Harry Hope
2011-04-21 20:34:22 UTC
http://www.salon.com/news/budget_showdown/?story=/politics/war_room/2011/04/20/paul_ryan_barack_obama_budget_speech_gene_lyons
Apr 20, 2011
GOP runs home to Mommy
By Gene Lyons
And here I thought the GOP was supposed to be the He-Man party.
The party of tough choices, masculine resolve and facing the music.
So President Obama invites a few Republicans for some straight talk
about the budget deficit and what happens?
Boo hoo hoo.
"Mommy, he called me a bad name," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan whined to
reporters.
"Make him stop."
OK, that's a paraphrase.
The reportedly "furious" Ryan complained to PBS' Charlie Rose that
Obama's budget speech "was extremely political, very partisan."
An anonymous GOP aide told the Washington Post that the sainted Ronald
Reagan "had the decency to insult his enemies when he was out of
town."
Yeah, well, where I come from, people have more respect for somebody
who says it to your face instead of behind your back.
As for partisan, here's the first sentence of altar boy Ryan's scheme
to balance the budget over 35 years by privatizing Medicare and
cutting billionaire's taxes:
"Where the president has failed, House Republicans will lead."
Elsewhere, Ryan accused the "president and his party" of exploiting
economic hardship to indulge in a "reckless spending spree."
So Obama provided him a first-person history lesson.
"America's finances were in great shape by the year 2000," he said.
"We went from deficit to surplus. America was actually on track to
becoming completely debt-free, and we were prepared for the retirement
of the baby boomers.
"But ... we lost our way in the decade that followed. We increased
spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription-drug
program -- but we didn't pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we
made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax
cuts ...
"And so, by the time I took office, we once again found ourselves
deeply in debt and unprepared for a baby-boomer retirement that is now
starting to take place. When I took office, our projected deficit,
annually, was more than $1 trillion. On top of that, we faced a
terrible financial crisis and a recession."
These are indisputable historical facts.
To Republicans like Ryan and the carnival-sideshow performers seeking
the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, however, mere reality is out of
bounds.
To resort to facts is to play the "blame game," a formulation
seductive to simpletons essentially because it rhymes.
Then, after Ryan expressed his hurt feelings, Obama gigged him with
the old open-microphone trick.
Reporters overheard him during a supposedly unguarded moment:
"When Paul Ryan says ... he's just being America's accountant ... This
is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted
for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the
prescription-drug bill that cost as much as my healthcare bill -- but
wasn't paid for."
Mommy, he's picking on me!
______________________________________________________
Poor Widdle Wepublicans...
Harry
Apr 20, 2011
GOP runs home to Mommy
By Gene Lyons
And here I thought the GOP was supposed to be the He-Man party.
The party of tough choices, masculine resolve and facing the music.
So President Obama invites a few Republicans for some straight talk
about the budget deficit and what happens?
Boo hoo hoo.
"Mommy, he called me a bad name," Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan whined to
reporters.
"Make him stop."
OK, that's a paraphrase.
The reportedly "furious" Ryan complained to PBS' Charlie Rose that
Obama's budget speech "was extremely political, very partisan."
An anonymous GOP aide told the Washington Post that the sainted Ronald
Reagan "had the decency to insult his enemies when he was out of
town."
Yeah, well, where I come from, people have more respect for somebody
who says it to your face instead of behind your back.
As for partisan, here's the first sentence of altar boy Ryan's scheme
to balance the budget over 35 years by privatizing Medicare and
cutting billionaire's taxes:
"Where the president has failed, House Republicans will lead."
Elsewhere, Ryan accused the "president and his party" of exploiting
economic hardship to indulge in a "reckless spending spree."
So Obama provided him a first-person history lesson.
"America's finances were in great shape by the year 2000," he said.
"We went from deficit to surplus. America was actually on track to
becoming completely debt-free, and we were prepared for the retirement
of the baby boomers.
"But ... we lost our way in the decade that followed. We increased
spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription-drug
program -- but we didn't pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we
made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax
cuts ...
"And so, by the time I took office, we once again found ourselves
deeply in debt and unprepared for a baby-boomer retirement that is now
starting to take place. When I took office, our projected deficit,
annually, was more than $1 trillion. On top of that, we faced a
terrible financial crisis and a recession."
These are indisputable historical facts.
To Republicans like Ryan and the carnival-sideshow performers seeking
the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, however, mere reality is out of
bounds.
To resort to facts is to play the "blame game," a formulation
seductive to simpletons essentially because it rhymes.
Then, after Ryan expressed his hurt feelings, Obama gigged him with
the old open-microphone trick.
Reporters overheard him during a supposedly unguarded moment:
"When Paul Ryan says ... he's just being America's accountant ... This
is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted
for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the
prescription-drug bill that cost as much as my healthcare bill -- but
wasn't paid for."
Mommy, he's picking on me!
______________________________________________________
Poor Widdle Wepublicans...
Harry