Mitt Romney Chooses Paul Ryan As Election Running Mate

[Ulysses G.]

Oh my. Ryan got caught lying in his big speech. And its a Fox news contributor that calls him out

Sorry boys. Sally Kohn is a far-left kook who became famous for marching with the Occupy Wall Street anarchists. Her opinion about any conservative is about as trustworthy as Anthony Weiner - who also appears regularly on Fox to promote the liberal point of view.

On top of that, most of the spin in the Slate hit piece has been discredited by non-partisan fact-checkers. They report that the democrat campaign has been spinning the exact same issues. If someone is "lying" there is pretty good chance that it is not Paul Ryan.

Carry on with the dishonest smear campaign against Romney/Ryan, but, thankfully, it is not working with voters as they are ahead.

Ok, she's a kook. Now please state which of the whoppers that she says Ryan made, are incorrect and where she has it wrong. Thank you.

Here is a pretty good overview:

Typical of the breed is an astoundingly sloppy editorial from Sally Kohn published at Fox News, which really needs to assert some editorial standards and apologize to its readers for running Kohn’s piece without oversight. It’s basically a nervous breakdown in essay form, in which Kohn accuses Ryan of “lying,” then links to material that proves he’s right and she’s wrong (as in the case of the United States’ credit downgrade, which she claimed it’s a “fact” occurred because “Republicans threatened not to raise the debt ceiling”… accompanied by a link to a PolitiFact article she apparently didn’t bother to read.) http://www.humaneven...nesville-plant/

Edited August 31, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[koheesti]

I just finished watching the republican convention and overall as an objective observer I thought they did a pretty good job and Paul Ryan appears an OK running mate.Then came the appearance of Clint Eastwood today. This was probably the lowest and stupidest thing I have ever seen at any convention. I didn't understand what he was trying to do, he was rambling and disrespectful. Whatever his views, his act was pitiful and a big mistake, which I think has damaged Romney's chances.

Eastwood got a lot of laughs ("he can't do that to himself") and made a lot of good points (broken Obama promises, the people own the country and politicians just work for us and when they fail it's time to let them go, never thought lawyers should be President anyway, etc). At times though I wasn't sure if he was acting a bit crazy or if he really is. I think the problem was that he wasn't using a teleprompter. Being an old actor, he probably wanted to remember his lines and maybe his memory isn't as good anymore. When he started talking to the invisible Obama sitting next to him I thought he had lost it. Or maybe that was just a device he would use when he forgot his lines.

[koheesti]

Ryan is a total fraud. He claims he is a deficit hawk but in actually he favored every program he could to increase the deficit, including the idiotic Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

You mean the tax cuts that resulted in higher revenues than before?

[Ulysses G.]

I just finished watching the republican convention and overall as an objective observer I thought they did a pretty good job and Paul Ryan appears an OK running mate.Then came the appearance of Clint Eastwood today. This was probably the lowest and stupidest thing I have ever seen at any convention.

Clint is a very old man, but stellar speches by Ann Romney, Condi Rice, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are what voters will concentrate on.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[koheesti]

Moving on to the alleged lie from Ryan that Obama did "exactly nothing" about the deficit commission's recommendations. If anybody can point out any action that Obama took based on recommendations contained in the commission's report, please post it to this thread.

Ryan said of Obama,

He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.

Anything that Ryan or anyone else did or didn't do is not relevant to whether Obama did nothing or not. In order for Ryan's statement to be untrue (a lie) Factcheck or anyone else would need to show that Obama did in fact do something.

[Neurath]

Thank you, GK. Moving rapidly on to another of Ryan's alleged lies put forth by FactCheck: http://factcheck.org.../ryans-vp-spin/ "Accused Obama of doing “exactly nothing” about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle." First let's look at the committee vote on the report. The committee consisted of 18 Members with 14 favorable votes required to send it forward for Congressional action. Here is the voting result. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final vote A report was released on December 1, 2010, but failed a vote on December 3 with 11 of 18 votes in favor, with a supermajority of 14 votes needed to formally endorse the blueprint.[3] Voting for the report were Bowles, Coburn, Conrad, Crapo, Cote, Durbin, Fudge, Gregg, Rivlin, Simpson, and Spratt. Voting against were Baucus, Becerra, Camp, Hensarling, Ryan, Schakowsky and Stern. http://en.wikipedia....lity_and_Reform --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of the six voting against the report, three were Republicans (Camp, Hensarling and Ryan). The remaining four were Democrats (Baucus, Becerra, Schakowsky, Stern) So while the alleged lie is sort of, partially,. a teensy bit true that Ryan did indeed "help scuttle" the plan, it should be pointed out that if three of the four Democrats had voted FOR the bill and not AGAINST the bill, it would not have mattered how Ryan voted. The Democrats actually "scuttled" the report. Moving on to the alleged lie from Ryan that Obama did "exactly nothing" about the deficit commission's recommendations. If anybody can point out any action that Obama took based on recommendations contained in the commission's report, please post it to this thread. How is everybody feeling about FactCheck now? Still think they have no agenda?

You're talking about the wrong thing. What is being referred to is this:

United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress_Joint_Select_Committee_on_Deficit_Reduction

Otherwise known as the debt-supercommittee.

[bartender100]

Would Mitt Rommey be the first Mormon President? would being a Mormon affect some decisions he might have to make? particularly military ones

[Jingthing]

Would Mitt Rommey be the first Mormon President? would being a Mormon affect some decisions he might have to make? particularly military ones

If (the horror!) elected, he would be the first. In fact, he is the first Mormon nominee for president. I think it's fair to assume that any devout religious person might be influenced by that for all of their decision making, not only Mormons of course. There are reports that close friends of Romney report that when he has made a big decision, he seeks a "feeling" from "God" about it to confirm or counter the choice. I'm not sure this is any more or less scary than Bush or any fundamentalist type of any religious president. Mormonism is a newer religion, and an American centered religion, so it appears odd to a lot of people, understandably so. Edited August 31, 2012 by Jingthing

[Exsexyman]

The problem is not that Paul Ryan made a speech littered with untruths, but that so many people, almost exclusively Republican voters, believe him. It says as much about them as it does about Ryan. Watching the delegates roaring him on when he blamed Obama for the closure of a GM plant in Wisconsin, despite the fact that 98% of the plant was closed when G W bush was still president, was, quite frankly, almost frightening. There was even a press release from Ryan in June 2008 decrying the closure, six months before Obama took office! To appreciate the full audacity of this blatant untruth it is worth noting that Mitt Romney published an opinion piece in the N Y Times in November 2008 under the headline, 'Let Detroit go bankrupt'. Politifact has analysed Ryan's claims about medicare in his speech and found them to be "mostly false'. And amazingly Ryan criticized Obama for creating a bi-partisan debt commission and ignoring it's recommendations, recommendations that Ryan voted against as a member of the commission. Ryan's speech was an example of just how far the Republicans have strayed from the truth, and a terrible indictment of politicians in general. But this guy has set the bar to a new low. If the American people vote this 'stranger to the truth' to office in November, they will become the laughing stock of the world.

[chuckd]

Thank you, GK. Moving rapidly on to another of Ryan's alleged lies put forth by FactCheck: http://factcheck.org.../ryans-vp-spin/ "Accused Obama of doing “exactly nothing” about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle." First let's look at the committee vote on the report. The committee consisted of 18 Members with 14 favorable votes required to send it forward for Congressional action. Here is the voting result. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final vote A report was released on December 1, 2010, but failed a vote on December 3 with 11 of 18 votes in favor, with a supermajority of 14 votes needed to formally endorse the blueprint.[3] Voting for the report were Bowles, Coburn, Conrad, Crapo, Cote, Durbin, Fudge, Gregg, Rivlin, Simpson, and Spratt. Voting against were Baucus, Becerra, Camp, Hensarling, Ryan, Schakowsky and Stern. http://en.wikipedia....lity_and_Reform --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of the six voting against the report, three were Republicans (Camp, Hensarling and Ryan). The remaining four were Democrats (Baucus, Becerra, Schakowsky, Stern) So while the alleged lie is sort of, partially,. a teensy bit true that Ryan did indeed "help scuttle" the plan, it should be pointed out that if three of the four Democrats had voted FOR the bill and not AGAINST the bill, it would not have mattered how Ryan voted. The Democrats actually "scuttled" the report. Moving on to the alleged lie from Ryan that Obama did "exactly nothing" about the deficit commission's recommendations. If anybody can point out any action that Obama took based on recommendations contained in the commission's report, please post it to this thread. How is everybody feeling about FactCheck now? Still think they have no agenda?

You're talking about the wrong thing. What is being referred to is this:

United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction http://en.wikipedia....ficit_Reduction

Otherwise known as the debt-supercommittee.

That's nice. Perhaps you can tell us how Ryan could have possibly "scuttled" the plan since he was not a member of the Committee to which you provide a link. FactCheck referenced a commission with 18 members. Your link's committee members total only 12, none of which have the last name of Ryan.

If you look closely at the FactCheck article the left is putting so much trust on, you will notice FactCheck referenced two articles, neither of which referred to the link you posted.

From FactCheck:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s report proposed deep spending cuts in both domestic and military spending, and an overhaul of the tax code that would have lowered rates but raised revenues — all in an attempt to slow the growth of government by $4 trillion over 10 years."

Link for highlighted word "report": http://www.fiscalcom...rStatements.pdf

And also from the FactCheck articleL

"In a statement on the final report, Ryan said he “could not support the plan in its entirety,” but said some elements of it were “worthy of further pursuit.”

Link for highlighted word "statement": http://www.fiscalcom...ion.gov/members

Please pull up the FactCheck.org article and verify for yourself. Your data is incorrect but thank you for caring.

One more little point of order. The Commission of 18, including Ryan, released their final report on 3 December 2010.

The Commission you have incorrectly identified as the one Ryan scuttled yet was not even a member of, held their initial organizational meeting on 08 September 2011, 9 months after they released their final report to the public.

PS: I was unable to find any links between The Annenberg Foundation and the Koch brothers but there are some links with George Soros.

[chuckd]

The problem is not that Paul Ryan made a speech littered with untruths, but that so many people, almost exclusively Republican voters, believe him. It says as much about them as it does about Ryan. Watching the delegates roaring him on when he blamed Obama for the closure of a GM plant in Wisconsin, despite the fact that 98% of the plant was closed when G W bush was still president, was, quite frankly, almost frightening. There was even a press release from Ryan in June 2008 decrying the closure, six months before Obama took office! To appreciate the full audacity of this blatant untruth it is worth noting that Mitt Romney published an opinion piece in the N Y Times in November 2008 under the headline, 'Let Detroit go bankrupt'. Politifact has analysed Ryan's claims about medicare in his speech and found them to be "mostly false'. And amazingly Ryan criticized Obama for creating a bi-partisan debt commission and ignoring it's recommendations, recommendations that Ryan voted against as a member of the commission. Ryan's speech was an example of just how far the Republicans have strayed from the truth, and a terrible indictment of politicians in general. But this guy has set the bar to a new low. If the American people vote this 'stranger to the truth' to office in November, they will become the laughing stock of the world.

And how would you label many of our members, including yourself, that fell for the FactCheck article hook, line and sinker?

Please provide a link where your 98% figure came from.

Please provide a link with evidence that Obama did anything recommended by the Bowles-Simpson Commission.

Please provide your link on medicare from Politifact.

[Steely Dan]

I just finished watching the republican convention and overall as an objective observer I thought they did a pretty good job and Paul Ryan appears an OK running mate.Then came the appearance of Clint Eastwood today. This was probably the lowest and stupidest thing I have ever seen at any convention.

Clint is a very old man, but stellar speches by Ann Romney, Condi Rice, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are what voters will concentrate on.

But understandably not what either the Democrats or MSM will concentrate on, hence the topic of this thread is another cynical attempt to divert attention from the real issues.

[Ulysses G.]

Thank you, GK. Moving rapidly on to another of Ryan's alleged lies put forth by FactCheck: http://factcheck.org.../ryans-vp-spin/ "Accused Obama of doing “exactly nothing” about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle." First let's look at the committee vote on the report. The committee consisted of 18 Members with 14 favorable votes required to send it forward for Congressional action. Here is the voting result. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final vote A report was released on December 1, 2010, but failed a vote on December 3 with 11 of 18 votes in favor, with a supermajority of 14 votes needed to formally endorse the blueprint.[3] Voting for the report were Bowles, Coburn, Conrad, Crapo, Cote, Durbin, Fudge, Gregg, Rivlin, Simpson, and Spratt. Voting against were Baucus, Becerra, Camp, Hensarling, Ryan, Schakowsky and Stern. http://en.wikipedia....lity_and_Reform --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Of the six voting against the report, three were Republicans (Camp, Hensarling and Ryan). The remaining four were Democrats (Baucus, Becerra, Schakowsky, Stern) So while the alleged lie is sort of, partially,. a teensy bit true that Ryan did indeed "help scuttle" the plan, it should be pointed out that if three of the four Democrats had voted FOR the bill and not AGAINST the bill, it would not have mattered how Ryan voted. The Democrats actually "scuttled" the report. Moving on to the alleged lie from Ryan that Obama did "exactly nothing" about the deficit commission's recommendations. If anybody can point out any action that Obama took based on recommendations contained in the commission's report, please post it to this thread. How is everybody feeling about FactCheck now? Still think they have no agenda?

You're talking about the wrong thing. What is being referred to is this:

United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction http://en.wikipedia....ficit_Reduction

Otherwise known as the debt-supercommittee.

That's nice. Perhaps you can tell us how Ryan could have possibly "scuttled" the plan since he was not a member of the Committee to which you provide a link. FactCheck referenced a commission with 18 members. Your link's committee members total only 12, none of which have the last name of Ryan.

If you look closely at the FactCheck article the left is putting so much trust on, you will notice FactCheck referenced two articles, neither of which referred to the link you posted.

From FactCheck:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s report proposed deep spending cuts in both domestic and military spending, and an overhaul of the tax code that would have lowered rates but raised revenues — all in an attempt to slow the growth of government by $4 trillion over 10 years."

Link for highlighted word "report": http://www.fiscalcom...rStatements.pdf

And also from the FactCheck articleL

"In a statement on the final report, Ryan said he “could not support the plan in its entirety,” but said some elements of it were “worthy of further pursuit.”

Link for highlighted word "statement": http://www.fiscalcom...ion.gov/members

Please pull up the FactCheck.org article and verify for yourself. Your data is incorrect but thank you for caring.

One more little point of order. The Commission of 18, including Ryan, released their final report on 3 December 2010.

The Commission you have incorrectly identified as the one Ryan scuttled yet was not even a member of, held their initial organizational meeting on 08 September 2011, 9 months after they released their final report to the public.

PS: I was unable to find any links between The Annenberg Foundation and the Koch brothers but there are some links with George Soros.

Thanks for the complete lowdown.

[bartender100]

Would Mitt Rommey be the first Mormon President? would being a Mormon affect some decisions he might have to make? particularly military ones

If (the horror!) elected, he would be the first. In fact, he is the first Mormon nominee for president. I think it's fair to assume that any devout religious person might be influenced by that for all of their decision making, not only Mormons of course. There are reports that close friends of Romney report that when he has made a big decision, he seeks a "feeling" from "God" about it to confirm or counter the choice. I'm not sure this is any more or less scary than Bush or any fundamentalist type of any religious president. Mormonism is a newer religion, and an American centered religion, so it appears odd to a lot of people, understandably so.

Thanks I did a bit of Googling after, sad to say I was thinking a Jehovah Witness type of religion, but its not. Mormons serve in the military and celebrate Christmas

[Exsexyman]

The problem is not that Paul Ryan made a speech littered with untruths, but that so many people, almost exclusively Republican voters, believe him. It says as much about them as it does about Ryan. Watching the delegates roaring him on when he blamed Obama for the closure of a GM plant in Wisconsin, despite the fact that 98% of the plant was closed when G W bush was still president, was, quite frankly, almost frightening. There was even a press release from Ryan in June 2008 decrying the closure, six months before Obama took office! To appreciate the full audacity of this blatant untruth it is worth noting that Mitt Romney published an opinion piece in the N Y Times in November 2008 under the headline, 'Let Detroit go bankrupt'. Politifact has analysed Ryan's claims about medicare in his speech and found them to be "mostly false'. And amazingly Ryan criticized Obama for creating a bi-partisan debt commission and ignoring it's recommendations, recommendations that Ryan voted against as a member of the commission. Ryan's speech was an example of just how far the Republicans have strayed from the truth, and a terrible indictment of politicians in general. But this guy has set the bar to a new low. If the American people vote this 'stranger to the truth' to office in November, they will become the laughing stock of the world.

And how would you label many of our members, including yourself, that fell for the FactCheck article hook, line and sinker?

Please provide a link where your 98% figure came from.

Please provide a link with evidence that Obama did anything recommended by the Bowles-Simpson Commission.

Please provide your link on medicare from Politifact.

I have never heard of the Factcheck article whatever that is.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/29/paul-ryan/paul-ryan-said-president-obama-funneled-716-billio/

I didn't say Obama did anything recommended by the Bowles - Simpson report, read it again. i said that Ryan criticized Obama for creating the commission and then ignoring its recommendations. The final draft of the committees report failed to win the necessary support of its members, falling three votes short. Paul Ryan was on the committee,a fact that he neglected to mention in his speech. In the straw poll on the final draft he voted "no" - against the plan that he now accuses the President of ignoring. Blatantly dishonest.

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/aug/29/paul-ryan/did-barack-obama-break-promise-keep-gm-plant-open/

[Ulysses G.]

Ryan did not need to mention being on the committee because most Americans know it. He ended up voting against Bowles-Simpson because he objected to not getting rid of Obamacare which Obama - of course - was all for. Paul Ryan had good reason to reject it. Obama did not.

[chuckd]

I have never heard of the Factcheck article whatever that is.

http://www.politifac...led-716-billio/

I didn't say Obama did anything recommended by the Bowles - Simpson report, read it again. i said that Ryan criticized Obama for creating the commission and then ignoring its recommendations. The final draft of the committees report failed to win the necessary support of its members, falling three votes short. Paul Ryan was on the committee,a fact that he neglected to mention in his speech. In the straw poll on the final draft he voted "no" - against the plan that he now accuses the President of ignoring. Blatantly dishonest.

http://www.politifac...-gm-plant-open/

Here is the link...again!

http://factcheck.org.../ryans-vp-spin/

The FactCheck link is posted two times on page 22, four times on page23 and, now, two times on this very short page.

You do realize when other posters realize you don't even read the links, it makes it difficult for others to take you seriously?

All of your other questions and statements have previously been addressed on this thread. Please try you catch up.

[Jingthing]

Ryan did not need to mention being on the committee because most Americans know it. ...

That's ridiculous! Before Ryan was picked VP candidate by Romney, the vast majority of Americans didn't even know who Ryan was, much less what committees he served on.

[Jingthing]

Thanks I did a bit of Googling after, sad to say I was thinking a Jehovah Witness type of religion, but its not. Mormons serve in the military and celebrate Christmas

But Romney "served" in France (although he politically SUPPORTED it, hmm, hypocrite ... ) avoiding the draft as a Mormon missionary instead of serving as a soldier in Vietnam like mostly the underclass of his generation. Interestingly another ex-governor of Massachusetts, the very brave upper class democratic presidential nominee volunteered to serve, John Kerry, who is also a Francophone. Kerry lost. Gov. of Mass. Dukakis lost. Gov. of Mass. Another Gov. of Mass? Good luck with that! Edited September 1, 2012 by Jingthing

[Exsexyman]

I have never heard of the Factcheck article whatever that is.

http://www.politifac...led-716-billio/

I didn't say Obama did anything recommended by the Bowles - Simpson report, read it again. i said that Ryan criticized Obama for creating the commission and then ignoring its recommendations. The final draft of the committees report failed to win the necessary support of its members, falling three votes short. Paul Ryan was on the committee,a fact that he neglected to mention in his speech. In the straw poll on the final draft he voted "no" - against the plan that he now accuses the President of ignoring. Blatantly dishonest.

http://www.politifac...-gm-plant-open/

Here is the link...again!

http://factcheck.org.../ryans-vp-spin/

The FactCheck link is posted two times on page 22, four times on page23 and, now, two times on this very short page.

You do realize when other posters realize you don't even read the links, it makes it difficult for others to take you seriously?

All of your other questions and statements have previously been addressed on this thread. Please try you catch up.

What an arrogant response. So you take it upon yourself to say what other posters are thinking? I was giving you the links you requested. ie politifacts. I note that you try to change the subject now. How about addressing the untruths in Ryans speech? His is a well known strategy, tell a lie often enough and if it is believed it becomes the truth, especially to those wish to believe it. You are living proof of that. Now was the GM plant in Wisconsin closed during the presidency of G W Bush, six months before Obama was inaugurated, yes or no? Does Obama's budget plan call for $716bn in cuts to medicare spending over the next ten years (The same cuts Ryan has written in to successive drafts of his famed budget), but in reimbursements to insurers and hospitals, not in payments to the elderly which would be preserved. Yes or no?

[Ulysses G.]

But Romney "served" in France

Now that is worth bringing up. Everyone knows that every democrat that has been president has served in the military.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[Ulysses G.]

I note that you try to change the subject now. How about addressing the untruths in Ryans speech?

He already did and if you opened his links you would know that it is very questionable how many are actually untrue.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[Ulysses G.]

Does Obama's budget plan call for $716bn in cuts to medicare spending over the next ten years

Are you referring to the money that was pilfered from Medicare to pay for Obamacare?

[Exsexyman]

Does Obama's budget plan call for $716bn in cuts to medicare spending over the next ten years

Are you referring to the money that was pilfered from Medicare to pay for Obamacare?

Sigh. So Obama is a thief now? Why don't you answer the question, under which administration was the G M plant in Wisconsin closed, G W Bush's or Obama's? Not difficult, and the answer will throw some light on whether Paul Ryan is the modern day equivalent of George Washington as you seem to believe, or Tricky Dicky, as most sensible people suspect!

[Ulysses G.]

Luckily, there are fact-checkers checking the fact checkers, because many of them have an agenda.

But, then again, Obama did kinda ask for it. This is what he said in the speech that Ryan alluded to:

And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President.

In saying that “this plant will be here for another hundred years” when he is our president, he was suggesting that under him the plant would have some kind of a future. Ryan’s Big Lie then is that instead of saying the president “suggested” he said the president “promised” he’d keep the plant open? So sue him! But, as it turns out, the plant wasn’t closed when Obama gave his speech on Feb 13, 2008. It was open. http://reason.com/bl...d-fact-checkers

You question has already been answered several times on this thread as chuckd pointed out.

Edited September 1, 2012 by Ulysses G.

[nidieunimaitre]

I am from Europe.

And I realise that European politicians are not exactly inspiring statesmen.

But when I read about the american politicians, I almost begin to sympathize with the Merkels and Hollandes.

[lomatopo]

Rep. Ryan's TARP plea...

[lomatopo]

Interesting timing on Rep. Ryan's stock sales...

Paul Ryan sold shares on same day as private briefing of banking crisis

Vice-presidential candidate denies he profited from a 2008 meeting with Fed chairman in which officials outlined fears for financial crisis

Dominic Rushe in New York

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 August 2012 02.19 BST

The congressman is facing questions about whether he profited from information gleaned from the meeting in September 2008. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's vice-presidential running mate, sold stock in US banks on the same day he attended a confidential meeting where top level officials disclosed the sector was heading for a deep crisis. The congressman on Monday denied profiting from information gleaned from the meeting on 18 September 2008 when Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, then treasury secretary Hank Paulson and others outlined their fears for the banking sector. His office said he had no control over the trades.

Public records show that on the same day as the meeting, Ryan sold stock in troubled banks including Wachovia and Citigroup and bought shares in Goldman Sachs, Paulson's old employer and a bank that had been disclosed to be stronger than many of its rivals. The sale was not illegal at the time. Not long after the meeting, Wachovia's already troubled share price went into free fall. It plunged 39% on the afternoon of 26 September alone as investors worried the bank would collapse. It was eventually taken over by Wells Fargo for $15bn, a fraction of its former value. Citigroup's share price fell soon after the meeting. In October 2008 Citigroup was among the largest beneficiary of the troubled asset relief program (Tarp), the taxpayer-funded bailout of the banking sector.

Ryan was a supporter of the Tarp bailout – a position that has put him at odds with the right wing of his party despite his otherwise conservative credentials. Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo are now among his largest financial supporters, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/paul-ryan-sold-shares-banking-crisis

[lomatopo]

Ryan Roundup: Everything You Need to Know About Chairman Ryan’s Budget

http://www.offthecha...log.org/ryan-2/

[koheesti]

Does Obama's budget plan call for $716bn in cuts to medicare spending over the next ten years

Are you referring to the money that was pilfered from Medicare to pay for Obamacare?

Sigh. So Obama is a thief now? Why don't you answer the question, under which administration was the G M plant in Wisconsin closed, G W Bush's or Obama's? Not difficult, and the answer will throw some light on whether Paul Ryan is the modern day equivalent of George Washington as you seem to believe, or Tricky Dicky, as most sensible people suspect!

Obama was president when the plant was closed so that makes Paul Ryan "the modern day equivalent of George Washington"? That's a stretch, but it does show that Ryan told the truth. It also shows that FactChecker dropped the ball, blindly believing the spin from the White House without checking (or worse, not caring if it was true or not). They, FactChecker, just jumped the shark as an organization that people trust to give them the facts.