Ryan touts hometown values before heading to Tampa

Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. speaks during a campaign event at Joseph A. Craig High School, Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, in Janesville, Wis.

/ AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

(CBS News) JANESVILLE, Wis. - Hometown Rep. Paul Ryan - just "Paul" to the local folks - got a rowdy sendoff from 2,000 locals who gathered in the gym of his alma mater, Craig High School, to wish him well in Tampa. Ryan, for his part, pledged to bring the Midwestern values of his upbringing with him.

"What we do in our communities is we look out for one another, that's what's so special, that's what government can't replace or displace. Think of the charities that we all raised right here in Janesville to make our community stronger," Ryan said, ticking off a list of local nonprofits.

Ryan will depart for the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, his departure delayed by the storm hitting the Gulf Coast. He paused during his speech to acknowledge the threat.

"I think we should right now put in our minds and our prayers the people who have been victims of Hurricane Isaac and those who still stand in the path of the storm," he said.

Ryan said the story of Janesville, the Wisconsin town of about 60,000 where he was born, raised and currently lives, also is America's story. He recalled the Irish immigrant families like his who settled there after the potato famine in the 1800s. His great-great-grandfather, he said, worked on the railroads in Boston to earn enough to buy a farm in Wisconsin.

"It's not a unique story, it's the American story, and the reason our family came and the reason everyone else's family came here is because of what this country stands for," he said. "America is not just a piece of geography, it's an idea. You know it's the only country founded on an idea, and that idea is precious."

Republican Convention 2012: complete coverage

Even though Ryan's speech was intended as a feel-good event-- he was joined by his wife, family and many of the 70 Ryan cousins who still live near him -- the Obama campaign used it to try to call attention to what it said were its rivals' shortcomings.

"In Wisconsin, Congressman Ryan talked a lot about what makes America great," Obama campaign spokesman Danny Kanner said. "But what he and Mitt Romney don't seem to understand is that the country's strongest when the middle class is strong and prosperous. They'd raise taxes for middle class families with kids by an average of $2,000, turn Medicare into a voucher system, and slash critical investments in education and infrastructure."

Ryan's life has changed dramatically in the two weeks since he was named as presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney's running mate. While he has returned home on Sundays to attend Mass and have dinner with some of his extended family, a two-block security perimeter now surrounds his brick home with a constant presence from Secret Service and local police.

But for the many supporters from around Janesville of the local boy who ran for Congress, there is only pride around those changes. Dozens showed up sporting the famous Wisconsin cheesehead hats, bearing the "Romney-Ryan" logo stamped on the side.

"It definitely means a lot to have someone from your hometown trying to turn things around for the country, not just for our area, but for the whole country," said Janesville resident Julie Wilcox, who worships at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, which Ryan attends.

"It's a big deal for us, because finally we have somebody national that represents our views, and we're happy about that," said Bill Cunningham of neighboring Beloit.

[nygurl1]

In a town of 60,000....There were 2,000 cheering him on....and 70 were relatives!

Did that include his wife & kids or just the outliers?

Such enthusiasm.

[Verascity]

Why hasn't the so-called "liberal media" mentioned Ryan's calling rape a "method of conception"? He makes Akin sound almost sane by comparison.

[GOP-R--Con-Men]

Republicans are rigging the elections trying to steal it with these unnecessary VOTER I.D. LAWS and they have yet to pay the appropriate price for subverting our constitution and democracy. The media print, video and digital are complicit in allowing this. The media and our government would be shouting what republicans are doing at every chance if this were going on in country of one of our enemies. But it's accepted because it's happening here in America?

HELL NO!

Republicans must be held to account for this attack to subvert our democracy. Republicans should be attacked by libertarians, liberals, conservatives, tea partiers and other groups in addition to the media for subverting our right to vote.

[gwazdos1]

At a campaign event on Monday, a Republican voter asked Mitt Romney about falsehoods pushed by "leftists" and what he intended to do about it. The candidate replied, "It seems that the first victim of an Obama campaign is the truth."
As it turns out, the first victim is actually irony.
Michael Tomasky had a good piece this week, explaining what many have been reluctant to acknowledge: "The distinguishing fact of the Romney-Ryan campaign thus far is the extent to which it is built on outright lies in a desperate attempt to avoid honest debate at all costs." The GOP ticket, Tomasky argued, "lies as much as possible."
Just making stuff up about the other guy is bad enough. But it is in terms of past and future positions that what Romney-Ryan are doing really plows new and dishonorable earth. [...]
They know that the truth would crush them electorally. And so it follows that they know they must lie. They must lie about their Medicare plans. They must lie about the effects of their tax plans on average people and rich people. And they must tell a number of lies about Obama, all the better if they involve race, as the welfare lie does.
So this will be the entire point of the Romney-Ryan campaign. Lie lie lie. Muddy the waters. Turn day to night, fire to water, champagne to ****. Peddle themselves as the precise opposite of what they actually are. That is clearly the m.o.
It's always something of a relief when others notice this, but it's a dynamic much of the political world resists. Perhaps these stragglers could take a few moments to consider the 31st installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity. (This week is the biggest list since I started the project in January.)
1. Referencing the money he gives to his church every year, Romney said, "This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one's financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known."
This is ridiculously untrue.
2. In an interview with Time magazine, Romney said of the recent Tax Policy Center analysis, "The basic foundation and premises of my plan are ... we don't reduce taxes or the share of taxes paid by the highest-income individuals. The highest-income individuals will get to pay the same share of taxes they pay today."
At a minimum, this is ridiculously misleading. Under Romney's plan, high-income people would get an enormous tax break.
3. In the same interview, Romney added, "I know that many in the modeling community do not want to assume growth with changes in tax policy. I do."
Actually, the Tax Policy Center, which Romney was criticizing, gave him the benefit of the doubt on growth assumptions, and found that his numbers still didn't add up.
4. On Twitter, Romney claimed President Obama "gutted bipartisan welfare reform by ending the work requirement."
He's blatantly lying.
5. Also on Twitter, Romney argued that the Affordable Care Act, "raises taxes on families making less than 120k. I will repeal it."
He's referring to an individual mandate that would apply to 1% of the population. And if President Obama's health care policy raised taxes on families making less than $120,000, then Romney raised taxes on families making less than $120,000.
6. In a campaign ad, Romney says Obama is "raiding $716 billion from Medicare."
No, he's not.
7. The same ad accuses Obama of "taxing wheelchairs and pacemakers."
At a minimum, this is wildly misleading.
8. The ad concludes, "The Romney/Ryan plan will restore Medicare funding, and protect and strengthen the program for the next generation."
As it turns out, that's the polar opposite of the truth.
9. At a campaign event in Hobbs, New Mexico, Romney said, "Sometimes I have the impression that the whole regulatory attitude of the administration is trying to stop oil and gas and coal, that they don't want those sources."
In reality, coal production is up; we have more natural gas than we know what to do with; and oil production is up.
10. In the same speech, Romney said of Obama, "He's taken federal dollars, your money, to invest in companies -- solar companies, wind companies -- about $90 billion in so-called green jobs."
The details matter: much of the $90 billion was appropriated by George W. Bush, not Obama.
11. On welfare policy, the Romney campaign said this week that all the administration needs to do "is have HHS send out a hard letter making sure that the only things that will qualify under the work requirement is hard training and the cooperative programs with employers and define it in such a way that what was allowed before is all that's allowed in the future.... That's all that's required."
The administration already did this two months ago.

[no1blonde]

If Paul Ryan ever made sense, more Republicans would have embraced his ideas.