Joe Scarborough is stunned by the sight of Mitt Romney telling supporting to include his name while cheering…
Sad.
Paul Ryan booed at AARP address
In his remarks to the AARP Friday, Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan was booed loudly when he said the “first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal Obamacare.”
Ryan was unfazed. “I had a feeling there would be mixed reactions, so let me get into it,” he said.
“It weakens Medicare for today’s seniors and puts it at risk for the next generation,” Ryan argued. “First, it funnels $716 billion out of Medicare to pay for a new entitlement we didn’t even ask for. Second, it puts 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of Medicare’s future.”
Ryan’s own budget contains the same cuts to future Medicare spending as the Affordable Care Act, although Mitt Romney has distanced himself from that plan. The bureaucrat reference is to the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, whose members must be approved by the Senate and whose recommendations can be rejected by Congress. Politifact has rated Ryan’s description of the board “mostly false.”
The AARP is a non-partisan organization, but the group supported the Affordable Care Act, nicknamed Obamacare. Obama appeared before the group earlier in the day (also via satellite) and offered a sharp critique of his Republican rivals’ plans to revamp Medicare, saying it would leave seniors “at the mercy of insurance companies.”
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan – where are the specifics?
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan say they can balance the budget and fix the economy in part by removing some “tax loopholes.”
Many of these “tax loopholes” are the biggest tax deductions middle class America gets: mortgage interest deductions, state and local tax deductions… But Mitt Romney and company won’t say what “loopholes” they’ll “close.”
If you buy a home this year for $100,000 with a mortgage – under current law, middle class America would get something like a $6,000 tsx deduction.
How do you feel about losing that?
Paul Ryan – against legalizing pot, then fine with it, then against it
GOP VP pick Paul Ryan traveled to Colorado on Friday, an important swing state where medical cannabis is already legal and a ballot initiative legalizing marijuana outright appears likely to pass. In the past, Congressman Ryan has opposed even medical marijuana in states that legalized it.
When asked his position on legalizing pot, he suddenly embraced a new position saying it’s a “states’ rights” issue in an interview with Colorado Springs television station KRDO:
I asked Congressman Ryan: “In Colorado we have medical marijuana. Under a Romney Ryan ticket, what happens?”
Ryan: “It’s up to Coloradans to decide.”
I said: “So even if federal law says marijuana is illegal, you’re saying?”
Ryan: “My personal positions on this issue have been let the states decide what to do with these things. This is something that is not a high priority of ours as to whether or not we go down the road on this issue. What I’ve always believed is the states should decide. I personally don’t agree with it, but this is something Coloradans have to decide for themselves.”
Nearly three quarters of Americans agree with this position, however none of them are named Mitt Romney.
Mitt Romney promised to fight marijuana legalization “tooth and nail,” and he lost his cool with a Colorado reporter who asked him about the medical cannabis issue last May. So Ryan was forced to backtrack on Saturday, when a Ryan spokesperson claimed that Ryan “agrees with Mitt Romney that marijuana should never be legalized.”
Courage, clarity and commitment you can trust.
Via ThinkProgress
Paul Ryan can’t explain his votes to cut defense spending
On Sunday’s Face the Nation, Norah O’Donnell took Paul Ryan to task regarding his past voting record when it came to cuts in defense spending. Reminding Ryan that he’s criticizing the president for a measure that he, too, voted for, O’Donnell pressed the GOP vice presidential nominee on his stance.
O’Donnell noted that Mitt Romney said Republicans were wrong to agree to a debt deal last summer that included automatic cuts to defense spending. “He’s talking about you because you voted for those cuts, correct?” she asked Ryan.
“I did,” Ryan said, adding that he voted for them because he was working to reach common ground with the president and Democrats to “get a down payment on deficit reduction.”
O’Donnell reiterated that the defense cuts are part of the Budget Control Act, and that Ryan voted for that act. She then dug up a statement Ryan put out following the legislation, in which he called it a “victory” and a “positive step forward.”
“So, you voted for defense cuts, and now you’re criticizing the president for those same defense cuts that you voted for and called a victory,” she pressed. Ryan disagreed, again noting that the House passed a bill to prevent the cuts, but the Senate didn’t do anything about it.
vis Mediaite
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan plan to cut tax “loopholes” – but won’t say which ones
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made the rounds of news talk shows to say they plan to cut “tax loopholes.”
BUT they won’t say which ones.
Will it be the mortgage interest deduction? That is one of the biggest tax deductions available to the middle class.
Charitable deductions? Same thing.
State and local taxes? Same thing.
Losing those deductions amounts to a big tax hike on the middle class.
If you buy a home this year, the next few years provide large tax cuts in mortgage interest deductions. Thousands of dollars. How do you feel about losing a $6,000 tax deduction? $10,000 tax deduction?
The Romney/Ryan “plan” is to not tell you what you’re voting for. I think most middle class tax payers would like to know WHAT Romney/Ryan plans to cut before they vote for them.
Romney/Ryan: How to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy
New York Times calls out Romney/Ryan lies and distortions
In an Op/Ed piece in the New York Times, the paper ran an editorial calling out many lies and distortions put out by the Romney/Ryan campaign. And I, for one, am glad.
Run on your record, run on your truth. But don’t lie and distort to make yourself look better.
A few of the issues the New York Times highlights:
Deficit Commission: While Ryan spoke of the Simpson-Bowles commission, what he didn’t mention was that HE was a part of that panel. AND he voted against the commission’s recommendations.
Credit Rating: Ryan talked about the down-grading of the US credit rating blaming the President. What he didn’t mention was that the credit rating was down-graded because the GOP fought raising the debt ceiling for spending that had already happened and had been approved by Congress.
Medicare: Ryan tried to portray the President as “raiding” the Medicare fund of $716 billion dollars. The problem with that is HE himself had already recommended cutting the same amount from Medicare. However, the President’s savings would come not from trimming benefits for current recipients, but from cutting the projected growth in reimbursements to hospitals and insurers over the next decade.
Head over the the New York Times article and take a read.