Ryan rewrites history

[_MeDotOrg]

On Thursday, Paul Ryan told an audience that Obama's failure to rescue a General Motors plant in his Congressional district was "one more broken promise" by the Obama administration.

"One of the reasons this plant got shut down was $4 a gallon gasoline. You see, this costs jobs. The president's terrible energy policies are costing us jobs."

Did Rep.Ryan forget that the plant closed during the last year of the Bush administration? Could it have slipped his mind exactly WHEN the G.M. plant in his hometown closed? Here's the timeline:

April 20th 2008: GM announces 750 workers to be laid off in Janesville. Ryan says he will "work closely with those in Janesville facing uncertainty in the months ahead and do all that I can to ensure that they get the assistance they need."

May 1, 2008: Ryan, along with Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, send a letter to G.M. President Wagoner asking him to help the community and government in transitioning the workers.

May 4, 2008: Ryan writes an Op-Ed piece, "As a fifth-generation native of Janesville, I grew up learning the old saying, "As GM goes, so goes Janesville,'" Ryan wrote.

Sept. 18, his office put out a statement that it had joined forces with the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Agency to secure a $450,000 grant to support economic initiatives for the Janesville area.

On Oct. 2, Ryan announced the U.S. Department of Labor 1.6 million national emergency grant to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

G.M. closes the plant in December.

So, after all of this, Ryan blames the plant closing on Obama. I'm not sure we need a Vice President whose memory is so poor.

[_Kishkumen]

Paul Ryan is evil.

[_Drifting]

Bcspace, help us out on this one...

[_Bond James Bond]

Every problem has an answer for Republicans!

Who raised taxes to 90% during the 1950s? Obama!

Who slipped and allowed Ronald Reagan to be shot? Obama!

Who was asleep on guard duty at Pearl Harbor? Obama!

Who wasn't guarding that grassy knoll? Obama!

Who appeased Hitler at Munich? Obama!

Who didn't find a cure for Bubonic Plague before it ravaged Europe? Obama!

[_EAllusion]

Paul Ryan is evil.

He's just saying what his campaign strategists have determined to be the best public relations strategy. Even if that involves lying about easily disproved assertions and hypocritically contradicting oneself in the most shameless, blatant ways, that doesn't mean it isn't the best strategy. It very well could be, as people's political memories are exceptionally short and their ability to sort out what's going on exceptionally shallow.

You can blame Ryan for amorally following this advice, but I think a better target is the system that allows such strategy to be a good option. And that goes to how the media covers campaigns and how the public thinks about politics. That's more the great evil here.

[_Kevin Graham]

Paul Ryan is evil.

He's just saying what his campaign strategists have determined to be the best public relations strategy. Even if that involves lying about easily disproved assertions and hypocritically contradicting oneself in the most shameless, blatant ways, that doesn't mean it isn't the best strategy. It very well could be, as people's political memories are exceptionally short and their ability to sort out what's going on exceptionally shallow.

You can blame Ryan for amorally following this advice, but I think a better target is the system that allows such strategy to be a good option. And that goes to how the media covers campaigns and how the public thinks about politics. That's more the great evil here.

And what does this say about the stupidity of America?

People like my wife, and my neighbors from Sweden, just can't understand how these Republicans could ever hope to get away with such lies with a presumably intelligent audience. It shows just how intellectually lazy Americans really are, and the Republicans are banking on that to be the case. It is an insult to American people, but at the same time, their lies tend to work.