It was certain to attract this sort of response, but Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan released his budget plan going forward that includes some sweeping changes to federal expenditures, including entitlement spending.
One of those criticisms came from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman New York Rep. Steve Israel. On Tuesday, immediately following Ryan’s release, Israel called it a “privatization scheme” and blasted it for addressing subsidies to oil companies.
However, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, Ryan fired back, admitting he saw this coming and called such criticisms “distortions and demagogueries.” Ryan specifically called out Israel for his political opportunism.
“Steve Israel is the head of the Democratic campaign committee,” Ryan said. “He’s in charge of their re-election effort, of the political machine, and here’s the deal –is this a political weapon? Of course it is. But you have to say things like that, which are distortions and demagogueries, no two ways about it, in order to score these kinds of political points.”
Ryan explained how the worst experience of his years in Congress was during the financial collapse of 2008 and the extraordinary measures the federal government had to take through the passage of TARP, which he compared to the pending fiscal crisis if the federal government remains on its current track. But he said fearing the political backlash and not acting would be the wrong thing to do.
“Let me ask it this way – what if your congressman and your president knew that was coming?” Ryan said. “Remember, this caused people to use trillions in wealth, millions of jobs were lost – we’re still trying to recover from it. But what if your representative in Congress and your president saw it coming, knew why it was coming, knew what the cause of it was, knew in enough time to prevent it from happening and knew what he had to do to prevent it from happening, but chose not to do so because he was worried about politics? Because he was worried about the press release that was going to come from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee? What would you think of him? I mean think about this – this is wrong.”
Ryan said he thought the American people were ready for the conversation, regardless of the political backlash.
“This is the most predictable economic crisis we’ve ever had in this country,” he said. “We owe it to our countrymen – the men and women in this country to fix this problem while it’s still fixable,” he said.
"Americans are ready for honest talk. They’re ready to be spoken to like adults. They’re ready for fact-based conversations without budget gimmicks, accounting tricks and all of the rest, to about what is really needed to save this country."
More details and video
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/05/ryan-responds-to-distortions-and-demagogueries-shame-on-them-for-doing-it/#ixzz1Ihl3d2GR
One of those criticisms came from Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman New York Rep. Steve Israel. On Tuesday, immediately following Ryan’s release, Israel called it a “privatization scheme” and blasted it for addressing subsidies to oil companies.
However, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, Ryan fired back, admitting he saw this coming and called such criticisms “distortions and demagogueries.” Ryan specifically called out Israel for his political opportunism.
“Steve Israel is the head of the Democratic campaign committee,” Ryan said. “He’s in charge of their re-election effort, of the political machine, and here’s the deal –is this a political weapon? Of course it is. But you have to say things like that, which are distortions and demagogueries, no two ways about it, in order to score these kinds of political points.”
Ryan explained how the worst experience of his years in Congress was during the financial collapse of 2008 and the extraordinary measures the federal government had to take through the passage of TARP, which he compared to the pending fiscal crisis if the federal government remains on its current track. But he said fearing the political backlash and not acting would be the wrong thing to do.
“Let me ask it this way – what if your congressman and your president knew that was coming?” Ryan said. “Remember, this caused people to use trillions in wealth, millions of jobs were lost – we’re still trying to recover from it. But what if your representative in Congress and your president saw it coming, knew why it was coming, knew what the cause of it was, knew in enough time to prevent it from happening and knew what he had to do to prevent it from happening, but chose not to do so because he was worried about politics? Because he was worried about the press release that was going to come from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee? What would you think of him? I mean think about this – this is wrong.”
Ryan said he thought the American people were ready for the conversation, regardless of the political backlash.
“This is the most predictable economic crisis we’ve ever had in this country,” he said. “We owe it to our countrymen – the men and women in this country to fix this problem while it’s still fixable,” he said.
"Americans are ready for honest talk. They’re ready to be spoken to like adults. They’re ready for fact-based conversations without budget gimmicks, accounting tricks and all of the rest, to about what is really needed to save this country."
More details and video
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/05/ryan-responds-to-distortions-and-demagogueries-shame-on-them-for-doing-it/#ixzz1Ihl3d2GR
3 comments:
Oh here comes the phony outrage from conservatives. The hyperbole is spouted from both sides and should rightfully be called out no matter what ones affiliation is. Rush/Hannity and conservatives are out here whining about dems. stating that "grandma is going to die" while all during the last 2 years they told everyone that Obama/dems wanted to pull the plug on granny, kill babies, and welcome terrorists to America. This type of stupidity and pandering doesn't get us any closer to sound logical policies. Myself, I'm tired of the bull crap coming from both sides!
LG, One thing about it is that Hannity and Rush can point the claims of killing granny in black and white right there in the healthcare bill. The left has to lie and distort everything said and get the the help of the media to do it too. Maybe you should look at Chile they privatized the social programs there and are thriving.
I resent Ryan saying that the crisis caused Americans to "use trillions in wealth". Use? USE??! How did we USE it???? The bankers and investment firms on Wall Street deliberately and fraudulently mismanaged and inflated the value of real estate, mutual funds, and stocks to enrich themselves. 401(k) plans were decimated. Stocks and bonds were destroyed. Home values lost, and continue to lose, thousand upon thousands in equity. The middle class, after it was over, looked into the future and wondered how they would retire on $5000 (instead of the $450,000 they previously had in these vehicles). Then, our "leaders" told us that these rich bankers and Wall street tycoons could not be allowed to pay the price of their crimes and gave them hundreds of BILLIONS of taxpayers money (the same taxpayers they had already soaked). There is no way for the middle class to recoup the money lost in their 401(k)'s, or their equity, or the value of their stocks in the time they have left. But take heart. The bankers and Wall street firms are receiving record bonuses and multi-million dollar salaries. Now, our "leaders" are telling us that Medicare and SSI benefits MUST be reduced and every level of government continues to find new taxes, fees, fines, and surcharges to impose upon the people. The rich and powerful people doing this to "we, the people" howl in laughter at our meek acquiescence.
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