Politics
- Republican David Frum Scripts Democratic ‘Paul Ryan’ Attack Ad
David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, pens an attack ad for Democrats in a short piece on The Daily Beast:
You’ve worked hard all your life. You’ve paid Medicare taxes for almost 30 years. But under the Republican plan, Medicare won’t be there for you. Instead of Medicare as it exists now, under the Republican plan you’ll get a voucher that will pay as little as half your Medicare costs when you turn 65—and as little as a quarter in your 80s. And all so that millionaires and billionaires can have a huge tax cut.
Frum is definitely no shill for the Republican Party and he proves it again with this piece. He appears to call it as he sees it, which often is in opposition to his own party. It’s refreshing to say the least.
The substance of his ‘Democratic attack ad’ is spot on. There is nothing false or exaggerated. The Paul Ryan Budget would end Medicare as we know it. Instead of lowering taxes for the rich from 35% to 25% (as Ryan’s budget would do) why don’t we instead raise taxes on those who can afford to pay higher taxes and work to improve the Affordable Care Act.
- The National Memo » Ryan’s Hope: Voodoo Economics Still Isn’t A Plan
By naming Paul Ryan as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Mitt Romney has endorsed what used to be known as “voodoo economics” — and restored that special brand of Republican superstition to the center of national debate. To take Ryan seriously, as all too many pundits and politicians insist we must, requires everyone to behave as if the plans he produced as House Budget Committee chairman represent a meaningful effort to improve the nation’s fiscal future. Sooner or later, however, real analysts will scrutinize the Ryan budget using honest math instead of humbug and magic.
In fact they already have done so — and that is where the myth of Ryan as a serious, scrupulous, and bold reformer begins to disintegrate.
As close observers know, the Wisconsin Congressman wants to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans even more sharply than George W. Bush, whose tax policies caused the bulk of the deficits that provoke so much righteous anger among Republicans like Ryan today. In Ryan’s budget, his tax cuts leave an enormous revenue gap, even with the absurdly destructive spending cuts he also proposes.
But according to Ryan, we need not worry that his plan will increase fiscal deficits as well as the deficits it will assuredly worsen in infrastructure, education, health care, environmental quality, consumer protection, and scientific research. He says that his tax cuts, which naturally favor the wealthiest Americans, will pay for themselves by creating a huge, rapid spurt of economic growth — which will result in higher tax revenues to cover the deficit. (read the complete article…)
- Brad DeLong: Think Progress: Paul Ryan: Budget Arsonist in a Fire Chief’s Hat
Remember when Paul Ryan, because he’s such a deficit hawk, insisted George Bush pay for his massive tax cuts and wars?
#meneither#icymi— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) August 13, 2012
- Brad DeLong: The Intelligent, Thoughtful, and Very Patient Matt Miller Slowly Explains That Paul Ryan Is a Budget Arsonist in a Fire Chief’s Hat
- Paul Ryan, culture warrior? – The Maddow Blog
- Five races where the Ryan VP selection could have an impact – The Washington Post
- Daily Kos: Paul Ryan calls progressives “a cancer”
Paul Ryan is a dangerous, brainwashed, narrow-minded zealot. If we did not know that already, this interview certainly confirms it.
In 2010 Ryan was interviewed by the odious Glenn Beck on his radio show. When I heard the audio today, even I was shocked by the outright unabashed hatred Ryan has for progressives, rivaling Beck’s own.
BECK: OK. Hang on just a second. I — did you see my speech at CPAC?RYAN: Yeah, I’ve read it. I didn’t see it. I’ve read a transcript of it.
BECK: OK. I think we’re saying the same thing. I call it —
RYAN: We are saying the same thing.
BECK: it’s a cancer.
RYAN: Exactly. Look, I come from — I’m calling you from Janesville, Wisconsin —
BECK: Holy cow.
RYAN: — where I’m born and raised, where we raised our family, 35 miles from Madison. I grew up hearing about this stuff. This stuff came from these German intellectuals to Madison, University of Wisconsin, and then sort of out from there at the beginning of the last century. So, this is something we are familiar with where I come from.
It never sat right with me, and as I grew up, I learned more about the Founders and reading the Austrians and others, that this is really a cancer. Because it basically takes the notion that our rights come from God and nature, and turns it on its head and says, “No, no, no, no. They come from government. And we here in government are here to give you your rights and therefore ration, redistribute, and regulate your rights.” It’s a complete affront of the whole idea of this country. And that is, to me, what we as conservatives — or classical liberals, if you want to get technical —
BECK: Thank you.
RYAN: — ought to be doing to flush this out. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 4/12/10]
This. is. crazy. talk. (read the comple article…)
Yesterday I wrote: “One thing attributed to Ryan in this article that I do like about Ryan:
“I’m not one of these people who hates the other side. I don’t hate Democrats or hate liberals. I just disagree with them,” says Ryan “I find some of my favorite people in this world are the people who feel passionately about their beliefs and act on them regardless of whether they are beliefs I share or not.”
Given that pandering to Beck and Beck’s audience I might have to take that back.
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Climate & Climate Politics
- Barnidge: UC Berkeley professor was slow to warm up to climate change – San Jose Mercury News
- Our Father, who art making the glacier smaller, please make it bigger now, OK? | Grist
- On Paul Ryan & Climate: