(Photo credit: Flickr user Cletch)
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took to the stage of the Republican National Convention last night to blast Barack Obama and promote the presidency of Mitt Romney. (Here’s a transcript of that speech.)
But in doing so, Ryan repeatedly distorted the truth and misled Americans. Here’s a roundup of the top five lies in his speech:
- Ryan And Romney Will Protect Medicare: “A Romney-Ryan Administration will protect andAi??strengthen Medicare for my mom’s generation, for my generationAi??and for my kids and yours.”Ai??Why it’s a lie:Ai??Ryan’s infamous plan ends Medicare by handing it over to the insurance companies. The Center for American Progress estimates that future seniors would pay $60,000 more for their healthcare under the Romney-Ryan plan.
- Obama Is To Blame For The Closure Of A GM Plant In Ryan’s District: “At that plant [in Janesville], candidate ObamaAi??said, ‘I believe that if our government is there to support you,Ai??this plant will be here for another 100 years.’Ai??That’s what he said in 2008. Ai??Well, as it turned out, thatAi??plant didn’t last another year.” Why it’s a lie:Ai??Talking Points Memo’s Benjy Sarlin notes that the plant actually “closed in 2008, under President George W. Bush.”Ai??Here’s an excerpt from a letter Ryan wrote in June of 2008 protesting the closure of the plant.
- Obama Cut Medicare By $716 Billion:Ai??”They needed hundreds of billions [of dollars to fund the Affordable Care Act]. Ai??So theyAi??just took it all away from Medicare, $716 billion funneled outAi??of Medicare by President Obama.” Why it’s a lie: The Affordable Care Act cut Medicare waste — including useless payments to private insurance companies to administer the program under Medicare Advantage. Medicare benefits “will not change,”Ai??notes Time Magazine’s Kate Pickert.Ai??(It is important to remember, however, that Obama did make an successful and regressive offer to Republicans to raise the Medicare age in the summer of 2011.)
- The Stimulus Was Wasted Money:Ai??“What did taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus?Ai??More debt. Ai??That money wasn’t just spent and wasted, it wasAi??borrowed, spent and wasted.” Why it’s a lie: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the stimulus added up to 3.3 million jobs to the economy — hardly a waste. The New York Times’s Paul Krugman notes that the biggest issue is that if anything, the “stimulus…wasnai??i??t big enough.”Ai??But the top reason Ryan should know what he said was a lie is because he himself sought stimulus funds as a congressman.
- Ryan And Romney’s Economic Plan Would Create Jobs: “We have a plan for a stronger middle class, with the goalAi??of generating 12 million new jobs over the next four years.”Ai??Why it’s a lie:Ai??A Center for American Progress analysis of the plans offered by Romney and Ryan find that they’d actually cost jobs: “Romneyai??i??s plan would kill 360,000 jobs in 2013 alone. The even more radical Ryan plan, which Gov. Romney embraces, would kill more than 5 million jobs in the first two years of a Romney-Ryan administration.”
From his absurd claim that Obama is responsible for the closure of a GM plant that took place before he even took office to his statement that his plan to end Medicare would actually protect it, Ryan seems intent on misleading Americans to win their votes — not having an honest debate.
This is exactly what infuriates me the most. Ryan (and Romney) can stand up there and tell lies one after the other but what recourse to do we have? A barrage of emails asking us to send money to answer them back. All one had to do was watch that scumbag Scott Walker being interviewed by Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz last night and you would immediately notice the smugness of the lowlife. They know they can lie all they want because there is little we can do about it. And of course they are believe dby their followers not because they are telling the truth but because Barack Obama is black.
I just posted on both Romney’s & Ryans facebook page about how it was Ryan and the Republicans that caused our credit rating being lowered, when they procrastinated over the debt celing all for political reasons. They are will ing to hurt our economy in an effort to blame our President.
I watched Paul Ryan speak last night. Sitting there I was offened. I’m not as stupid as he thinks people are. Obviously, most people who listened are NOT stupid either. Ryan told the same old lies and misinformation and BS. Ryan’s speech was venemous and full of hate,especially, toward President Obama and in many ways the American people. Ryan repeated ALL the republican lies that ALL republicans spout . Ryan is just another slimy politician he had no specific plans and ideas about how to fix the economy, he skipped the abortion issue, he said he wants to help the middle class and women but, he had no real ideas or specific answers about how he would help the middle class and women. The bottom line is that Ryan simply only cares about the super-rich patriarchial white men. I’m white too.
Just more REPUBLAKIN lies. I am ashamed to be from WI these days while my teacher friends look at class sizes of 42 in a largely poor major urban school district and are being called “pigs eating out of the public trough.” Why, oh why do people NOT understand that they will not help anybody except those wealthier than they (candidates Ryan & Romney) so they can pretend to have power by rubbing elbow with billionaires who should stop bellyAKIN and pay their fair share and then some because they have not created any jobs while hoarding their billions. YUCCHHH!
Sitting there listening to Paul Ryan while looking at his mother made me feel even sicker than I already was. It was like watching the GOP debates. They all hated Romney but they stand on that same stage and tell America why we should vote for a man who knows nothing about the middle class.
But back to Ryan. He looks good, sounds good but mostly everything he says is a lie. Not a fib but a flat out lie. He doesn’t give a shit about seniors. His mother will be taken care of while the rest of us who worked our hearts out for years and years will be handed a vouchder that will never cover the sizeable increases for medical care.
Ryan will also make it more difficult for seniors to get their much needed medicaations since the GOP is working with the pharmaceutal companies.
I have diabetes and am insulin dependent. It coats me almost $60 to get five pens of Levemir. Insulin should be free for anyone who needs it but the drrug companies know that they can get any amount of money because so many people need it and no one steps in and fights for us.
Ryan is a twerp and I resent how he uses his Catholism and altar boy looks to tell us lies. I’m Catholic too and as I recall we help the needy and bring them solace. Ryan and Romney are liars and cheats.
You are not alone my friend. I shudder when I envision this lowlife as Veep. I am Jewish and used to write a column and asked a simple question. To all thiose religious guys on the right, what would Jesus think if He came back and saw what was going on? And so much of it in his name?
I agree with the above totally. I would very much like to hear the reaction to all of these facts by a real conservative. Anyone out there?
I sent it to a close friend of mine who turned conservative and he blasted it in a way that just showed me the warped thinking of those on the right.