to fake some more prosperity. That is what puts Obama at a disadvantage, he is trying to win without steroids and put real prosperity on the books something that has not been tried for several years.
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
9:54 am
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:42 am
Doom — “Don’t know bout Jay or Del but Doomy just tightened his cheeks.”
Keep your Speedos on at all costs, man! – Joe Mama
Naw man. Doomy gittin fat. You don’t want to see me in a pair of speedos. It would make the women run for cover. And with football season now officially in play I won’t be getting any skinnier with a weekend beer and fatty food quota to meet while watching football.
Chantiqua
August 30th, 2012
9:55 am
Whatever the outcome of election 2012 let us pray that we have divided government going forward.
The United States should never again allow one party rule like we had with the six year Bush rubber stamp Congress. Their arrogance and tone-deafness still resonates.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:55 am
Doom — “They didn’t downgrade the debt cause some folks were arguing about it. They downgraded it because it was getting out of hand and used the excuse that it was about partisan wrangling so as to not take sides.”
We have only the public statements of the agencies themselves to go on, unless, of course, you have something to substantiate this speculation.
Proud to be me
August 30th, 2012
9:56 am
The bottomline is Obama has not led!! He has failed as a President. He has never been in it for this country but in it for himself!! And, he continues to be in it for himself. He will do anything to get re-elected — ANYTHING!
TaxPayer
August 30th, 2012
9:56 am
The Republicans obviously cannot use the truth in their defense. It leaves them with few options–silence or lies. They should have stuffed a sock in it and at least maintained some sense of credibility through silence.
The thing about a speech: They make stuff up. It usually is a lie or false statement.
August 30th, 2012
9:57 am
@ragnar danneskjold
August 30th, 2012
9:48 am
Leftists are squirming today, as Mr. Ryan gave them a sample of what is to come.
**********************************************************
He gave a sample of the lies and false statements to come.
As Christians, we shouldn’t fill our lives with deceit.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 30th, 2012
9:57 am
Off-topic (slightly): The United States outpaces France, Germany, and Britain in deaths that could be prevented by providing timely health care
USA! USA! USA!
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
August 30th, 2012
9:57 am
“You don’t want to see me in a pair of speedos. It would make the women run for cover”
*******************************
Are you the dude walking down the beach in that Southern Comfort commercial?
http://www.funnycommercialsworld.com/southern-comfort-commercial-beach-9249.html
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
9:57 am
Doom — “You don’t want to see me in a pair of speedos.”
This is the most accurate guess you have ever made about what I was thinking.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 30th, 2012
9:58 am
He will do anything to get re-elected — ANYTHING!
So vote for flip,flop Mitt…he will do anything to get elected…ANYTHING!
Mary Elizabeth
August 30th, 2012
9:58 am
“For example, it was interesting to watch Ryan bewail the fact that this country’s credit rating had been downgraded, failing to mention that it was downgraded because he and his fellow Republicans conspired to create an artificial and completely unnecessary crisis over the debt ceiling. It went oddly unmentioned.”
===========================================
For those who are willing to see, the sentence, above, is simply one more example of the current Republican Party’s unfortunate duplicity.
———————————————————-
An example of Ryan’s duplicity, regarding Medicare, is given in the link, below.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/08/30/foxs-chris-wallace-advances-gops-false-medicare/189660
USMC
August 30th, 2012
9:59 am
“I think the GOP has followed Alice through the looking glass…and Ol’ Mitt is the white rabbit”
Someone has been eating Magic Mushrooms this morning…
Fred ™
August 30th, 2012
9:59 am
Obama is over
August 30th, 2012
9:53 am
Wow. Already playing the race card. Quoting Clay Aiken no less. Aiken gives leadership from behind a whole new perspective.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Looking for Black faces and finding none is playing the race card? Really? So if I look up and see blue sky and say, “I see blue sky” what it that? I say it’s the same thing, a correct observation.
You obviously don’t know me because I don’t play that racial BS. Not even one little bit. But I had read the Clay Aiken story before I decided to watch the speech and you know what? If I was playing that game I would be THIRSTY.
Call it what you want. I’ll call it truth. Pointing out the truth does NOT make me an asshat.
Butch Cassidy (I)
August 30th, 2012
10:00 am
ragnar – “Leftists are squirming today, as Mr. Ryan gave them a sample of what is to come.”
So are the independents. After watching that work of fiction, it’s clear that this country is truly screwed no matter who wins the election.
Reagans ghost
August 30th, 2012
10:01 am
Gotta believe there are some nervous loons on the board. People like the guy, but his soap don’t get the stench off anymore. It will be embarrassing to watch this white house campaign the next 2 months. The only thing missing will be rounding up citizens at gun point. Low life.
different name, just because I can
August 30th, 2012
10:01 am
Welcome to the oc –
you seriously believe 4 more years of Obama will be good for this country? What gives you such undying loyalty to this man? What has he accomplished that you are so proud of? What great feet of leadership can you recall? Give me his top resume bullets, please.
I have a different theory – you and many like you are captivated by his words and are blind to his lack of real action on the important issues. he’s a great politician, great at stirring up a crowd, great at getting elected, but as a leader, as a president, he’s simply no good.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
10:02 am
B. Cassidy — “So are the independents. After watching that work of fiction, it’s clear that this country is truly screwed no matter who wins the election.”
It rhymes with ‘clucking bell.’
–Blackaddder
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
10:02 am
Chantiqua: “The United States should never again allow one party rule like we had with the six year Bush rubber stamp Congress”
Why conclude that when one of our parties, the Democrats, is already a de facto conservative party that builds compromise with the hard right into its ever action (see Jay above on the stimulus, for ex.)?
What we need, on the contrary, is one party rule by a radically different kind of party altogether, one that will remake the entire political narrative.
Fred ™
August 30th, 2012
10:03 am
you seriously believe 4 more years of Obama will be good for this country?
Nope. But unfortunately I think 4 more years of this guy will be exponentially better than 4 years of the other guy. We saw what 8 years of the last Republican did and he is a RINO compared to the new breed.
USinUK - thug with a uterus ... and former Girl Scout
August 30th, 2012
10:03 am
“He will do anything to get re-elected — ANYTHING!”
holy moly … you haven’t looked at Mittens’s track record, have you …
he’s taken pretty much every position on every issue possible, depending on his audience.
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
10:04 am
“We have only the public statements of the agencies themselves to go on, unless, of course, you have something to substantiate this speculation.”
Joe Mama,
If they were really downgrading the debt just because the pols were arguing about how to reduce the debt then we would have a DDD rating given the continuing debate over how to reduce the debt. If a married couple carries a 5k visa balance and the husband and wife are arguing about how much to pay down on the credit card does their credit get dinged because they are arguing about how much to pay on it? No. Equifax could give a flip about that. They care only about ability to pay.
sally crunchfield
August 30th, 2012
10:04 am
Simple question: What has Obama accomplished?
I’ll give you a freebie, he ended the war in Iraq, what else?
Butch Cassidy (I)
August 30th, 2012
10:04 am
Proud to be me – “He will do anything to get re-elected — ANYTHING!”
An yet you support a VP candidate like Ryan who has served 7 terms in Congress.
Thomas Heyward Jr.
August 30th, 2012
10:05 am
“today’s Bloomberg Consumer Comfort index sub-data has a rather nasty surprise in its tail. Those earning over $100k, the highest bracket interviewed in their survey, saw their ‘comfort’ plunge to its lowest of the year – massively diverging from the incessant rise in equity markets (and its supposed ‘wealth effect’ transmission channel).”
.
Times is bad.
.
Let’s compromise on a booze,tobacco , and gas tax.
C’ming soon.
The tongue can be the most wicked weapon on earth
August 30th, 2012
10:05 am
@Quagmire
August 30th, 2012
9:52 am
BREAKING NEWS………………..Ryan was using a Teleprompter…………………..
**********************************************************************
OMG
Rick Santorum, who earlier this year said, “when you run for President of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter.”
If you Google “Obama teleprompter,” you’ll get 2.5 million results as it’s been a running joke among conservatives for nearly six years.
Why this became such a touchstone for conservative attacks on President Obama is completely mystifying, but with this year’s general election taking shape it’s a good time for progressives to arm themselves with one quick and easy way to respond to any use of the words “Obama” and “teleprompter” in the same sentence.
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
10:05 am
different name: “you seriously believe 4 more years of Obama will be good for this country? What gives you such undying loyalty to this man?”
If you think that that is my position then you obviously haven’t seen very many of my posts. I am NO fan of Barack Obama – to put it mildly.
“you and many like you are captivated by his words”
Again, you have the wrong person. I have NEVER been captivated by his “words”, which I have always been highly skeptical of. His words are to my mind simplistic bromides about the basic wisdom of the current system and of the need to be patient in order to rid our political system of its incivility and hyperpartisanship (completely the wrong things to focus on, in my view).
In other words, he is essentially conservative, which I oppose ferociously.
Big Mama
August 30th, 2012
10:06 am
Kayaker-
Just because one can deliver an amazing speech does not mean that one is speaking the truth. Historically, there have been orators with the ability to rouse the crowds, start revolutions, or encourage genocide while lying quite convincingly.
Ivan
August 30th, 2012
10:06 am
Summary of the topic:
Democrats can blame Bush for everything. Republicans aren’t allowed to blame Obama for anything.
There. I just saved everyone 5 minutes.
Recon 0311 2533
August 30th, 2012
10:06 am
Man the general election is still over two months away and already we’re hearing much crying and gnashing of teeth on the left. Too pathetic to witness I’ll take a break and check back later to see if our left wing friends have better control of their emotions. I might remind y’all that there’s more Republican speeches this evening, so some of you might be better off just going to bed early and avoiding the convention. You can watch the convention in Charlotte next week and listen to Sandra Flake. I’m sure she’ll be more soothing to your ears.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
August 30th, 2012
10:07 am
GOP prefers to use notes written on hand over a teleprompter.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
10:07 am
Doom — “If a married couple carries a 5k visa balance and the husband and wife are arguing about how much to pay down on the credit card does their credit get dinged because they are arguing about how much to pay on it? No. Equifax could give a flip about that. They care only about ability to pay.”
The arguing was what *caused* the agencies to question our future ability and commitment to servicing our debt.
Seriously, did you read the statements from the rating agencies? They were pretty clear on the point.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 30th, 2012
10:08 am
Too pathetic to witness I’ll take a break and check back later to see if our left wing friends have better control of their emotions
Translation: Running away while calling it a victory.
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
10:08 am
different name,
Which is not to say that I cannot see anything good at all in what he has done or tried to do, or that I cannot see how he might potentially be less disastrous than his counterparts further along the right wing spectrum on the GOP. Obama is center right, which is bad enough. But his opponents, who by all appearances would govern to the hard right, are vastly more dangerous.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 30th, 2012
10:09 am
Recon — “I might remind y’all that there’s more Republican speeches this evening, so some of you might be better off just going to bed early and avoiding the convention.”
What, are you kidding? It’s funnier than reruns of News Radio.
ZoSo
August 30th, 2012
10:09 am
“What we need, on the contrary, is one party rule by a radically different kind of party altogether, one that will remake the entire political narrative.”
Does this “radically different kind of party” have a name or a philosopy that we could all recognize? One party rule, let’s see, what comes to mind?
Reagans ghost
August 30th, 2012
10:11 am
What’s bad news for Obama is that 75-80% of Americans vote for cause and effect. Example, you’re black, you vote for the black guy. You’re Gay, you vote for someone who supports YOUR issue. So if you are trying to survive in an Obama economy, High unemployment, $4 gas, etc, you vote cause and effect. It’s caused by Obama ( fair or not, but it’s his show) and it’s effecting you. So, the guy in the office is the blame ( see George W.). And when all you hear is, it’s not my fault and God, anybody but the other guy as your battle cry, you lose. Hello President Romney.
Ewrin's cat
August 30th, 2012
10:11 am
Fred – You obviously don’t know me because I don’t play that racial BS
then why did you look for it in the first place and then feel compelled to report your findings?
Welcome to the Occupation
August 30th, 2012
10:11 am
ZoSo: “Does this “radically different kind of party” have a name or a philosopy that we could all recognize?”
No
The tongue can be the most wicked weapon on earth
August 30th, 2012
10:11 am
The six biggest lies that Ryan told during his speech.
1) Security for the old is a Romney/Ryan platform staple
2) Obama steals $700 billion plus from Medicare
3) Obama blames his troubles on Bush
4) Obama caused the debt
5) “We will get America creating wealth”
6) Romney/Ryan will “speak with confidence and clarity” in foreign policy
(how did that work out for Romney in Britian?)
Wobble
August 30th, 2012
10:12 am
I voted for Obama b/c I thought it would inspire hope in minorities and we could get past wasting our energies trying so hard just to get along as a country, and work on some tough issues. But guess what happened instead? His election opened up the floodgates of the entitlements and the ‘where’s my Obama check’ mentality. it did the exact opposite of what I thought it would do.
I think back to an old episode of Good Times, where Florida stresses over how they will come up with some money to pay a bill or face going on welfare. They were too proud for welfar and looked at it like a sign of defeat. Our country looks at entitlements as a god given right, a perk even, the more you can bilk out of the system the better. It’s what poor people do, ask them, I know lots of them. They don’t even see the harm, it f you can get a check, get a check.
How does one have an intelligent debate with people like this? They have zero long term or strategic thinking and are incapable of seeing beyond their next check. My only hope is that people of this mind set do not vote or raise offspring to follow in their footsteps. God help us all.
Butch Cassidy (I)
August 30th, 2012
10:12 am
JHM – “What, are you kidding? It’s funnier than reruns of News Radio. ”
I have to admit, compared to the previous RNC’s that I watched for Reagan, Bush 1 and 2, this convention seems to be lack luster. half the time the speakers are only able to garner light applause on their speaking points. it says a lot about the confidence of the attendees in their selection, and makes me long for the old days of the party when I was still an active member.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
August 30th, 2012
10:13 am
Breaking news…RNC says tonight one half of all male members will be wearing black face. As one RNC supporter put it “We want to represent those other folks, out there”.
Also one quarter of all female supporters will be wearing serapes…
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
10:14 am
Joe Mama,
So the administration’s usual bullying tactics had no play in S&P’s reasoning for downgrading our debt? It would strain credulity to believe it didn’t.
However, it appears to me that it was the prudent thing to do, and had S&P not lowered the credit rating, one could charge them with dereliction of duty. The Obama Administration seemed to be using intimidation tactics in the media, going after the reputation of S&P as the Administration was attempting to defend themselves. It seems rather unfortunate that the US Treasury Secretary and the Obama Administration would use such tactics, and throw this debt rating downgrade into the media as a political football.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6485084
Keep Up the Good Fight!
August 30th, 2012
10:15 am
His election opened up the floodgates of the entitlements and the ‘where’s my Obama check’ mentality. it did the exact opposite of what I thought it would do.
Oh do do tell us how them floodgates were opened and what new entitlements Obama created…..
Are you meeting them poor people while standing in line at the Whole Foods?
Joseph
August 30th, 2012
10:15 am
Jay Jay Jay… The rousing speech by Ryan was certainly a serious punch in the gut for you liberals. Not really for dems. Especially the few and far between that can think for themselves. The credit rating was downgraded because of the enormous debt created and continuing under Obama the regime. If you want to blame it on Ryan for not supporting Simpson/Bowles go for it but that’s a real stretch. Obama didn’t support if either. Seems to me he would be the main character that would matter in its support? But no using liberal logic it failed all because of a Congressman named Ryan. Laughable Jay. Then you go on to say Ryan’s plan for Medicare would give more tax cuts for the wealthy. Even more laughable Jay. He used the monstrosity of Obamacare as a starting point for his plan. he had to. Its the law of the land forced on us solely by dems. Then after a revision those cuts that you fruits on the left continue to lie about were reinstated sing a method that would repeal Obamacare and restore the $716 billion Obama is stealing from seniors. Lastly Obama does shoulder all the blame for the debt he has accumulated. That’s a fact you simply cannot ignore. Oblama has received zero votes for every single budget he’s put forward. The Senate is supposed to work with the house and produce their own budget. Harriot Reid has failed the American people and produced none. Ryan has passed a budget reducing the deficit that dems in the Senate won pass.
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
August 30th, 2012
10:16 am
So according to the Ghost, All old white folks (except me) will vote for Ol’ Mitt, while all Blacks, Gays, Hispanics, young folk and most women will vote for President Obama…Personally, I like his odds…
Thomas
August 30th, 2012
10:16 am
These are the kind of “details” that can be swept away, momentarily, in the emotion of a good speech well-delivered. But they do not go away forever. The next morning — this morning — they still stare all of us in the face.
Agreed- you could cut and paste this as what the great (diminishing) American taxpyer gets from the WH daily
jobless claims much?
USinUK - thug with a uterus ... and former Girl Scout
August 30th, 2012
10:16 am
” If a married couple carries a 5k visa balance and the husband and wife are arguing about how much to pay down on the credit card does their credit get dinged because they are arguing about how much to pay on it? No. Equifax could give a flip about that. They care only about ability to pay.”
oh, FFS … READ THE FLIPPING STATEMENT.
I don’t care WHAT goes on in the little make-believe world in your head … in the REAL world, that’s EXACTLY What S&P did.
Reagans ghost
August 30th, 2012
10:17 am
Why did MSNBC cut away anytime a woman or a minority took the stage? I think we all know. Fair and balanced right ?
stiffie
August 30th, 2012
10:17 am
All I am hearing is the other guy sucks, the other guy sucks, his record suck, he flip flops, Obama’s our man, Obama’s our man.
Were all you Obama supporteres in this country the last 4 years, why in the owrld would you re-elect this guy? Please convince me of HIS merrits, not how much you hate the GOP rivals. Please convince me.
ZoSo
August 30th, 2012
10:18 am
So, Welcome, please enlighten us with your radically different, one party rule. Maybe you could share some thoughts on this. The first question I have is, will it fit within the framework of the United States Constitution or would we just toss that old dusty piece of paper in the trash?
USMC
August 30th, 2012
10:20 am
“Oblama has received zero votes(DemocRat nor Repuglican) for every single budget he’s put forward.”–Joseph
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\Sorry Joseph, but this needs to be repeated for the Leftwing drones./\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Thulsa Doom- pompous ass extraordinaire
August 30th, 2012
10:20 am
“Seriously, did you read the statements from the rating agencies? They were pretty clear on the point.”
Uh. Yes. I did read them. So are you opining as Jay did also that the main reason for the debt downgrade was due to the arguing? Or do you think the actual debt itself may of had something to do with it? For example on the link I just posted S&P went back and forth over what the O administration said was questionable accounting regarding 2 trillion dollars. They were going back and forth about the debt itself- not the arguing that was going on between Ds and Rs. And for the record if anyone out there believes that the debt itself had little to do with the downgrade then I suppose they are living in a state of suspended disbelief.
Peter
August 30th, 2012
10:20 am
Well even the Governor of Arizona endorsed Obama…….. Great stuff !!!!!!!
good point reagans ghost
August 30th, 2012
10:21 am
The GOP is plaing the game you have to play to sway voters, put up different faces of your support group, minorities, women, ect. Ok, that’s how the gam eis played these days. But the blatant ommission by large portions of the press covering this convention of anyone but a white male is so tacky and see through. On one hand a network like MSNBC omits covergae, then wants me to take their talking points seriously?
Just goes to show you, the vast majority of voters are easily fooled rubes.