Paul Ryan

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: Both Avoid Transparency On Finances, So Match Well!

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It is well known that Mitt Romney, the GOP Presidential nominee, has refused to release more information about his taxes beyond 2010’s returns, and the promised 2011 tax return when it is belatedly filed by October.

But now we discover, thanks to the website PoliticsUSA, that Paul Ryan, the Vice Presidential nominee, kept an inheritance of more than a million dollars secret until after he was vetted in the early stages for Vice President. That inheritance is from his mother in law after her death in 2010, and is now worth a few million dollars. It was not reported for two years on his disclosure forms, and was only added to the information provided Mitt Romney after Ryan had gone through early stages of the Vice Presidential search.

Romney must have liked that Ryan was secretive, and unwilling to reveal a major part of his assets, as he is cut of the same cloth!

Medicare Will Decide The Election: IF Obama Wins Florida AND New Hampshire Of “Battleground” States, He Wins The Presidency!

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Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press just demonstrated how close Barack Obama is to a victory for the White House.

Showing an electoral vote map with 237 electoral votes in Obama’s camp and 191 in Mitt Romney’s camp, Todd demonstrates that there are NINE true “battleground” or “swing” states, and if Obama wins Florida and New Hampshire, he has the second term he wants in the White House! And the issue of Medicare, brought to central focus by Paul Ryan and his budget plans on that program, will be the center of the victory of Obama for the Presidency!

Even if Romney wins the other seven contestable states—Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada—he would lose the Electoral College 270-268, due to Florida’s 29 electoral votes and New Hampshire’s 4 electoral votes!

But, to assume that Obama would really lose all seven of those states is also delusional, as it is certain that he will win some, and probably, most of them!

This author has been saying this for a long time, and has found some readers of this blog, conservative and Republican friends and associates, and people on Fox News Channel and talk radio, act as if only the public opinion polls, which often show a close race in many states and nationally, should be paid attention to, but that is NOT the case!

The election is decided by the Electoral College, NOT the popular vote nationally,and do not forget that George W. Bush LOST the popular vote in 2000, but was declared the winner of the Electoral College! The same happened to Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, and John Quincy Adams in the past!

But to conclude that, somehow, Barack Obama will lose the national popular vote, with the Republican alienation of Hispanics-Latinos, African Americans, women, young voters, the middle class, senior citizens, gays and lesbians, the poor, labor, educators, consumer advocates, environmentalists, and secular voters—in each case, the majority, not all of any group, of course—indicates that those believing what they do are indeed delusional, and cannot be helped by ordinary medical intervention!

Choosing A Sitting House Member For Vice President Not Productive!

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This author mentioned last week that Paul Ryan was the fifth member of the House of Representatives to be nominated for Vice President in the past half century, which is true.

However, two of those five House members were not still in the House of Representatives when nominated for Vice President, and had accomplished beyond being a member of the House. These are Jack Kemp, nominated with Bob Dole in 1996, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H. W. Bush from 1989-1993; and Dick Cheney, nominated with George W. Bush in 2000, who was Secretary of Defense under the first President Bush for the same years as Kemp, 1989-1993.

But the only SITTING House members to be nominated were William E. Miller with Barry Goldwater in 1964; Geraldine Ferraro with Walter Mondale in 1984; and now Paul Ryan with Mitt Romney in 2012.

The first two experiments were a total failure, with Goldwater losing all but six states in 1964, and Lyndon B. Johnson winning the highest percentage in history, 61.1 percent of the popular vote. And Mondale lost all states except Minnesota and the District of Columbia, with Ronald Reagan winning 525 electoral votes, an all time high, and 59.4 percent of the total popular vote!

No one is saying that Romney and Ryan will do as disastrously as the other two cases, but the prospects for victory are based on very long odds!

Paul Ryan Pays Higher Percentage Of Taxes Than Mitt Romney! Why Should That Be?

Ronald 4 Comments

Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, the Vice Presidential nominee on the Mitt Romney Republican ticket, revealed yesterday that he paid about 16 percent income taxes in 2010 and 20 percent in 2011.

Mitt Romney paid only 13.9 percent on his 2010 income, and has not yet revealed his 2011 tax return, but claims he has always paid at least 13 percent on his income in the past ten years, but refusing to show those returns, and wanting us to trust him.

The question that arises is why should Paul Ryan pay a higher percentage of his income than Mitt Romney?

Paul Ryan WORKED for a living as a Congressman, while Mitt Romney lived off his investments since 2007!

Why should unearned income be taxed lower than earned income?

Why should those who work pay more than those who have leisure time to do what they wish?

Why should a person with an estimated fortune of $250 million be taxed lower than someone who is worth, probably, maybe one or two million dollars and works?

And why should the average person, who does not make what Paul Ryan earns, pay the same as Paul Ryan, or even a higher percentage?

These are questions that need to be dealt with in the next Presidential term, as fair taxation is essential, and it is time for the wealthy, those who work, and those who don’t work, to pay their fair share–meaning MORE!

David Stockman And Bruce Bartlett, Former Reagan Economic Policy Advisers, Condemn The Romney-Ryan Republican Ticket As Out Of Mainstream!

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The Republican Party loves to invoke Ronald Reagan as their patron saint, even though his record clearly shows he would not be very happy with the trend in the GOP, as even his son Ron Reagan Jr claims.

But beyond Ron Reagan, Jr., two leading economic policy advisers under President Reagan, Bruce Bartlett and David Stockman, have condemned the Republican Party and its candidates and economic policies as out of the mainstream of American politics.

Bartlett says the party has gone insane, dreams of anarchy and the end of government, and has lost all reasonableness.

Stockman has ridiculed the Ryan budget plan, and condemns the idea of Ryan that more defense spending is necessary, and more tax cuts to the wealthy, while the middle class and the poor are victimized. Stockman see the Ryan Plan as not serious, and lacking any common sense!

It is not just Bartlett and Stockman who are critical of the Ryan Plan, and of the turn of events in the Republican Party.

Many past Republican leaders are privately shaking their heads, and see an electoral disaster coming, and we are seeing moderate conservative Republican Senators such as Olympia Snowe of Maine, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, and Richard Lugar of Indiana, all three leaving, with Lugar not by his own choice, bemoaning the turn of events toward unreasonable extremism, and failure to be willing to cross the aisle for support from Democrats.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is one of many former Republican leaders who have promoted that states led by GOP Governors stop fighting ObamaCare, and to start exchanges for the uninsured, required under the law by 2014, or else the federal government will do so for those states against their will. Frist, himself a surgeon, says these Republicans leaders are misguided, and that the Obama plan was originally a Republican idea in the mid 1990s., an absolutely true statement!

Former Senator Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson is another Republican who has condemned present Republican attitudes, and many former George H. W. Bush aides quietly have joined the Reagan former advisers in calling for an end to the extremism of the present Republican Party.

But, as in 1964, when we had an ideological election defeat for the GOP with Barry Goldwater, it is clear that there will be a need for a defeat of the ideological environment that Mitt Romney has provoked by selecting ideological Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate!

Reality: No Balanced Budget For Long Time, And National Debt Will Continue To Rise!

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In the midst of all the debates about who is “better” for the country, the team of Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden, or the team of Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, something is being forgotten or ignored!

There will be no balanced budget for a long time, and the national debt will continue to rise!

There is no magic potion to bring about a balanced budget, or to prevent the national debt from rising!

So whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney is elected, one will see both the budget issue and the national debt issue continue to be a center of heated debate!

The difference is who will “benefit” from what government does–the middle class and the poor, if Obama wins; or the wealthy top two percent if Romney wins!

But it is more than that!

It is also which man will cause the national defense budget and foreign interventions to grow, adding to our burden, and it is clear that Mitt Romney, with his loose, reckless rhetoric toward Iran, Russia and China, will cause us a lot more financial burden and many more lost American military lives than Barack Obama!

And it is also what direction do we want the nation to go regarding constitutional law! Do we want more Antonin Scalias, Clarence Thomases, and Samuel Alitos? Or do we want more Ruth Bader Ginsbergs, Stephen Breyers, Sonia Sotomayors, and Elena Kagans? This will determine more of the future, economically and socially, than anything else!

It is foreign policy and constitutional law, two areas most people are ignoring, that will have a greater impact on our future than the false argument that, somehow, one or the other candidate for President will, magically, balance the budget, or stop the rise in the national debt, when neither will be able to do anything about either of those matters!

Something To Wait For In Expectation: The Biden-Ryan Vice Presidential Debate!

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We have three Presidential debates scheduled, along with one Vice Presidential debate, in the month of October.

All four debates will be fascinating, but the Vice Presidential debate could be the most exciting and newsworthy of all, something to wait for in expectation.

Of course, each side will make the claim that they cannot wait for that debate.

The Republicans will say that Paul Ryan, young at 42, handsome, and intelligent, will wipe Joe Biden all over the map!

But in reality, Joe Biden may be old enough to be Ryan’s father, at age 69, and might be ridiculed by the GOP as “losing it”, because of some embarrassing gaffes he has made over time, but anyone who thinks Joe Biden will be “walked over”, or “mowed down” by his younger opponent, will be very surprised when the debate actually occurs on October 11!

Biden is a masterful debater, full of facts and details, and very knowledgeable after 40 years in government! He was one of the most outstanding members of the US Senate historically during his six terms and 36 years in the upper body of Congress.

No one is saying Paul Ryan is a “lightweight”, with his 14 years in the US House of Representatives. But he had better come better prepared than he has ever been in his career! Being much younger does not guarantee a better performance!

Republicans Claim Obama-Biden Are More Nasty And Divisive Than In Any Presidential Campaign In History: Really?

Ronald 13 Comments

The Republican Party is complaining, from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan on down, that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are more nasty and divisive than in any Presidential campaign in history! Really?

Obviously, the Republicans have no knowledge or sense of history!

The Election of 1800 was NOT nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1828 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1860 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1896 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1912 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1932 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1948 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1968 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1980 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 1992 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 2000 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 2004 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

The Election of 2008 was not nasty and divisive, heh?

In fact, beyond these MORE divisive elections, EVERY Presidential election is nasty and divisive!

What IS different is that this round, the Democrats are striking back aggressively, which often in the past did not happen, to the same level as the Republicans, who are always nasty and divisive, whether favored to win the election or not!

But both Barack Obama and Joe Biden have stuck to attacks on the issues, not personalities, as both have always said that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are good family men, decent people, but are wrong on the issues.

On the other hand, the Republicans have launched personal attacks on both Obama and Biden, making insulting comments about them, particularly Obama, questioning whether he is an American, wondering about his birthplace, playing the race card, and showing him disrespect. And now, Biden is being attacked that he may have “lost it”, ridiculing mistakes he makes, which are few and far between as compared to Mitt Romney throughout his Presidential campaign!

So what it comes down to is that GOP does not like an aggressive opposition on the issues and contradictions they have as their record. The answer is tough on them, as this is the “big time”, and no longer will the Democrats allow themselves to be disrespected and ridiculed without a strong, aggressive response!

The Republican Call For Joe Biden To Be Dropped For Vice President: Delusional And Hypocritical!

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Vice President Joe Biden has been a major asset to the nation with his 40 year career, 36 years in the US Senate, and nearly four as Vice President!

Biden had a distinguished career in the Senate, including stints as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and at other times, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Biden has been an important part of a lot of the history of American politics and policy making for four decades!

Biden entered the Vice Presidency with the most insight and experience of any Vice President in history, and has been an important player in the shaping of foreign policy and domestic policy under Barack Obama.

He is a likeable, sincere, dedicated public servant, who, like any human being, can make mistakes, utter gaffes that are embarrassing, and come across at times as foolish, but never in a way that harms American politics in a disastrous way!

When one hears that Republicans have suggested that Biden should be dropped for Vice President, it causes an intelligent person to laugh heartily, particularly when Sarah Pain has promoted such an idea, stating that Hillary Clinton should replace him on the Democratic ticket, as if Barack Obama is going to listen to a person totally unqualified to be Vice President, a woman who comes across as ignorant, moronic, and an embarrassment to the American political system! She proved it when she debated Biden in the 2008 Vice Presidential debate, and called him “O Biden”!

And if one wants to look at a Vice President who was truly an embarrassment, and came across as a moron, it was Vice President Dan Quayle under President George H. W. Bush!

For Obama to drop Biden would only benefit the Republicans and hurt the President, as Biden is a loyal supporter who will do whatever the President asks him, and he deserves to be re-elected with Obama!

And to claim that Biden is starting to “lose it”, as some Republicans declare, is also laughable, as one can think of Ronald Reagan REALLY losing it in his second term in an obvious way; Arizona Senator John McCain also acting weirdly at times in his public utterance in recent years; and even Mitt Romney, only 65, making one wonder at times has he lost it, with his massive number of gaffes and “flip flops”, much more than Biden has ever had in his career!

If Biden is to drop out, then years ago, Reagan should have resigned: McCain should resign from the Senate; and Mitt Romney should resign now because of massive blunders on issues that really matter, but of course, all these suggestions did not and will not occur, so Joe Biden is not going anywhere, other than to a continuation of a brilliant campaign as an “attack dog”, and an impressive winning debate against Paul Ryan in the Vice Presidential debate, coming up in October!

Paul Ryan As Congressman For His District: Typical Politician, Which Should Upset Tea Party Advocates And Conservatives!

Ronald 2 Comments

An investigation of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan’s record as the First District Representative demonstrates that he is not a Tea Party advocate or consistent conservative in his principles, when it comes to his constituents.

The record shows the following:

Ryan voted for earmarks for his district, while always condemning the concept.

Ryan supported the Auto Industry Bailout, because it affected many of his constituents.

Ryan voted for TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in 2008, because it had an effect on his district.

Ryan was opposed to the Obama Economic Stimulus legislation, but made sure that his constituents received some of the funding under the law.

So Paul Ryan has said one thing and done another, making him a typical politician, who speaks out of both sides of his mouth!

But if one is a true Tea Party advocate or hard line conservative, Paul Ryan should disillusion them, added on to the flip flopping of Mitt Romney!

But realize, the major reason to back Romney and Ryan is simply they are not Barack Obama!

This is more a personal election issue, than anything else!

But the problem is that, nationally, Barack Obama is well liked, and highly regarded, while the “likability” rating of Romney is very low, the lowest in modern times for a candidate, and even if Paul Ryan is more personable and likeable by comparison, he is not at the level of Barack Obama!

And even if Ryan were to become popular as much as Obama, remember he is the bottom of the ticket, not the top!