Republican Party Convention 2012
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Fact-checking 6 claims in Paul Ryan's convention speech
The claim: Obama stripped billions from Medicare, demanding sacrifice of seniors
Since tapping Ryan as his running mate, Romney has faced endless questions about his plan for Medicare: In his most recent budget plan, Ryan proposed a controversial overhaul that would transform the nation's entitlement system into a voucher program. Democrats immediately seized on the plan, which Obama argued would "end Medicare as we know it," but the Romney campaign responded with a swift counter-attack, accusing the administration of trying to "rob" Medicare of $716 billion in order to fund the Affordable Care Act.
Ryan echoed that refrain in his Tuesday night remarks:
"You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn't have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions more. So, they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it."
Later, he defended his and Romney's plan as "protecting" Medicare, while he accused the Obama administration of "raiding" it.
Did President Obama raid Medicare to pay for the Affordable Care Act? The Romney campaign points to a CBO report showing that if the health care law was repealed, spending for Medicare would increase by an estimated $716 billion from 2013-2022. The president's health care reform law is indeed paid for in part by reducing Medicare's expected rate of growth between now and 2022. According to data from the Kaiser Foundation, however, the reductions come primarily from cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, as well as in hospital reimbursements and in payments to other providers. The Obama administration casts them as savings that would streamline the system, reduce waste and fraud, reinforce the Medicare trust fund and extend its lifeline. It does not limit access to benefits for Medicare recipients, and actually offers new preventative care benefits, as well as increased prescription drug coverage. Republicans, however, argue it creates disincentives for hospitals and doctors to accept new Medicare patients.
Fact-checking the Romney-Ryan "60 Minutes" interviewIn addition to the Democratic defense of the $716 billion in reductions, critics of the Romney-Ryan argument point out that that Ryan's 2012 budget would have included many of the same Medicare reductions as are outlined in the president's health care plan. The campaign has since said it would restore those reductions, but Romney has not outlined a specific plan for Medicare if elected, other than to affirm that he would implement a voucher system and extend the solvency of the program. The campaign has not relayed specifics on how he would do that, however, and the New York Times reports that the pledge to reimburse the $716 billion in reductions would alone reduce Medicare's solvency by eight years.
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So now we want another set of radical extremist Republicons to make it even worse. Smart!
Fact number two: Cuts are cuts, Obama admitted to the cuts in a TV interview in December 2009. If you cut the amount you pay a doctor, they have every right to cut the service they provide. Also - Paul Ryan was required to use current law when he submitted his budget. Obamacare was already current law. You're not allowed to just make like it doesn't exist when you're figuring out a budget.
Fact number three:Debt has increased $6 Trillion under Obama's leadership. Period. You can point to all the plans you want but he hasn't offered to cut any spending as of yet.
Fact number four:Obama's remarks indicate he gives credit to the collective rather than the individual. Therefore, by default, he believes the collective built that and not your own blood, sweat and tears. The author's basis for debunking this fact is opinion.
Fact number five: Fees are not taxes, just ask my former Governor Bill Ritter (D). You can't have it both ways. If it is a fee under democrat, it is a fee under a republican. Also, his unemployment numbers are still a fact even if it did take the national number some time to catch up with Romney's number. And I'll take 4.6 anyday!
Fact number six: So only one "half billion dollar" "political Patronage" to Solyndra?? Really?? Is this the threshhold of journalism now, one is OK? Fact is we borrowed to payfor the stimulus and the payroll tax credit, so it is still DEBT!!
Honestly, its becoming painful to watch you twist and turn to promote your own biased slant!
Wrong. The plant closed Dec 2008. A skeleton crew of 100 were kept on to complete a truck order and shut the plant down after that.
Fact number two: Cuts are cuts, Obama admitted to the cuts in a TV interview in December 2009. If you cut the amount you pay a doctor, they have every right to cut the service they provide. Also - Paul Ryan was required to use current law when he submitted his budget. Obamacare was already current law. You're not allowed to just make like it doesn't exist when you're figuring out a budget.
Cuts. The only thing ObamaCare really cuts into is the obscene profits of the HMO's and insurance companies. THAT'S the bottom line. It surprised nobody on the planet that the GOP has a problem with that as they are the Rich's attack dogs. That's the reason the GOP is against ObamaCare. It cuts into their profits and tells them they cannot deny people with prior conditions from attention. Only an immoral group such as the GOP would not only have a problem with that, but spin everything else in order to stop it.
Fact number three:Debt has increased $6 Trillion under Obama's leadership. Period. You can point to all the plans you want but he hasn't offered to cut any spending as of yet.
Why don't you go ask Paul Ryan why, after being on the bi-partisian debt committee (tasked with creating THE long term debt solution for our country), he voted it down and threw the committees recommendations (and the Nations shot at debt reduction) under the bus. Ryan even had the gall to blame Obama for not doing anything with the committee's findings! What a total POS.
Fact number four:Obama's remarks indicate he gives credit to the collective rather than the individual. Therefore, by default, he believes the collective built that and not your own blood, sweat and tears. The author's basis for debunking this fact is opinion.
Only a pea-brained idiot would have thought that Obama was trying to belittle a person for starting a business. It's also glaringly obvious to anyone who isn't consummed my personal greed that there are other people on the planet besides themselves. The people that built the roads, power plants, water treatment facilities, taught you how to read and write and how to wipe your @ss when you were growing up. Ignore reality if you want, that's typical of a greedy, narcissistic GOP zombie.
Fact number five: Fees are not taxes, just ask my former Governor Bill Ritter (D). You can't have it both ways. If it is a fee under democrat, it is a fee under a republican. Also, his unemployment numbers are still a fact even if it did take the national number some time to catch up with Romney's number. And I'll take 4.6 anyday!
An extra 100.00 gone from your wallet is 100.00 gone from your wallet. Does your family know the difference when you can't afford to do something because you don't have that 100 anymore?
Fact number six: So only one "half billion dollar" "political Patronage" to Solyndra?? Really?? Is this the threshhold of journalism now, one is OK? Fact is we borrowed to payfor the stimulus and the payroll tax credit, so it is still DEBT!!
So Solyndra went bust. How many Trillions does the US pour into R&D for everything from the Space Program to pork barreled personal "bridge to knowhere" projects? Some work, some don't. So you blame Obama on one hand for not doing enough, then blame him for doing a @#$@load of things and point out a failure? Do you have a clue of what you are really talking about?
The bottom line is the entire GOP has been functioning for the last 4 years with one goal in mind- Make Obama a one term President. No matter what that takes. Sandbagging everything that comes down the pike. Better to throw the Nation under the bus that to see Obama succeed, then have the gall to blame him for not doing enough. Only the GOP would do something like that.
Stay tuned for next week when you can see what a real DEMOCRATIC convention looks like that is supported BY THE PEOPLE. Not the fake GOP, RICH GUY special interest group get together that masquerades as their political convention.
However a few of these items could easily be argued either way. Given the author's so readily took the Democrats point of view it should come as no surprise they themselves are Democrats who haven't come out of the closet.
I think reporters should be required to list their political party affiliation since it's so obvious the media protects Obama.
I do agree there is often slant in the media but nothing will fix the party affiliated filer that people from both parties use to look at facts. If it supports my position it is a fact, if it doesn't it is a lie. Facts are facts whether you like them or not and making decisions based on only the facts you choose to accept or worse yet intentionally disregarding unsavory facts makes people worse than the biased media. We should all be willing to learn and grow. Unfortunately most people are so entrenched in political ideology ... facts really don;t seem to matter anymore. That is sad.
The president appointed Erskine Bowles as the Democratic representative on his deficit commission. After he released his 2011 budget Bowles came out the next day and gave a statement saying Obama's cuts go "nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare." That's what Bowles told the Washington Post. He co-chaired the president's deficit reduction commission that called for deep cuts in areas such as defense and entitlements, including Social Security. I'd say Ryan's claim is bogus. Obama did something on debt. But it's nowhere near what HAD to be done.