Obama camp blasts Ryan; GOP hails "comeback team"
Updated 1 p.m. ET
(CBS News) On the heels of Mitt Romney's Saturday announcement that he is tapping Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan to be his vice presidential running mate, both parties found reason to be excited: Democrats wasted no time in lambasting Ryan for his "radical" ideas, while Republicans hailed the choice as inspired and exciting.
In a flurry of statements and videos released before the announcement festivities were even complete, the Obama campaign seized on Ryan's 2010 budget plan, a controversial proposal that would have overhauled the nation's Medicare system, and which gave even some prominent Republicans pause. (Newt Gingrich delivered some of the more memorable criticism.)
"In naming Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy," said Obama campaign manager Jim Messina in a statement. "The architect of the radical Republican House budget, Ryan, like Romney, proposed an additional $250,000 tax cut for millionaires, and deep cuts in education from Head Start to college aid. His plan also would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system, shifting thousands of dollars in health care costs to seniors."
The campaign, which has had months to prepare for Romney's decision, was ready with a both new video and a web page, which branded the duo as "The Go Back team."
"What you need to know right now: This election is about values, and today Romney doubled down on his commitment to take our country back to the failed policies of the past," said Messina in a separate email to supporters released shortly after the decision was formally announced. "Our job is to make sure Americans know the truth about what Romney's choice says about him as a candidate and leader."
Unlike several of the Republicans thought to have been on Romney's VP short-list, Ryan is viewed as a bold but risky choice for the GOP ticket; his unapologetic support for controversial, budget-slashing policies gives Romney's conservative credentials a boost, but also provides Democrats with immediate ammunition for criticism.
His budget, particularly, is thought to be potentially dangerous for Romney, and the campaign is suggesting that the candidate does not fully support it. That won't stop Democrats from using it against him, however, especially given the fact that he has stated his support for the budget in the past.
Republicans, meanwhile, are hailing Ryan as an intellectual leader and an inspired choice who could help gin up enthusiasm among the conservative base.
If fundraising is any measure of enthusiasm, then numbers released by the Romney campaign show his supporters are thrilled. Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul wrote on Twitter that his campaign has taken in $1.2 million in the first four hours since the Ryan announcement.
"The Romney-Ryan ticket is going to win in November because it offers the American people visionary leadership to recapture the free enterprise spirit that has empowered countless Americans to build businesses from scratch and live the American dream," added Marco Rubio, himself thought to be a contender for the VP job. "I'm excited about the visionary change a Romney-Ryan team will bring to Washington, and I look forward to campaigning with them this fall."
On CNN, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., called Ryan a "real leader for the future" and dismissed the notion that he is too inexperienced for the job.
"He has been a thorough, diligent worker. No one knows the budget better than Paul," Cantor said.
Rupert Murdoch, the conservative media mogul who has been critical of Romney in the past, expressed a level of excitement over the GOP ticket that has so far been in somewhat short supply with regard to Romney's candidacy:
"Thank God! Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice," he wrote on Twitter.
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Ryan voted for MEDICARE PART D but now wants to gut MEDICARE
Ryan voted for the GM Chrysler bailout, but MITTY did not want it.
Ryan voted for the TARP and MITTY said it should never have happened.
It is like watching the old WHO'S ON FIRST when these conservatives talk.
LOL! Too bad they both shipped businesses overseas -- one for maximizing profits and the other for their corporate American masters pumping huge amounts of money into their campaign today!
Until republicans can explain why they blocked SB3364 that would have "Brought Jobs Home," and removed tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas, the GOP party is just as disingenuous as it is anti-American!
I agree, since romney has already talked about another $200 Billion in "defense" spending immediately, which would take the bloated military-industrial complex up to at least $1.5 Trillion, it's clear that the republican party is completely fiscally reckless at best!
That, added to the $5 Trillion in tax cuts added to making the bush tax cuts permanent for another $4 Trillion over the next decade, proves that republicans just want to keep borrowing and spending no matter how much political rhetoric they spew!
Personally, until they can at least acknowledge our revenue problem over the past 30 years of trickle-down, 'starve the beast' fiscal recklessness, they are a party void of ideas no matter what ryan says!
Come now eric, for a true government-hater like ryan, especially when it comes to average American's health care, he would never agree to government-run exchanges for Medicare like the PPACA, if he thought speaker boehner would ever bring it up for a vote or that the tea party House would ever pass it!
It was just a political maneuver that got your attention, despite it being a completely moot point in this case! LOL!
Fact is, willard romney put out his plan last fall, which was similar to paul ryan's but differed in a few important ways. It did not eradicate Medicare, which ryan originally proposed doing in 2011, and the GOP House passed it.
Instead, romney has proposed introducing private plans to compete with Medicare in its current form, and giving seniors a choice between them. In the wyden-ryan plan, these plans are part of a government-run exchange.
What? The ayn rand darling, paul ryan, that hates everything about our government, agreed to a GOVERNMENT-RUN EXCHANGE for Medicare?
Fact is, wyden-ryan is more like Obama's Affordable Care Act, which also features health insurance exchanges, than ryan I, which would have forced seniors to fend for themselves.
But......was the wyden-ryan plan passed by the right-wing House? NO, it wasn't even brought up for a vote, since it will not pass, so this is a non-sequitor that republicans use as their talking point!
Some believe that the new ryan-wyden proposal will anger republicans in the House who had already stuck their necks out to vote for the old ryan proposal. By coming on board with wyden, ryan has all but conceded his first proposal wasn't politically acceptable, but the tea party GOP has not been convinced!
LOL! This seems to be the major republican talking point this morning, as each and every republican on the Sunday political talk circuit, has parroted this same exact line of attack.
Hey eric and all republicans -- the cuts came from the Medicare Advantage program that was already OVERPAYING, so cutting WASTE should be a good thing!
Besides, any cuts to Medicare by the Dems, surely pale in comparison to what the ryan/romney plan will do to Medicare as they turn it into "CouponCare" and strip all the money out of it! LOL!
As a matter of fact, the ryan/romney plan cut spending by $4 Trillion while giving the wealthiest Americans $4 Trillion in tax cuts, and you disingenuous republicans are whining about cutting the WASTE out of Medicare?
These same folks are driven by a crudely selfish, exclusionary, and Calvinist-like understanding of faith where "the elect" are shown god's love and divinity by how much money and worldly goods they are "rewarded with" by their godhead. The banksters laugh -- as they always do -- at how they can so easily play and manipulate the peons into working against their own immediate and long-term class interests. And of course, the real party leaders such as rush limbaugh get paid the big bucks, for they are the Archons who defend the ideological "purity" of the tea party GOP and gin up witch hunts against those deemed inauthentic and weak.
It will be interesting to watch!
What they don't mention is that Obamacare slashes $500 BILLION from Medicare as a way to "balance" its cost:
"During the health overhaul debate, much was made of the deficit-neutrality of President Obama's law, which Democrats achieved, in part, by taking $500 billion out of projected Medicare spending over the next 10 years, even as Medicare spending continues to grow."
Or that Ryan has worked extensively with Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) to address many of the Democrats' concerns on his original 2011 plans to come up with the one presented in his 2012 budget:
"WHERE THE PLAN STANDS NOW:
...The changes Ryan implemented with Wyden were significant-and they involved major concessions on Ryan's part... The new plan is almost unrecognizable from Ryan's previous iteration... While Ryan's updated Medicare plan is drastically different from his previous one in many significant regards, it is clear nonetheless that Democrats want voters to judge him on the version on which he first staked his career."
But no matter. Liberals will completely ignore Ryan's latest bipartisan plan (in which he made significant compromises and concessions to accommodate Democratic concerns) and will endlessly demagogue, lie, distort, and exaggerate about the earlier draft.
The above quotes are from an ABC News narrative explaining all of the above. I suggest the fire-breathing, liberal partisan hacks read it - you might learn something.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/paul-ryans-2011-medicare-plan-a-primer/
LOL!
With just two congressional supporters, the wyden-ryan Medicare overhaul plan never went anywhere in the GOP-controlled House. Supporting this new proposal would indeed help congressional republicans distance themselves from ryan's earlier, controversial plan that the GOP House passed over a year ago, but has never been brought to a vote.
Some believe that the new ryan-wyden proposal will anger republicans in the House who had already stuck their necks out to vote for the old ryan proposal. By coming on board with wyden, ryan has all but conceded his first proposal wasn't politically acceptable, but the tea party GOP has not been convinced!
You partisan republicans can keep parroting the same talking points of PPACA cuts to Medicare and this bi-partisan wyden-ryan proposal, but the fact remains that the proposal has been dead since last Dec., and ryan's budget that the tea party GOP passed over one year ago, cuts far more from Medicare and turns it into CouponCare! LOL!