To my surprise, Republican Vice Presidential candidate and part camel Paul Ryan didn't outperform Mitt Romney in terms of lies during his performance at the Vice Presidential debate last night. While Romney was recorded to having fibbed 27 times in 38 minutes of speaking (an average of once every 1 minute 24 seconds), Ryan lied 24 times in 40 minutes (an average of once every 1 minute 40 seconds).
Some of the following headlines could be seen in articles around the web last night and this morning with regard to Paul Ryan's fibs at the debate:
"Paul Ryan's 5 Biggest Lies of the First Half of the Vice Presidential Debate"
"Paul Ryan Malarkey on Full Display During Vice Presidential Debate"
"Three Lies From Paul Ryan"
"Ryan's biggest debate lie"
"Paul Ryan plays fast and loose with facts"
Without wasting any more precious time, here are the 24 lies spewed from Ryan's lips last Thursday night, followed by an assessment by Igor Volsky and then some wisecracks by yours truly:
1) “It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that [the Libya attack] was a terrorist attack.”
Volsky: "Obama used the word 'terrorism' to describe the killing of Americans the very next day at the Rose Garden. 'No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for,' Obama said in a Rose Garden statement on September 12."
Perhaps Paul Ryan's mind works just a bit differently than most people's and while he claims to being a numbers guy (which I am still baffled by), he's yet to master words. To most people, when they hear that a person or a group of people committed terror, this makes them terrorists. See how that works, Mr. Ryan? What does a dancer do? No, not teach 7th grade math. Nice try. No, he or she dances.
2) “The administration was blocking us every step of the way. Only because we had strong bipartisan support for these tough [Iran] sanctions were we able to overrule their objections and put them in spite of the administration.”
Volsky: "Even the Israeli President has effusively praised President Obama’s leadership on getting American and international sanctions on Iran, which have significantly slowed Iran’s progress."
That's strike two, Mr. Ryan. Perhaps I shouldn't go that route. It'd be one thing if he had only told three lies, but I still have 22 more of these bad boys to go!
3) “Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts.”
Volsky: "[T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is — and historically has been — greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits."
With this kind of reasoning and scare tactic, might I suggest that Ryan goes for the full jugular next time and tells the world, "You're all going to die." No, he doesn't need to provide any specifics and at some point in the future, it will be seen that he displayed uncanny psychic abilities when making such a declaration. No, this won't be due to President Obama's policies, but unlike Obama, the Romney/Ryan team will tell voters, "If we get elected, you'll never die!"
4) “The vice president was in charge of overseeing this. $90 billion in green pork to campaign contributors and special interest groups.”
Volsky: "Multiple reviews, including an independent review of all Department Of Energy loan programs by Herb Allison – finance chair for McCain for President 2008 – have found no 'pork' in the stimulus’ funding of green projects, concluding that the loans were not steered to friends or family, as Ryan claims."
Ah, but anyone associated with the 2008 McCain campaign is liberally-biased, right, Mr. Ryan? There are now the Reagan Democrats and the McCain Loony Liberals.
5) “Was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in Finland, or on windmills in China?”
Volsky: "As PolitiFact has pointed out, the money for electric cars in Finland did not come from the stimulus. Rather, it originated with the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which predated the Obama administration. The claim about 'windmills in China' is also inaccurate."
Yeah, but still - even though that program predated the Obama administration, Obama was still responsible for it, right? It reminds me of that time I got charged for robbing a bank in 1942 when I was born in 1981.
6) “When they see us putting – when they see us putting daylight between ourselves and our allies in Israel, that gives them encouragement.”
Volsky: "The Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, told CNN, 'President Obama is doing … more than anything that I can remember in the past [in regard to our security].'"
Come on... Who are we going to trust more with regard to issues concerning Israel - the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister or a blue-eyed, workout guru from Wisconsin? Yes, the farm-boy from Wisconsin. I agree.
7) “You see, if you reform these programs for my generation, people 54 and below, you can guarantee they don’t change for people in or near retirement.”
Volsky: "Here is how the Romney/Ryan Medicare plan will affect current seniors: 1) by repealing Obamacare, the 16 million seniors receiving preventive benefits without deductibles or co-pays and are saving $3.9 billion on prescription drugs will see a cost increase, 2) 'premium support' will increase premiums for existing beneficiaries as private insurers lure healthier seniors out of the traditional Medicare program, 3) Romney/Ryan would also lower Medicaid spending significantly beginning next year, shifting federal spending to states and beneficiaries, and increasing costs for the 9 million Medicare recipients who are dependent on Medicaid."
Yes, but Ryan loves his grandma, so we should all just take his word for it. ...just like Romney loves 53% of the people in this country, so middle- and lower-class Americans should just take his word on things.
8) “Obamacare takes $716 billion from Medicare to spend on Obamacare.”
Volsky: "Ryan is claiming that Obamacare siphons off $716 billion from Medicare, to the detriment of Medicare beneficiaries. In actuality, that money is saved primarily through reducing over-payments to insurance companies under Medicare Advantage, cutting waste fraud and abuse, and eliminating inefficiencies in the system. Ryan’s budget plan keeps those same cuts, but directs them toward tax cuts for the rich and deficit reduction."
As Bill Clinton said, it takes quite a bit of "brass" for someone to criticize another for doing the exact same thing you've said that you'd do. Although, due to a rumor I'm about to start - that Paul Ryan takes steroids - I'm sure Clinton's words were meant to be more figurative than literal.
9) “And then they put this new Obamacare board in charge of cutting Medicare each and every year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.”
Volsky: "The Board, or IPAB is tasked with making binding recommendations to Congress for lowering health care spending, should Medicare costs exceed a target growth rate. Congress can accept the savings proposal or implement its own ideas through a super majority. The panel’s plan will modify payments to providers but it cannot 'include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co- payments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria' (Section 3403 of the ACA). Relying on health care experts rather than politicians to control health care costs has previously attracted bipartisan support and even Ryan himself proposed two IPAB-like structures in a 2009 health plan."
I'm beginning to suspect that both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have developed a serious case of Alzheimer's. "What? I supported that a couple years ago? I voted for that last year? I don't think that's true. Anyway, I am and have always been firmly against it!"
10) “7.4 million seniors are projected to lose their current Medicare Advantage coverage they have. That’s a $3,200 benefit cut.”
Volsky: "Enrollment is actually projected to increase by 11 percent in Medicare Advantage (MA) in 2013. Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, Medicare Advantage premiums have decreased an average of 10 percent and enrollment in these plans has increased 28 percent."
Yeah, I'm seriously starting to think that Paul Ryan is as much a numbers guy as George W. Bush is a words guy.
11) “This [Medicare premium support] plan that’s bipartisan. It’s a plan I put together with a prominent Democrat senator from Oregon.”
Volsky: "Wyden not only voted against Ryan’s budget, he also called the idea that he supported it 'nonsense.'"
Perhaps Ryan considered last Thursday to be opposite day. Having lied once every 1 minute 40 seconds, I'm thinking that would make a heck of a lot more sense than the reverse.
12) “Eight out of 10 businesses, they file their taxes as individuals, not as corporations.”
Volsky: "Far less than half of the people affected by the expiration of the upper income tax cuts get any of their income at all from a small businesses. And those people could very well be receiving speaking fees or book royalties, which qualify as 'small business income' but don’t have a direct impact on job creation. It’s actually hard to find a small business who think that they will be hurt if the marginal tax rate on income earned above $250,000 per year is increased."
Due to that rumor I started earlier - that Congressman Ryan takes steroids - I bet his "business" is small, if you know what I mean.
13) “[Unemployment is rising] all around America.”
Volsky: "In August, the unemployment rate dropped from a year before in 325 of 372 metro areas surveyed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Alright, so "numbers guy" Congressman Ryan, let me bust out the calculator and allow my fingers to work their magic. Judging from the numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it appears as if 87.4% of metro areas have seen their unemployment levels drop in the past year. Ryan was off by more than a stoned tarot card reader.
14) “The average tax rate on businesses in the industrialized world is 25 percent, and the president wants the top effective tax rate on successful small businesses to go above 40 percent.”
Volsky: "The U.S. is raising historically low amounts of revenue from the corporate income tax, and it already has the second lowest effective corporate tax rate in the world. U.S. corporations are taxed less than their foreign rivals, and the U.S. effective corporate tax rate is low compared to other developed economies."
Ah, but the tax rate is never low enough. Just ask Sir Romney and the 13-14% he's paid. Is there any way that the tax rate can be below 0%? ...and would that be low enough? Come on, numbers guy - let's hear it!
15) “He’ll keep saying this $5 trillion plan, I suppose. It’s been discredited by six other studies.”
Volsky: "The studies Ryan cites actually further prove that Romney/Ryan would, in fact, have to raise taxes on the middle class if he were to keep his promise not to lose revenue with his tax rate reduction."
These "studies" are more like Republican fanboy blogs than anything else. Pretty soon the Romney team will defend their tax plan by saying, "Thousands of studies have proven otherwise. They can be seen on the bumpers of cars all across this great nation!"
16) “You can – you can cut tax rates by 20 percent and still preserve these important preferences for middle-class taxpayer. It is mathematically possible. It’s been done before. It’s precisely what we’re proposing.”
Volsky: "If Romney/Ryan hope to provide tax relief to the middle class, then their $5 trillion tax cut would add to the deficit. There are not enough deductions in the tax code that primarily benefit rich people to make his math work. As the Tax Policy Center concluded, Romney’s plan can’t both exempt middle class families from tax cuts and remain revenue neutral. 'He’s promised all these things and he can’t do them all. In order for him to cover the cost of his tax cut without adding to the deficit, he’d have to find a way to raise taxes on middle income people or people making less than $200,000 a year,' the Center found."
I'd like to know when this has been done before. ...and yes, with real money. The game of Monopoly doesn't count.
17) “So they proposed a $478 billion cut to defense to begin with. Now we have another $500 billion cut to defense that’s lurking on the horizon. They insisted upon that cut being involved in the debt negotiations, and so we have a $1 trillion cut.”
Volsky: "Ryan has frequently gotten in hot water for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011."
Do as I do, not what I say, eh? Wait - in Mr. Ryan's case, reverse that. Actually, in his case, I'd recommend not doing either.
18) “If these cuts go through, our Navy will be the smallest – the smallest it has been since before World War I.”
Volsky: "PolitiFact rated this claim as 'Pants on Fire,' noting that 'a wide range of experts told us it’s wrong to assume that a decline in the number of ships or aircraft automatically means a weaker military.'"
Mr. Ryan's always scalding hot in the eyes of some women. Why is that exactly? The fact he's not ancient like many politicians? His blue eyes? His being in relatively good shape? I just don't see it. So, the guy looks like a fairly young, in-shape, blue-eyed alien. Hubba, hubba!
19) “Look at what they’re doing through Obamacare with respect to assaulting the religious liberties of this country. They’re infringing upon our first freedom, the freedom of religion, by infringing on Catholic charities, Catholic churches, Catholic hospitals.”
Volsky: "Religious institutions haven’t been forced to 'violate their conscience' by paying for contraception. Houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt from offering birth control."
What about politicians using religion to "assault the liberties" of others, Mr. Freedom? What would Jesus do? Besides laugh like Biden at some of your claims?
20) “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. Try telling that to the 20 million people who are projected to lose their health insurance if Obamacare goes through or the 7-point million – 7.4 million seniors who are going to lose it.”
Volsky: "The Affordable Care Act would actually expand health care coverage to 30 million Americans and all seniors will keep their guaranteed Medicare benefits, despite Ryan’s fear mongering. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that very few people will have to enroll in new coverage."
Perhaps Ryan's referred to as a numbers guy because he can successfully read numbers. He's numbers-literate. Maybe that's a rarity for Republicans in Congress and the fact that Ryan can look at the numbers "20, 6, 5, 14.2" and read them as "Twenty, six, five, fourteen point two" - it has prompted the numbers-label upon him.
21) “We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.”
Volsky: "In March 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted that 'many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.' However, she did not endorse their view."
Well, that's Romney (meaning rich). "Someone this person knows - might have said they agree with someone somewhere else and this is bad for America. Therefore this person is bad for America!" Right, because if a friend of Romney's said that he felt Stalin was a great leader, this would mean that Romney actually said he felt Stalin was a great leader.
22) “When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material — nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five.”
Volsky: "This is misleading and unproven. Iran now has enough fissile material, but has not yet enriched to the necessary level for a weapon. The Institute for Science and International Security says 'it would take Iran more than two months to produce that amount if it started with 20%-grade uranium, and ‘several months’ to make enough for a bomb using low-enriched uranium. That would give the world community enough time to detect the operation and organize a response, ISIS noted in June.'"
Maybe Ryan is called a "numbers guy" because he can successfully draw random numbers out of a hat (his a**) and read them. A job in keno, bingo or the lottery could very well be in this man's future.
23) “[Iran is] racing toward a nuclear weapon.”
Volsky: "Israeli and American intelligence officials aren’t so sure."
Once again, should we trust Israeli and American intelligence on this issue or America's lack of intelligence with Mr. Ryan? So Ryan can correctly read numbers - congrats to him! It will take a bit more than that for me to believe his word over Israeli and American intelligence with regard to just about anything, especially if it concerns Iran.
24) “We don’t want to do is give our allies reason to trust us less [by announcing a withdrawal timeline for Afghanistan].”
Volsky: "It’s unclear how our allies would trust us less since they too agreed to the timeline. As Biden pointed outed, 'That’s a bizarre statement. .. Forty-nine of our allies — hear me — 49 of our allies signed on to this position.'"
Think of it this way, Mr. Congressman - if I were Mormon, had 49 wives and they all signed onto... Nevermind - that's a very bad example. Forget I even said that.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/12/1002021/at-the-vice-presidential-debate-ryan-told-24-myths-in-40-minutes/
Some of the following headlines could be seen in articles around the web last night and this morning with regard to Paul Ryan's fibs at the debate:
"Paul Ryan's 5 Biggest Lies of the First Half of the Vice Presidential Debate"
"Paul Ryan Malarkey on Full Display During Vice Presidential Debate"
"Three Lies From Paul Ryan"
"Ryan's biggest debate lie"
"Paul Ryan plays fast and loose with facts"
Without wasting any more precious time, here are the 24 lies spewed from Ryan's lips last Thursday night, followed by an assessment by Igor Volsky and then some wisecracks by yours truly:
1) “It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that [the Libya attack] was a terrorist attack.”
Volsky: "Obama used the word 'terrorism' to describe the killing of Americans the very next day at the Rose Garden. 'No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for,' Obama said in a Rose Garden statement on September 12."
Perhaps Paul Ryan's mind works just a bit differently than most people's and while he claims to being a numbers guy (which I am still baffled by), he's yet to master words. To most people, when they hear that a person or a group of people committed terror, this makes them terrorists. See how that works, Mr. Ryan? What does a dancer do? No, not teach 7th grade math. Nice try. No, he or she dances.
2) “The administration was blocking us every step of the way. Only because we had strong bipartisan support for these tough [Iran] sanctions were we able to overrule their objections and put them in spite of the administration.”
Volsky: "Even the Israeli President has effusively praised President Obama’s leadership on getting American and international sanctions on Iran, which have significantly slowed Iran’s progress."
That's strike two, Mr. Ryan. Perhaps I shouldn't go that route. It'd be one thing if he had only told three lies, but I still have 22 more of these bad boys to go!
3) “Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts.”
Volsky: "[T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is — and historically has been — greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits."
With this kind of reasoning and scare tactic, might I suggest that Ryan goes for the full jugular next time and tells the world, "You're all going to die." No, he doesn't need to provide any specifics and at some point in the future, it will be seen that he displayed uncanny psychic abilities when making such a declaration. No, this won't be due to President Obama's policies, but unlike Obama, the Romney/Ryan team will tell voters, "If we get elected, you'll never die!"
4) “The vice president was in charge of overseeing this. $90 billion in green pork to campaign contributors and special interest groups.”
Volsky: "Multiple reviews, including an independent review of all Department Of Energy loan programs by Herb Allison – finance chair for McCain for President 2008 – have found no 'pork' in the stimulus’ funding of green projects, concluding that the loans were not steered to friends or family, as Ryan claims."
Ah, but anyone associated with the 2008 McCain campaign is liberally-biased, right, Mr. Ryan? There are now the Reagan Democrats and the McCain Loony Liberals.
5) “Was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in Finland, or on windmills in China?”
Volsky: "As PolitiFact has pointed out, the money for electric cars in Finland did not come from the stimulus. Rather, it originated with the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which predated the Obama administration. The claim about 'windmills in China' is also inaccurate."
Yeah, but still - even though that program predated the Obama administration, Obama was still responsible for it, right? It reminds me of that time I got charged for robbing a bank in 1942 when I was born in 1981.
6) “When they see us putting – when they see us putting daylight between ourselves and our allies in Israel, that gives them encouragement.”
Volsky: "The Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, told CNN, 'President Obama is doing … more than anything that I can remember in the past [in regard to our security].'"
Come on... Who are we going to trust more with regard to issues concerning Israel - the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister or a blue-eyed, workout guru from Wisconsin? Yes, the farm-boy from Wisconsin. I agree.
7) “You see, if you reform these programs for my generation, people 54 and below, you can guarantee they don’t change for people in or near retirement.”
Volsky: "Here is how the Romney/Ryan Medicare plan will affect current seniors: 1) by repealing Obamacare, the 16 million seniors receiving preventive benefits without deductibles or co-pays and are saving $3.9 billion on prescription drugs will see a cost increase, 2) 'premium support' will increase premiums for existing beneficiaries as private insurers lure healthier seniors out of the traditional Medicare program, 3) Romney/Ryan would also lower Medicaid spending significantly beginning next year, shifting federal spending to states and beneficiaries, and increasing costs for the 9 million Medicare recipients who are dependent on Medicaid."
Yes, but Ryan loves his grandma, so we should all just take his word for it. ...just like Romney loves 53% of the people in this country, so middle- and lower-class Americans should just take his word on things.
8) “Obamacare takes $716 billion from Medicare to spend on Obamacare.”
Volsky: "Ryan is claiming that Obamacare siphons off $716 billion from Medicare, to the detriment of Medicare beneficiaries. In actuality, that money is saved primarily through reducing over-payments to insurance companies under Medicare Advantage, cutting waste fraud and abuse, and eliminating inefficiencies in the system. Ryan’s budget plan keeps those same cuts, but directs them toward tax cuts for the rich and deficit reduction."
As Bill Clinton said, it takes quite a bit of "brass" for someone to criticize another for doing the exact same thing you've said that you'd do. Although, due to a rumor I'm about to start - that Paul Ryan takes steroids - I'm sure Clinton's words were meant to be more figurative than literal.
9) “And then they put this new Obamacare board in charge of cutting Medicare each and every year in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.”
Volsky: "The Board, or IPAB is tasked with making binding recommendations to Congress for lowering health care spending, should Medicare costs exceed a target growth rate. Congress can accept the savings proposal or implement its own ideas through a super majority. The panel’s plan will modify payments to providers but it cannot 'include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co- payments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria' (Section 3403 of the ACA). Relying on health care experts rather than politicians to control health care costs has previously attracted bipartisan support and even Ryan himself proposed two IPAB-like structures in a 2009 health plan."
I'm beginning to suspect that both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have developed a serious case of Alzheimer's. "What? I supported that a couple years ago? I voted for that last year? I don't think that's true. Anyway, I am and have always been firmly against it!"
10) “7.4 million seniors are projected to lose their current Medicare Advantage coverage they have. That’s a $3,200 benefit cut.”
Volsky: "Enrollment is actually projected to increase by 11 percent in Medicare Advantage (MA) in 2013. Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010, Medicare Advantage premiums have decreased an average of 10 percent and enrollment in these plans has increased 28 percent."
Yeah, I'm seriously starting to think that Paul Ryan is as much a numbers guy as George W. Bush is a words guy.
11) “This [Medicare premium support] plan that’s bipartisan. It’s a plan I put together with a prominent Democrat senator from Oregon.”
Volsky: "Wyden not only voted against Ryan’s budget, he also called the idea that he supported it 'nonsense.'"
Perhaps Ryan considered last Thursday to be opposite day. Having lied once every 1 minute 40 seconds, I'm thinking that would make a heck of a lot more sense than the reverse.
12) “Eight out of 10 businesses, they file their taxes as individuals, not as corporations.”
Volsky: "Far less than half of the people affected by the expiration of the upper income tax cuts get any of their income at all from a small businesses. And those people could very well be receiving speaking fees or book royalties, which qualify as 'small business income' but don’t have a direct impact on job creation. It’s actually hard to find a small business who think that they will be hurt if the marginal tax rate on income earned above $250,000 per year is increased."
Due to that rumor I started earlier - that Congressman Ryan takes steroids - I bet his "business" is small, if you know what I mean.
13) “[Unemployment is rising] all around America.”
Volsky: "In August, the unemployment rate dropped from a year before in 325 of 372 metro areas surveyed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics."
Alright, so "numbers guy" Congressman Ryan, let me bust out the calculator and allow my fingers to work their magic. Judging from the numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it appears as if 87.4% of metro areas have seen their unemployment levels drop in the past year. Ryan was off by more than a stoned tarot card reader.
14) “The average tax rate on businesses in the industrialized world is 25 percent, and the president wants the top effective tax rate on successful small businesses to go above 40 percent.”
Volsky: "The U.S. is raising historically low amounts of revenue from the corporate income tax, and it already has the second lowest effective corporate tax rate in the world. U.S. corporations are taxed less than their foreign rivals, and the U.S. effective corporate tax rate is low compared to other developed economies."
Ah, but the tax rate is never low enough. Just ask Sir Romney and the 13-14% he's paid. Is there any way that the tax rate can be below 0%? ...and would that be low enough? Come on, numbers guy - let's hear it!
15) “He’ll keep saying this $5 trillion plan, I suppose. It’s been discredited by six other studies.”
Volsky: "The studies Ryan cites actually further prove that Romney/Ryan would, in fact, have to raise taxes on the middle class if he were to keep his promise not to lose revenue with his tax rate reduction."
These "studies" are more like Republican fanboy blogs than anything else. Pretty soon the Romney team will defend their tax plan by saying, "Thousands of studies have proven otherwise. They can be seen on the bumpers of cars all across this great nation!"
16) “You can – you can cut tax rates by 20 percent and still preserve these important preferences for middle-class taxpayer. It is mathematically possible. It’s been done before. It’s precisely what we’re proposing.”
Volsky: "If Romney/Ryan hope to provide tax relief to the middle class, then their $5 trillion tax cut would add to the deficit. There are not enough deductions in the tax code that primarily benefit rich people to make his math work. As the Tax Policy Center concluded, Romney’s plan can’t both exempt middle class families from tax cuts and remain revenue neutral. 'He’s promised all these things and he can’t do them all. In order for him to cover the cost of his tax cut without adding to the deficit, he’d have to find a way to raise taxes on middle income people or people making less than $200,000 a year,' the Center found."
I'd like to know when this has been done before. ...and yes, with real money. The game of Monopoly doesn't count.
17) “So they proposed a $478 billion cut to defense to begin with. Now we have another $500 billion cut to defense that’s lurking on the horizon. They insisted upon that cut being involved in the debt negotiations, and so we have a $1 trillion cut.”
Volsky: "Ryan has frequently gotten in hot water for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011."
Do as I do, not what I say, eh? Wait - in Mr. Ryan's case, reverse that. Actually, in his case, I'd recommend not doing either.
18) “If these cuts go through, our Navy will be the smallest – the smallest it has been since before World War I.”
Volsky: "PolitiFact rated this claim as 'Pants on Fire,' noting that 'a wide range of experts told us it’s wrong to assume that a decline in the number of ships or aircraft automatically means a weaker military.'"
Mr. Ryan's always scalding hot in the eyes of some women. Why is that exactly? The fact he's not ancient like many politicians? His blue eyes? His being in relatively good shape? I just don't see it. So, the guy looks like a fairly young, in-shape, blue-eyed alien. Hubba, hubba!
19) “Look at what they’re doing through Obamacare with respect to assaulting the religious liberties of this country. They’re infringing upon our first freedom, the freedom of religion, by infringing on Catholic charities, Catholic churches, Catholic hospitals.”
Volsky: "Religious institutions haven’t been forced to 'violate their conscience' by paying for contraception. Houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith will be exempt from offering birth control."
What about politicians using religion to "assault the liberties" of others, Mr. Freedom? What would Jesus do? Besides laugh like Biden at some of your claims?
20) “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. Try telling that to the 20 million people who are projected to lose their health insurance if Obamacare goes through or the 7-point million – 7.4 million seniors who are going to lose it.”
Volsky: "The Affordable Care Act would actually expand health care coverage to 30 million Americans and all seniors will keep their guaranteed Medicare benefits, despite Ryan’s fear mongering. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that very few people will have to enroll in new coverage."
Perhaps Ryan's referred to as a numbers guy because he can successfully read numbers. He's numbers-literate. Maybe that's a rarity for Republicans in Congress and the fact that Ryan can look at the numbers "20, 6, 5, 14.2" and read them as "Twenty, six, five, fourteen point two" - it has prompted the numbers-label upon him.
21) “We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.”
Volsky: "In March 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted that 'many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.' However, she did not endorse their view."
Well, that's Romney (meaning rich). "Someone this person knows - might have said they agree with someone somewhere else and this is bad for America. Therefore this person is bad for America!" Right, because if a friend of Romney's said that he felt Stalin was a great leader, this would mean that Romney actually said he felt Stalin was a great leader.
22) “When Barack Obama was elected, they had enough fissile material — nuclear material to make one bomb. Now they have enough for five.”
Volsky: "This is misleading and unproven. Iran now has enough fissile material, but has not yet enriched to the necessary level for a weapon. The Institute for Science and International Security says 'it would take Iran more than two months to produce that amount if it started with 20%-grade uranium, and ‘several months’ to make enough for a bomb using low-enriched uranium. That would give the world community enough time to detect the operation and organize a response, ISIS noted in June.'"
Maybe Ryan is called a "numbers guy" because he can successfully draw random numbers out of a hat (his a**) and read them. A job in keno, bingo or the lottery could very well be in this man's future.
23) “[Iran is] racing toward a nuclear weapon.”
Volsky: "Israeli and American intelligence officials aren’t so sure."
Once again, should we trust Israeli and American intelligence on this issue or America's lack of intelligence with Mr. Ryan? So Ryan can correctly read numbers - congrats to him! It will take a bit more than that for me to believe his word over Israeli and American intelligence with regard to just about anything, especially if it concerns Iran.
24) “We don’t want to do is give our allies reason to trust us less [by announcing a withdrawal timeline for Afghanistan].”
Volsky: "It’s unclear how our allies would trust us less since they too agreed to the timeline. As Biden pointed outed, 'That’s a bizarre statement. .. Forty-nine of our allies — hear me — 49 of our allies signed on to this position.'"
Think of it this way, Mr. Congressman - if I were Mormon, had 49 wives and they all signed onto... Nevermind - that's a very bad example. Forget I even said that.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/10/12/1002021/at-the-vice-presidential-debate-ryan-told-24-myths-in-40-minutes/
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