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Political Hotsheet
Ron and Rand Paul say downgrade is fault of Washington, not Tea Party
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) (L) talks to his father Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) (R) during a news conference June 22, 2011 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
/ Photo by Alex Wong/Getty ImagesRep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., both blasted Tea Party critics on Monday for suggesting that the conservative movement with which they're both linked may have had something to do with America's recent credit downgrade by the ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
The elder Paul, a longtime lawmaker, staunch libertarian, and presidential candidate, decried the allegations as an "attempt to scapegoat" Tea Party lawmakers. He pinned the downgrade on the Washington establishment.
"This attempt to scapegoat folks who recognize that our debt is out of control and that we must change course should not be tolerated," he said in a Monday statement. "They are simply demanding that Washington do its job."
Special section: America's debt battle
He continued: "We were downgraded because of years of reckless spending, not because concerned Americans demanded we get our finances in order. The Washington establishment has spent us into near default and now a downgrade, and here they are again trying to escape responsibility for their negligence in handling the economy."
In a Sunday appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod pinned responsibility for America's recent downgrade - from the top-rated AAA rating to AA+ -- on the Tea Party, arguing that the group's political "brinksmanship" during debt ceiling negotiations "brought us to the brink of a default."
"The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade," Axelrod declared. "That clearly is on the backs of those who were willing to see the country default."
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, also speaking on "Face the Nation," argued that the "radical right" had essentially scared mainstream Republicans off of voting for a debt limit package that could have included tax increases - and staved off the ratings dip.
"If you look at the Standard & Poor's report, three times they mentioned that our unwillingness to raise revenues was going to make it impossible for us to regain our credit rating," Dean said. "That's a pretty clear signal. The American people are there, the Democrats are there, a lot of reasonable Republicans are there, but they are terrified of these right wing splinter groups, the radical right, because they are so powerful in the primaries."
Rand Paul, the first-term Kentucky Senator who was elected in 2010 with the support of the Tea Party, argued that blaming the movement for America's economic woes was like "blaming the fireman for fires."
"Blaming the Tea Party for America's debt crisis and downgrade is like blaming the fireman for fires," he said in a statement. "The Tea Party has been fighting for a serious solution that would rescue our finances through immediate spending cuts, spending caps and most importantly, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution."
"While Democrats would like to lay blame on the Tea Party for the current economic failure, it is their President who has failed in leadership, failed to lower unemployment, failed to rescue our economy, failed to prevent a downgrade of our debt, and failed to control spending," he added.
The Dow Jones industrial fell 634.76 points on Monday, as anxiety plagued Wall Street on the first trading day since Standard & Poor's downgraded American debt. The drop is the sixth worst point decline for the Dow in the last 112 years. Every stock in the S&P's 500 index declined Monday.
From CBS Moneywatch.com:
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Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;" It is actually one of the very few things that authorizes Congress to do.
The fed orders the money printed, and with NOTHING but thin air backing it up; THEN it charges OUR government interest; AND the? Corporate Government charges the average PRODUCING middle class person a tax to pay off the "interest" (USURY of the AMERICAN PEOPLE)
Ron Paul is so correct in pointing out that we should refuse to pay the federal reserve the money they PRINTED OUT OF THIN AIR and with NO SKIN put on their criminal game.
The real enemies of We The People are not the common people of foreign lands; but are the eight or so families (some of which are European) who are the shareholders of the five or so mega banks who are the shareholders of the federal reserve; and their minions in the Fascist Corporate-Government that include names like Paulson, Geithner, Kashkari, Bernanke, Summers, Rubin and others. The American people would do well to wake up to the reality of who their real enemies are.
The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." Thomas Jefferson
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson
"We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of
all human governments. A departure from principle in one instance
becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is
reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression." Thomas Jefferson
I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity... is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
Thomas Jefferson
He has never taken a government junket.
He does not participate in the lucrative Congressional Pension Program.
He returns a portion of his annual Congressional Office Budget every
year.
He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He voted no to the bankster bailout.
He voted no to raising the debt ceiling and warned us against
the "Super Congress" part of the legislation that resembles both
an " Enabling Act" and a "Politburo."
He has never voted to restrict gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise Congressional Pay.
He never voted to increase Executive Branch Power.
He will Reinstate The Constitution and Save The Republic
He will END the unconstitutional FED.
He will phase out the unconstitutional IRS beginning immediately
He will secure the borders
He will limit Big Government in your private affairs
He will stop Illegal immigration and no amnesty
He voted against regulating the Internet
He is the only candidate for President in 2012 who actually served his country.
He was a flight surgeon during Vietnam.
Ron Paul's popularity is so high among U.S. service members that the Texas Congressman's presidential campaign has received more money from U.S. soldiers than any other candidate in the 2012 presidential race. http://www.thestatecolumn.com/capito...-the-military/
He voted against the Iraq War and warned us against going forward with
an undeclared war."Let it not be said that no one cared, that
no one objected once it's realized that our liberty and wealth are in
Jeopardy" July 10th, 2003
He voted against the un-patriotic so called Patriot Act.
He supports a non-interventionist foreign policy yet a strong military
He will end the inflation tax He is a true Constitutional
Conservative
He would have soundly beat Obama in 2008 because Independents trust him and like him.
We could have had a V8 instead of McCain't in 08
Ron Paul for President 2012
Because no one else can be trusted to say what he
means and do what he says like Ron Paul does.
Ron Paul is the man of the hour. They used to laugh him for being way ahead
of the others in his thinking and his warnings. Now, they are not
laughing because what he predicted is coming to pass. Now, he is being called
a prophet for having warned us and still calmly suffered through the
barbs. "First they, ignore you, then they fight you, then you
win." Gandhi
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no
vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of
justice is no virtue!" Barry Goldwater"
"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more
efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to
promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to
pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs,
but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that
have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an
unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether
legislation is "needed" before I have first determined
whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be
attacked for neglecting my constituents' "interests," I
shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty
and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can." Barry
Goldwater
Senator Barry Goldwater's son, former Congressman Barry
Goldwater Jr. endorses Ron Paul. Ron Paul has been warning us for
so long of the impending economic disaster we are seeing today,
and he has been purposefully working to wake us to realize we
must change our course to save the Republic. I take Ron Paul
very seriously. He may not be the most polished public speaker,
but he speaks the truth with unvarnished power; He needs no
teleprompter to carry on an intelligent discourse for over two
hours to a packed auditorium of twenty and thirty something
voters! He may not be the tallest, or the most strikingly
handsome candidate, he doesn't have "pretty hair" but people want the Real Deal.
Ron Paul is the real deal
Ron Paul for President 2012
http://RonPaul2012.com
The name of the report they issued is:
AAA/A-1+' Rating On United States of America Affirmed; Outlook Revised To Negative
Read more: http://www.thestatecolumn.com/articles/ron-paul-tea-party-not-to-blame-for-standard-poors-downgrade/#ixzz1UcH4IC3k
No doubt their predictable and slanderous reaction will continue knowing that the masses that do not follow the political process will be influenced by the media's superficial headlines as they relentlessly drive them into their little brains.
you guys after 11 years of bush and obama doing the wars, the spending, the debt, the patriot acts, the high energy prices, the bank bailouts and stimulus, the nationalized and impotent public education, the housing bubble, and everything else caused by big government. (they definitely do some good things, but these things stand out clearly as negative policies that both parties willingly accepted or endorsed)
Now are blaming a small minority of the republican party for the entire countries ills.
I am not a member of the tea party but that is another classic show of American politicians not taking responsibility or sidestepping the real issue. It is another attempt to make you think that voting is a battle between two evils, and you must choose the one less negative.
If the polls say you only support 14% of congress...then why not put the blame on everyone......and then realize that its not individual politicians that you should be worrying about its your philosophy thats pretty askewed right now.
Ron Paul 2012 - "I know what he stands for and believes in" - in our modern age of POTUS bs of selling out to everyone for power or money, that is as honorable as it gets.
Neither qualify as a libertarian. But maybe some tea party members comprende?
"Don't these liberal money snatchers know that big government stimulus has always failed. The new deal - failed. The war on poverty - failed. Jimmy Carter's attempt to end stagflation - failed. Obama's stimulus to end this recession - failed."
come on man. Both sides have failed.
That is why people like Ron Paul. Because he scares both neocons and liberals who's principles are non-existent and contradictory and who have betrayed their country at the expense of their special interests and who haven't learned or changed anything because you people keep voting them in because your so afraid of the other side.