Rebane's Ruminations
August 2012
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George Rebane

More of same + more time = more of same.

Romney_RyanWell, if the local lefties are any indication, then there was a lot of Dems dancing in the streets last night after it cooled down a bit.  All the progressive pundits are heralding Obama’s upcoming slam dunk victory.  Might as well not spend the rest of the campaign cash on attack ads because Obama’s ‘one mo’ time!’ plan for the economy will stack up well with the Ryan plan.  It’s going be easy to tell all the Earls of Entitlement what part of their monthly checks will be nipped here and there by the Romney/Ryan team.

Romney’s VP pick of fiscal wizard Rep Paul Ryan sent shock waves over both sides of the aisle.  The socialists know that they will now have an easy message to bend the ears of their constituent legions.  And those who understand the country’s fiscal crisis know they now have a stalwart on the ticket who will keep the center-right Romney on the straight and narrow.  These are the people who have read a history book or two, and know that great empires fall from within when they no longer understand how to manage their money and their fisc.

The rest of the celebrants will never notice when the ‘people’s prosperity police’ finally march in and lay down the new law of the land.   Don’t be surprised if the next national holiday will be Regulation Recognition Day, added to celebrate all the blessings that the fresh batch of yearly regulations brings to each and every one of us.  There may even be ‘spontaneous’ parades like there were in the countries liberated by the Red Army after WW2.  A puzzlement to some was why all the marchers carrying huge banners and signs looked dour.  But we know that if you looked too dour, they sent you to a place where the benefits of collectivism were made crystal clear to you – the first of which was that if you understood, they’d let you live.  Everybody understood.

On the other side there are some thoughtful voices who recommend that Romney not point to the example of where Europe has wound up.  Most independent voters don’t know enough about what’s going on in Europe, and only picture sitting at a sidewalk café in a picturesque city, drinking wine, and listening to pleasant melodies coming from the nearby accordion player.  And most believe that America could do with more of such an atmosphere.  It’s hard to convince people about national bankruptcies and the euro getting inflated to oblivion while the listener can only hear the accordion on a balmy evening.

Nevertheless, people like Peggy Noonan are telling Romney to stay closer to home and use California as the more accessible and recognized exemplar of gross government mismanagement – everyone in the country, most certainly people declaring themselves as independents, know that California is already in the tank.  She also joins those who point out that the country no longer has ANY values – these have been carefully excised by the government educational system that has been on a post-modernism tear for the last forty years.

Post-modernism?  That’s the ideology where absolutes disappear, mores are malleable, and everything is relative.  Repartees like ‘it all depends on what you mean by is’ are offered the limp, lame, and looney to plumb and celebrate their intellectual depths.  And surveys across the land confirm that the triple-Ls dominate the landscape, and by a greater majority every year.

And then I wonder what would happen if there were a great awakening (a true miracle); if people suddenly realized that no liberal candidate or commentator has recognized, let alone offered, any kind of an economic future that does not have the country follow California down the rat hole.  That people suddenly grasp that it requires genuine entrepreneurial, capitalistic, free markets growth to pull us out of our dive.  This is the single piece that is absent from all the myopic mavens who totally miss our only way back, as they focus on their ‘but you can’t cut …’ mantras without realizing that that’s exactly what we have to do, and that is exactly what we will do.  The only remaining choice the socialists have is will we do it without or with blood in the streets.

And that is also the choice that faces us this November – can America’s Great Experiment be revived, or will we also become a one party ‘democracy’?

[17aug12 update]  Bloomberg and Washington Post/ABC News are reporting on data from voter registrations across the nation that should figure in the joyous Democrat celebrations.  My advice to our liberal neighbors is to ignore the whole thing, Obama is as good as re-elected, just have another glass of Kool-Aid.

The news today is that since 2008 the Dems have been losing registered voters at a rate of more than 10:1 than have the Republicans, and this has been most pronounced in the ‘battle ground states’.  Most of these these party-pooper voters have joined the ranks of the Independents, and further polling results show that “Romney holds a 14-point lead over Obama among independent voters nationally.”

Meanwhile, socialist columnists like Amy Goodman are celebrating Romney’s “floundering campaign” that, she says, received another blow with the selection of running mate Paul Ryan.  Given Obama’s performance against a floundering Romney, I wonder how the President will fare when the Romney/Ryan campaign really takes off as they seem to be doing even as I write.

My prediction is that Team Obama is going to duct tape shut Joe Biden’s mouth (‘y’all gonna be back in chains’), and send Congressman Chris Hollen’s (D-MD) good suit to the cleaners.  Hollen is the ONLY Democrat that has bearing and a command of numbers, and can concoct a coherent collectivist spin with them.  The rest – from Reid through Waters to Pelosi – look and talk like an assortment of clowns right out of Central Casting.  But then again, their constituents don’t do numbers.

My advice to the Repubs is stay on message re the economy, Obama’s record, and most emphatically emphasize the demonstrated damage that keeping that guy in the White House will do to America.

[18aug12 update]  The real perspective on deficits.

GrossFederalDebt

 

Posted in , , , , ,

130 responses to “Dems Happy Dancing in the Streets (updated 18aug12)”

  1. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    Very good George. I have always said “starve the beast” as the solution to the mess. Without our tribute, the government cannot run all those rules on us.
    Working the Republican booth last night, many people stopped to ask us about the Ryan pick. I turned it around and asked them, and many were women. All liked the pick because he is perceived by them as a budget guy and he would get the country back on track. Some said he was really “cute” and that would get a bunch of those single women’s votes. That cracked me up. Anyway, before I left for the booth, NBC News was already trashing Ryan and his budget.
    I told all the folks, Romney/Ryan by seven points.

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  2. Russ Steele Avatar

    George,
    Excellent analysis. I detect an edge of fear in our local lefties. One of our more vocal leftys came to NC2012 for the very first time ever to unload on the Ryan selection. Then there was this on social media this morning on Instapundit:
    MORE: Social media pushback: Running scared: Obama frantically tweets ‘FACTS’ about Ryan; citizens respond with truth. “Oh, dear. President Obama’s Twitter feed is a hot mess of scared.”

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  3. George Rebane Avatar

    ToddJ 748am – “Romney/Ryan by seven points.” From your mouth to God’s ear. Worth working for.
    RussS 833am – Your antennae are more sensitive than mine. Last week a prominent local media personage gave me 3:1 odds for Obama over Romney; I took $100 of it.
    The Dems just held their platform committee meeting in Detroit. It was a short kumbayah affair with everyone in massive agreement. The added plank was support of gay marriage to go with Obama’s recent epiphany. Does that mean that the Dems will roll out their married gays poster child for campaign events – Rep Barney Frank and his husband/wife/whatever? A kiss on the podium will seal the gay vote.

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  4. Paul Emery Avatar

    I’ll let Alexander Burns from Politico do my talking on this one.
    “Here’s a riddle for you: What’s the only thing worse than running for reelection as president with 8-plus percent unemployment and soaring national debt?
    Answer: running to unseat an incumbent president on a platform of stripping away bank regulations, cutting taxes for the wealthy and dismantling one of the most popular government programs in American history.
    By putting Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan on the 2012 Republican ticket, Mitt Romney has refocused a presidential election that was spiraling out of his control — and put the center of attention exactly where Democrats wanted it to be in the first place…….
    Obama and his allies have long been preparing to pin the Ryan plan on Romney, laying the groundwork with attacks on Romney’s business record and personal finances. It turns out that wasn’t necessary: Romney pinned Ryan to himself.”
    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79628.html#ixzz23LfhHQsQ
    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79628.html#ixzz23LfQ6Ovg

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  5. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE 906am – Your report implies that Dem pundits believed that the Repubs have been trying to duck the fiscal crisis issue. That has been the central theme of Team Romney all along, and picking Ryan has just made it clear even to the most dense.
    As in my post, Obama has no counter to that except ‘you can’t just cut …’. Since we can’t tax our way out of our mess (Europe tried, failed, and is now failing in spades), singing the ‘tax the rich’ song is a plan in itself bankrupt on its face. Are his constituents stupid enough to swallow that rhetoric? The Dem’s joy today is based on the answer being a resounding YES.

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  6. billy T Avatar

    Paul Ryan? Who did he murder? Some MSM pundit should ask Ryan if he has stopped beating his wife lately. A lie is considered truth only if one believes it. Love how the Obamamanics are saying Ryan is going to cut off Granny’s Medicare. Looks like Ryan will cut off her Medicare then Romney will come along and push her off the cliff. No more kick back time for Granny in Wrinkle Village. Truth is it is the guy who currently is in government housing on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave that is cutting 750 billion from Medicare. Ryan and Romney and this humble poster want to mend it, not end it. We want to make sure Medicare is stable and around for a long time. Truth is nobody currently on Medicare will be cut. Truth is if you are 55 years or older you will not be affected. Its those peoples runnin’ scared that believe and spout lies. Fear makes people desperate and scrambles the brain. Truth is not relative. If truth is relative, why condemn Hitler? Don’t know if Romney will win or not. I do know (contrary to Tommy Peterbuilt’s prediction) that this election will not be an Obama landslide. I will guarantee that Obama will carry less states than he did in 2008. I love it when people boast. 2010 was not that long ago. Drives them libbies nuts that Romney won’t release records or specifics of plans. Romney is just playing poker, holding his cards close to the vest, watching the hysteria and pettiness, then suddenly drops the Aces on the table. He who laughs last laughs best.

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  7. Paul Emery Avatar

    George
    You are confusing political strategy with discussions on issues. Romney needed to move to the center to win the election instead he is shoring up the Right which underscores what a weak candidate he is. Ryan is the leader of the Repubs in the House which has the highest negative ratings of any government institution. He’s the consummate professional politician as well so that argument is off the table. Pretty amazing incompetence on the Repubs. This confirms to me they don’t want to win. You always win by going to the center. First rule of politics. Duh
    http://www.gallup.com/poll/152528/congress-job-approval-new-low.aspx

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  8. TomKenworth Avatar

    “Truth, you can’t handle the Truth!”
    The Republican Rich want health and education available only to them and theirs. They are amasssing $1,000,000,000 in Superpac money to propagandize that this ripoff, benefits everyone else. The Big Lie! Goebbels would be proud.
    And yet they have no intentions of winning, because they know they have no solutions for the middle and working classes. Better to sit on the sidelines until everyone gets used to 25% unemployment, and then come in and improve it to 22% unemployment. Keep them Uppity Dems in their places, at the bottom, grateful for a few crumbs, or trickles.

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  9. TomKenworth Avatar

    Don’t tax the Rich. Tax and regulate the hell out of the multinational corporation, and any earning by US citizens from such corporations, regardless of where they move their HQ to. If it’s on Planet Earth, tax it! You may have fun quoting me.

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  10. Gregory Avatar

    Ryan has won election to the House seven times from his majority Democratic district, and his lowest share of the votes was the 57% he got his first time out.
    Ryan isn’t the caricature that ‘progressives’ have tried to make of him. Enjoy the show.

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  11. TomKenworth Avatar

    So Paul Ryan takes no risks in running for VEEP, as his running for House is allowed to go forward, simultaneously, so when he loses VEEP, he still retains his position of powers in the House. Sweet!
    “Ryan had planned to face Rob Zerban (D) and Keith Deschler (L) in the 2012 Congressional elections. The primary contest is scheduled for August 14; Ryan is the only candidate seeking the Republican Party nomination.[35] Under Wisconsin law, Ryan is allowed to run concurrently for Vice-President as he competes for his eighth term in Congress.[36] Ryan has over $5.4 million in his Congressional campaign account, more than any other House member.[37][38] He has not yet announced if he will withdraw from the Congressional race.
    Committee assignments
    Committee on the Budget (Chairman)
    Committee on Ways and Means
    Subcommittee on Health
    Caucus memberships
    Congressional Middle East Economic Partnership Caucus
    International Conservation Caucus
    Republican Study Committee
    Sportsmen’s Caucus (Co-Chair)”
    ~Wikipedia~

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  12. Russ Steele Avatar

    TK and Paul,
    Do your guys get your Democratic Talking point Faxes daily or just weekly? Is there a secret web page that you go to every morning for the down load stuff so you can cut and paste the latest bit of progressive wisdom into local blogs? Just wonder, because I see the same misinformation every were I go on the liberal/progressive web pages and newsletters.
    Oh, by the way, according to a Florida poll the majority of Seniors support the Ryan Budget Plan. The Florida Senior vote is very important to winning the election, and I do not think that DWS and Obama are going to scare these folks out of their vote.

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  13. billy T Avatar

    Mr Steele, this is like watching monkeys trying to hump a football. Priceless. Finally, someone with big enough huevos to say stop kicking the can down the road. Wonder if our cute little liberal friends have ever considered what a 21 trillion dollar debt will do to the middle class? There are enough bi-partisan Blue Ribbon Presidential Commission reports out there to be a blueprint for immigration, Social Security reform, saving Medicare, Budget Solutions with enough money left over to keep NASA making sure that Middle Eastern countries feel good about themselves. Dust off the Blue Ribbon Commission Reports to see what Shelia Jackson Lee had to say about immigration. Those reports must be somewhere. Talk to Eskern Bowles. We can solve many problems by not kicking the can down the road. To create jobs, we have historical records on what works and what doesn’t. Reagen in just his re-election year created 3.5 million jobs and we were not even out of the woods yet. Doing nothing is not moving “Forward”. BTW, anybody hear from Harry Reed the last day or two? Just saw on the news that there is a primate on the loose in Nevada. Escaped from the Vegas Zoo. Yep, like monkeys trying to screw a football.

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  14. Paul Emery Avatar

    Russ
    I am not necessarily an Obama supporter. Sometimes I write my own talking points other times I find others I agree with. They don’t come from any one source. I rely on my own experience for much of my opinions and possessing the middle is politics 101. That’s the essence of my critique of Romney’s weird campaign. In a healthy campaign you assume aupport from your base you don’t cater to it. Christie of Rubio were his best choice. Ryan’s extreme stance on abortion (Protect Life Act 2011) will be amplified by Obama for sure insuring an Obama landslide from that group.
    The controversial anti-abortion bill was supported heavily by Republicans. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)testified that:
    “I was pregnant, I was miscarrying, I was bleeding,” she said on the House floor Thursday. “If I had to go from one hospital to the next trying to find one emergency room that would take me in, who knows if I would even be here today. What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to do is misogynist.”
    The bill failed in the Senate and Obama vowed to veto it. This is an example of the stark contract in the candidates.

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  15. TomKenworth Avatar

    “Oh, by the way, according to a Florida poll the majority of Seniors support the Ryan Budget Plan.’
    Whose poll, how many seniors, details are needed.
    As for place to get info, you will note that I suggested McCain threw the election on Facebook some time ago, and that likewise Romney may in a similar mode. Or maybe now there will be those in the Republican party that take offence at his choice, and will use it to show Romney the door.
    http://farstars.blogspot.com/2012/07/roves-legions.html

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  16. Paul Emery Avatar

    Yes, which poll. I usually make an effort to document my posts

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  17. Paul Emery Avatar

    “On CNN, Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie said Romney would have signed Ryan’s proposed austere budget if it landed on his desk as president.”
    http://news.yahoo.com/romney-seeks-distance-ryans-budget-plans-194311316.html
    “It says something about Mitt Romney that he’s picking someone who has a budget plan under which Mitt Romney would pay less than 1% in taxes,” Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
    http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-would-paul-ryans-budget-give-mitt-romney-zero-taxes-20120812,0,464987.story
    Yes indeed, Ryan is the pork chop in the park of dogs (Democratic). Slurp Slurp

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  18. Russ Steele Avatar

    Paul@02:53PM
    Gallop: Seniors Like Paul Ryan’s Budget
    While you all have been telling us that Senior do not like the Ryan Budget and Deficit Reductions program, you should have done your home work first.
    Gallup in 2011 asked Seniors about the Ryan budget and the answer from seniors doesn’t blend well with your Democratic talking points.
    The most reliable voters seniors. They are the most informed voters. And according to Gallop they prefer the Ryan budget to the Obama/Democrat plan whatever that may be.
    Yes, this poll was taken last year but there is no reason to think there has been any shift in opinion.
    Among seniors Republicans hold a six point lead over Democrats in public perception of which party would do a better job dealing with the federal budget, according to the survey. 48 percent prefer Republicans, while 42 percent prefer Democrats in Congress.
    Here is the link to the poll results: http://www.gallup.com/poll/147287/Americans-Divided-Ryan-Obama-Deficit-Plans.aspx?version=print
    I could not find the specific Florida results mentioned on the cable news this morning. They many be assuming that the Gallop results apply to all seniors, including those in Florida.
    It is important to note that the Gallop questions made it clear the Ryan changes did not apply to anyone over 55. Something that the Democrat talking heads fail to mention. Please make note of that fact in future discussions.

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  19. Russ Steele Avatar

    Oh No!
    REPORT: Obama fundraiser in Chicago. ‘Admission only $51, but room is half full’…
    REPORT: Over 10,000 greet Romney/Ryan in High Point, NC…

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  20. TomKenworth Avatar

    Ah, but do they support the Ryan Medicare Plan? I do expect we will have Goebbles Rove for our Thanksgiving turkey this year.

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  21. Paul Emery Avatar

    Russ
    So under the Ryan Medicaid plan you receive a voucher to buy private insurance but there’s no guarantee insurance would be available. Who would insure someone in their 80’s or 90’s. They have a pre existing condition called old age.

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  22. Paul Emery Avatar

    Correction, “Ryan Medicare plan”. What would happen to medicaid and the health needs it currently serves ?

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  23. George Rebane Avatar

    How much should other people pay to keep someone in their 80s or 90s alive – especially someone whose prior probability for dying in the next 12 months is already above 10% without the current dreaded disease? And from which other pot should that money come from, or should we all have our taxes raised to make such end of life expenditures?

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  24. Paul Emery Avatar

    Good question George it sure sounds like health rationing to me

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  25. Gregory Avatar

    Paul, the old Ryan plan (he’s playing second fiddle now) kept the current mediscare structure for folks already over 55 and allowed a choice for future recipients to either stay in the current system or opt into the voucher scheme.
    The Obamascare plan is for a $700 billion cut in Medicare spending over the first 10 years, which, in practice, means more of the cost shifting from socialized eldercare to younger folks with insurance, one of the major drivers of healthcare costs for the rest of us.
    Healthcare has always been rationed, and will always be rationed.

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  26. TomKenworth Avatar

    “it requires genuine entrepreneurial, capitalistic, free markets growth to pull us out of our dive.”
    ~George~ in main topic
    Those are precisely the things that placed all the jobs overseas, where welders will work for $12 a day. “our dive” appears to be only the “dive” the 1% are experiencing, and will not help the middle and working classes one damn bit. The one % are already installing elevators for their cars, they can only buy so much.

    “Healthcare has always been rationed, and will always be rationed.”
    ~ Gregory | 12 August 2012 at 11:52 PM~
    Then let it be rationed by random chance, not financial wherewithal. You need a heart bypass, then get your lotto number, or if you are that rich, go overseas. Let postponable death occur for equally for the rich and poor, when it comes to the government nickle.

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  27. TomKenworth Avatar

    “nickel”

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  28. Michael Anderson Avatar

    Todd wrote: “Some said he was really ‘cute’ and that would get a bunch of those single women’s votes.”
    But through the TSA scanners? Are we to suppose that he would adequately measure up? LOLs!

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  29. Michael Anderson Avatar

    George wrote: “Does that mean that the Dems will roll out their married gays poster child for campaign events – Rep Barney Frank and his husband/wife/whatever? A kiss on the podium will seal the gay vote.”
    Oh come on George, I thought you had some libertarian gravitas. This stuff is beneath you. Sheesh.

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  30. Michael Anderson Avatar

    Gregory wrote: “Ryan has won election to the House seven times from his majority Democratic district, and his lowest share of the votes was the 57% he got his first time out. Ryan isn’t the caricature that ‘progressives’ have tried to make of him. Enjoy the show.”
    Oh yeah, this guy knows how to bring home the bacon. Starting with the SS money he collected when he was a minor (which came out of my wallet, BTW). And it goes on. Total hypocrite.
    I don’t usually invoke the hypocrite label since all of us are usually just doing our best under the given circumstances. But this guy takes the hypocrite cake.

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  31. Michael Anderson Avatar

    Answering Russ’ questions:

    Do your guys get your Democratic Talking point Faxes daily or just weekly?
    Actually, never.
    Is there a secret web page that you go to every morning for the down load stuff so you can cut and paste the latest bit of progressive wisdom into local blogs?
    Oh, only if it were so! But no, we do it just like you…one painful website at a time.

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  32. Michael Anderson Avatar

    Paul wrote: “The bill failed in the Senate and Obama vowed to veto it. This is an example of the stark contract in the candidates.”
    Excellent citation.

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  33. Russ Steele Avatar

    The Ryan Factor: $3.5 million in 24 hours. And Ryan can hold fundraisers and increase Romney’s advantage over Obama for the final 85 days.

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  34. billy T Avatar

    At least we are finally talking about Social Security, the debt, and Medicare. All politicians know it is the death of them to even whisper about entitlement reform. A few, like Ryan, push their political ambitions aside and forge ahead with what is best for the country and attempt to tackle problems head on. It was not that long ago that Ryan was the lone voice crying out for solutions on the budget and Obama gleefully pounced on him directly. I think this is a sign that Romney is ready to get our financial house in order. It is good to debate ideas and issues rather than personalities. The fiscal cliff, unsustainable debt, and Medicare/Social Security going broke are the most predictable crises in American history.

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  35. TomKenworth Avatar

    The fiscal cliff is at the end of a runway that the rich use to fly their wealth abroad, and drive the middle and working classes over. We are returning to Feudalism.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQTndkJgejw&feature=relmfu

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  36. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    I see MichaelA is still hung up by my celebrity at airport full body scans. What a hoot!
    It also is quite telling that MichaelA would condemn Ryan as a hypocrite for supposedly receiving Social Security benefits as a minor. Would that be a age of non-consent MichaelA? My dad died after paying into the SS program for fifty years and received four payments, one of which they forced my mother to send back. Dad died at age 62. So, knowing my dad as I did, he would have been glad to send his SS money to the 16 year old Ryan whose dad died at an early age too.
    Harry Reid has trashed all the R bills having to do with the money of the country (no Constitutional budget for 1200 days, lawlessness I’d say). I do not ever see the relentless bashing of Mr. Reid by the MichaelA’s for the negligence of the democrats. Heck, Obama’s budget was wiped out in both houses and I think not one vote was cast in favor. So MichaelA, what about Obama’s budget defeat. Give us your dissertation on that one.

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  37. billy T Avatar

    The reason Ryan is such a lightening rod is he is about the only one with a record of clear, concise, and very specific proposals. Something we cannot say for Joe Bidden, Barrack Obama, or Romney generally. My beef with Ryan is he pushes tweaking with the big entitlements out at least ten years. His ideas are to start with 1% here, 2% there in 2023. Maybe that will get consumer confidence going. We are currently in a consumer led recession or on the cusp of recession led by the consumer, not government. Can’t lower interest rates much lower to fire up the economy. People like me are holding back, saving like a mo-fro, paying down debt with lazer focus. My leisurely trips to the convenience stores to buy a cup of mud have stopped even as my income has gone up another 11%. Nationally, 3 months in a row of declining consumer spending. Sure, manufacturing has its ups and downs, but manufactures are poor at reading the tea leaves and cannot tell a bump from a trend. Excess inventories will led to more layoffs. If consumer confidence is leading us now, any thing ten years out might boost consumer confidence today. “At least they are trying to fix things.” Back to school sales sucked this year. Yes, the economy is bouncing along the bottom, but it should be another 5-7 years before the de-leveraging works it course after the big shock of 2008 per history. Ryan is not at the top of the ticket and it will come down to Obama vs Romney on election day. For the average Joe Q Public it may get down to finding a charter school for the kids/grandkids, prices of milk and cereal at the store, prices of gas at the pump, and increases in wage/personal income. That will be the real issues in the short term.

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  38. billy T Avatar

    Todd, another thing that the Ryan pic has revealed is Congress. It is clear now that all the new fresh ideas are coming out of The House of Representatives. The Senate is a morass of no nothings. Opps, they do something. They block everything, including proposing a budget for 1200 days now. So, blocking and kicking the can is doing something. I have a new respect for the House as leadership skills are emerging from there. Used to be the Senate had the great thinkers. Not any more. Hey, who controls the Senate?

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  39. Paul Emery Avatar

    Could someone share with me Ryans plan for Medicaid? It seems to be lost in the shuffle.

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  40. billy T Avatar

    BTW, the two members of the House I respect most are
    Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Paul Ryan. They both stand on principle, are good people, are not afraid of being bold to solve problems, and put America ahead of partisan politics. Now, I don’t agree with 90% of what the Ohio Congressman says, but I respect him. I like folks who are living examples of “Ask not what my country can do for me, rather ask what I can do for my country”. Ryan fits into that category. Both are good talents. Ah, it will get down to Obama vs Romney in the end.

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  41. billy T Avatar

    Paul, Ryan’s plan is to have Medicare approved private insurers completing with Medicare in 2013. Obama proposes saving billions by having government magically reducing waste, fraud, and corruption in the system. Ryan thinks that competition within Medicare will bring costs down. Right now, both ideas on paper are like 1.436 trillion for Ryan in 2023 and Obama’s plan 1.492 trillion cost of Medicare in 2023. Its all bs, IMHO

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  42. billy T Avatar

    Paul, first line should be completing with Medicare in 2023, NOT 2013.

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  43. Russ Steele Avatar

    Interesting quote to share with our local Obama Supporters
    As Internet humorist IowaHawk tweeted on Saturday: “Paul Ryan represents Obama’s most horrifying nightmare: Math.”
    The math shows US spending is unsustainable. Nothing can save it:
    • Not higher taxes,
    • Not lower interest rates on federal borrowing,
    • Not financial jiggery-pokery from the Fed.
    The only solution is to stop spending, or we will become Greece, with nuclear weapons.

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  44. Michael Anderson Avatar

    Todd asked: ” So MichaelA, what about Obama’s budget defeat?”
    What about it? Inside baseball as far as I can tell, having nothing to do with Obama’s electability or what will be discussed for the remainder of the campaign.
    Don’t get hung up on minutia, Todd. And I ain’t talkin’ about yer TSA package, though now that you mention it…

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  45. billy T Avatar

    Minutes (seconds?) after Romney picked Ryan, this video hit the air. The Dems are predictable and unchanging. At least they could have used new footage.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrdeyMNZW88&feature=youtu.be

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  46. George Rebane Avatar

    billyT 840am – good points. However, why would people who are not debt burdened today, not start borrowing (leveraging) and building their portfolios? The interest rates are rock bottom, and the payback dollar will be a lot cheaper (maybe worth zip) than the borrowed dollar?
    MichaelA 200am – Do I detect a little politically correct pandering here on what is and is not proper public behavior for homosexuals? Just because I am put off by certain public shows of affection by homosexuals does not mean that I cannot contemplate the next natural progression of ‘gay pride’ display.
    Since all PC individuals are proponents of ‘gay marriage’ as the expression of equal rights by gays, then their commensurate public behaviors of the heterosexually marrieds cannot, on principle, be denied – nor can the public contemplation of such actions be proscribed as your prudish remark seems to do.
    My, perhaps too subtle, purpose for creating the image of Barney throwing a lip on his beloved on the public stage was to hold up the reality that there is something extra-political and extra-ideological about the reaction most straight people have to the overt display of homosexual ‘unions’.
    That reaction is even meta-cultural, and for most of us could be a ‘hard wired’ aspect of our DNA that served the obvious purpose during a more primitive age and stage of the evolution of our species and the development of our societies.
    To think that the reaction can be politically pruned from the repertoire of our behaviors in one generation is another demonstration of the naivete that underlays progressive understanding of human nature.
    For the not so critical thinker, please understand that nothing in the above implies that I want to reverse our public acceptance of homosexuality and homosexuals. But neither do I want to heroically promote that sexual preference as the ‘new normal’, commensurate with heterosexuality, as seems to be the direction of the current tide.

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  47. TomKenworth Avatar

    ” Ryan thinks that competition within Medicare will bring costs down”
    ~ billy T | 13 August 2012 at 09:13 AM~
    Just like energy prices have been falling.

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  48. TomKenworth Avatar

    “Too Big to Burn” Chevron had plenty of reasons for potential arson. But, they are “too big to investigate” as well. The falling gasoline prices had to be stopped, as it made Obama look good. Why were gasoline prices falling? Because people simply had fewer jobs to go to, fewer cars to drive in, and thus demand was down. Ditching the antique refinery and raising West Coast prices was a very smart move, if you were a Chevron (“never pay a severance tax”) executive in California. All tax deductible, too.

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  49. Michael Anderson Avatar

    George wrote: “To think that the reaction can be politically pruned from the repertoire of our behaviors in one generation is another demonstration of the naivete that underlays progressive understanding of human nature.”
    Well, I stand corrected. But yeah, let’s have some same-sex kissing, hugging, and groping, on stage, at the Democratic convention. I am all for it.
    My first career was in the theatre, TV and movies, back in the 1970s and 1980s, where same-sex kissing, hugging, and groping–at the same level as you would experience from the heteros–was quite prevalent. For me, there is no difference whatsoever.
    Apparently I am hard-wired exactly opposite from you. But I see where you’re coming from, and that’s A-OK with me.

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