Day: August 17, 2012

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George Bush Paul Ryan Politics

Paul Ryan Blames Obama For Stuff That Happened Under Bush

At this rate, it’s just a matter of time before President Obama gets blamed for the Great Depression of the 1930’s!

Bush was still President, but in 2008, President Obama went to an auto plant in Wisconsin and told the then struggling company that reconstruction and some government help could keep the plant open and save jobs in the process. The auto plant eventually closed in December of 2008. No, Obama did not have the title of “President” at that time… this happened in 2008!

But Paul Ryan is apparently not familiar with something called records. On multiple occasions as he campaigns with Mitt Romney, Ryan blamed Obama for not keeping the plant open.

“I remember President Obama visiting it when he was first running, saying he’ll keep that plant open,” Ryan said in Ohio Thursday, describing the shuttered GM factory in Janesville, Wis. “One more broken promise.”

Ryan blamed rising gas prices under Obama for the closing. He echoed the complaint in an interview with a local ABC affiliate, suggesting it showed that Obama’s auto rescue was a sham.

“It didn’t help Janesville,” he said. “They shut our plant down. It didn’t help Kenosha. I represent there; they shut down the Chrysler plant.”

The Detroit News noted that Obama said during a visit in early 2008 that government help and some restructuring could keep the plant open. But after the financial crisis and a collapse in demand for the SUVs the factory produced, it shut down in December 2008 in the waning days of Bush’s second term. It’s still owned by GM, but has been closed ever since.

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Politics taxes

Obama To Romney – Release 5 Years, We’ll Leave You Alone. Romney Says “No”

President Barack Obama’s campaign manager offered Mitt Romney’s campaign manager a “deal” on Friday, essentially saying that if Romney releases just three more years of tax returns, they’ll stop hammering him for not releasing more, even though Obama has made 12 years of his financial history public.

Team Romney, of course, politely refused.

“Governor Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide,” Obama campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in a letter to his counterpart in the Romney campaign. “So I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more — neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign.”

“It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney’s tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending,” Romney campaign manager Matt Rhodes replied, apparently determined that just two years of tax returns is enough. “If Governor Romney’s tax returns are the core message of your campaign, there will be ample time for President Obama to discuss them over the next 81 days.”

Releasing tax returns for at least 12 years has traditionally been assumed by presidential candidates, including Romney’s father, even though it’s not required by law. However, since Romney is among the most wealthy presidential candidates in U.S. history, the Obama campaign seems to believe there will be some fresh, raw meat in those returns.

 

Categories
Politics

Paul Ryan – I Never Asked For Stimulus – I Don’t Recall Asking – Oh, I Did Ask.

Paul Ryan, who objected to the Obama stimulus plan, denied in 2010 and again Wednesday that he ever sought stimulus money for Wisconsin projects. He then added, “I don’t recall” to his answer on Wednesday.

Now he’s changed his story again.

Thursday evening, Ryan acknowledged having sent the letters above his signature. “After having these letters called to my attention I checked into them, and they were treated as constituent service requests in the same way matters involving Social Security or Veterans Affairs are handled. This is why I didn’t recall the letters earlier. But they should have been handled differently, and I take responsibility for that.”

He did not explain why he was not alerted to the fact his office had sent a letter asking for stimulus aid from the Department of Labor when the Wall Street Journal reported on this in 2010…

…beginning in the fall of 2009, he sent the first of a series of letters to the Department of Energy on behalf of a pair of Wisconsin energy conservation groups, insisting the funds would help create jobs, the Globe reported on Tuesday.

For example, Ryan predicted that a grant being sought by the Madison-based Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation would “create or retain approximately 7,600 new jobs over the three-year grant period and the subsequent three years.”

So, Ryan denied for years that he ever requested stimulus money, until a national spotlight upon the issue forced him to acknowledge letters with his signature on it.

H/T Alan Combs

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