Ryan/Romney - The Upside Down Presidential Ticket

Excellent and scary summary! Two editing notes: did you mean to say that Romney promised to repeal "Obamacare" on his first day in office, rather than Medicare?

Also, on my iPad, I do not see the Ryan video at all. I will check to see if it shows up n my desktop. Feel free to erase this comment after fixing, if you want.

These people want to drive the country back to the social mores of our childhoods -- Blacks in their place, women pregnant and in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, they want to funnel all the money to the one percent. The 1950s at least had the compensating hope that for many (white) people, our living standards were rising. Now, that isn't there because the robber barons want it all and game the system to take it.

Thank you, Kathleen. You are correct; I meant Obamacare and I've fixed that.

As to the video, it works fine. I have no knowledge about how iPads work but if you are reading the email or rss instead of the story in your browser, you probably can't see the video so you should open the story in your browser to play the video.

Also, AdBlocker, depending on your settings, can block some videos.

BTW, it's worth whatever it takes to see the video. It is a stunning to see the 180 degree shift from Ryan.

Both Romney and Ryan have taken a 190* turn from their original positions. Have we ever seen so much hypocrisy in a presidential election before?

Now if we could only convince those Republican voters of this we might have a chance to overcome the voter supression and Deibold machine manipulation that is going on (not to mention the gazillions of money being spent on dishonest ads.)

You guys had an enjoyable and enriching blog here, until things got political. Now you're telling me what the only right way to think is. Other opinions do exist, and I believe I and others would benefit from a civil airing of multiple views. Come on - we're elders. Aren't we the ones to show how it should be done...

Excellent & necessary analysis. Important that the Chris Hayes video of the-other-Ryan was posted here for more TGB readers to ponder. His programs are such a departure from the network fluff.

Are you challenging us to diagnose Ryan's condition? Multiple personality disorder might be considered but more likely a less complex problem: supreme ambition. Should be added to the next edition of the DSM-IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-IV_Codes).

Informative sharing of the facts. Thanks.

Randy Atchison and any others who don't like the political opinions expressed here:

Time Goes By is not a newspaper or a (supposedly) non-partisan news program. It has a point of view, a strong one and it is mine.

What it does not have are lies or misrepresentations. All quotations and facts are sourced and, from what you tell us in your comment, you have been around long enough to know how to discern the differences among opinion, reporting and pontificating.

There are a zillion other places online - so-called "professional" along with blogs - with other points of view. Feel free to avail yourself of them.

That's the genius of the intertubes - it's all here.

My theory: somewhere along the way in the 10 years between 2002 and today, a still somewhat impressionable young man got seduced and/or co-opted. By what/whom? (1) ambition and a drive for power, (2) a desire to travel in the rarified circles of Big Money, (3) the religious far right, (4) the tea party and (5) Karl Rove, the Koch brothers and the Republican spin machine.

All of these came together to create the candidate from H*** for the rest of us! Janinsanfran and others are so right. This guy wants to totally eradicate the gains made by women and minorities (including elders) over the past 50 years. Of course he does. It was SO much easier when rich white males (RWM) controlled everything without any "outside interference"--when we pesky women and minorities knew our place and stayed there. For RWMs, those were indeed the days.

Do the rest of us want to go there again? I don't think so!!

It is more important than ever to vote. it will be up to us what happens in the future. This cannot be said strongly enough.

Additional facts on Ryan.

1 - He directly benefited from the Social Security Survivors benefit when his father died before he turned 18.

2 - He has always worked for or been an elected representative. His only private sector job experiences were after school and summer jobs during high school and college.

3 - He used his relationship with his fathers law partner to get his first job as a congressional aid.

Based on his resume, I don't believe that he is qualified to design policy solutions. And is inconsistent on his view that government should not be used to help less fortunate people in our society.

Two reminiscent things going on here:

1> During the entire GWB era the entire admin was accused of being neo cons; those that would like to go back to the 50s and start over. They tried. They failed. But look at the human waste that is left in wake. Bet you all thought you were too good to fail . .

2> GWB was not the driver - but DC was. In the present case PR is beginning to look like the the driver. MR is beginning to look like the pretty, dumber than a rock guy, that the majority can relate to.

Sound familiar to you too . . .?

I believe that PR is not the driver, but neither is MR. The driver is $$, from whatever source. MR and PR can be bought, but they aren't cheap.

We MUST all vote. And we MUST encourage others to vote, too!

You can't be Catholic and rob the poor.
You can't be Mormaon and rob the poor.

Excellent summary of facts. My immediate answer to your question was plain and simple $$$. But to be fair, I think Elizabeth Rogers gave a much more expansive response with which I quite agree.

I think the major election concern will be motivating people to vote.

Increasingly, I believe voters are saying they aren't going to bother to vote this year -- the very ones whose votes are needed.

I want a balanced approach. My platform is, as you all know, roll back the Bush tax cut for the higher income tax brackets, raise the payroll tax limit (a lot higher, if not unlimited), leave social security alone, attack midicare fraud and waste but leave benefits intact, and, finally, bring down government spending very carefully and gradually.
As for Paul Ryan's changing view point, maybe he went where the political money was and changed toward the larger contributors?

Agree completely with commenter janinsanfran...my sentiments exactly.

I agree with Darlene's assessment about how both "Romney and Ryan have taken a 190* turn from their original positions".

This is in part reflected in Ryan's turn around on the stimulus package that he refers to as a “monstrosity” and “wasteful spending spree”.

"Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the Obama administration for millions from the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help an energy conservation company in Wisconsin, telling his constituents the money would help 'create or retain approximately 7,600 new jobs' in his district for up to six years." SOURCE

Larry...
Doesn't Ryan's request for stimulus money just gall you. It's too early in the morning and I'm not awake enough to track it down, but somewhere recently he said that "he" didn't ask for the stimulus money, it was his staff and they were wrong to do it.

Gaaa.

I guess it's true that the older you get the stupider you become, as is evident here.

It doesn't matter what you say or prove to be real or false or true. Just look around you. Is America in a better place than it was 3.5 years ago when Obama came into power? If so, then vote for Obama. Again. And enjoy the higher prices, millions of Americans unemployed, loss of jobs, more American 1 in 5 on government assistance. Food stamps anyone. Yup. What a wonderful place America has become.
As you have stated, you are not a journalist, reporter, etc. etc. All your 'facts. were probably gleaned off the internet. How brilliant of you.
Want the real truth? Read this weeks cover story in Newsweek:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html
And you will get a blow-by-blow factual account how Obama has promised much but delivered absolutely NOTHING! And you people want to vote for him again? Not too brite in your aging brains are you?
The choice is this: vote for a failing president or vote for a successful business man. That's it. More of the same or back to reality.
Personally, even if a giraffe was running for office right now, the giraffe would be a better choice than Obama, that's how low that failing human being is.

The next thing will be the ultra conservative Right proposing instituting their form of the Mutaween, the Saudi Arabian relgious police. It's getting scary out there.

Romney has been compared to a weathervane. On any given day, he'll point whichever way the wind is blowing. Ryan seems to be the same, except he points with frightening conviction and self-righteousness. Scary pair, these two. And all bought and paid for by their corporate bosses and backers.

BTW, Ol' Hank up there has a pretty short memory if he thinks all our economic woes began just four years ago.

Life is political. The personal is political. Ronnie has always been political. If you didn't notice, sorry. I'm really tired of people saying they don't want to discuss politics. It's not like it doesn't affect your life every single day. If you would rather go watch reality TV, go do that, but don't expect informed, intelligent people to not discuss it just because it offends you in some way. You always have the choice not to read the post, or the blog, for that matter.

And the Newsweek story is far from factual. It's a deliberately misleading article, as the author himself has stated. Read Paul Krugman among others for the details of how the economics was completely misstated.

Was it Bernie that said, (something like this) Let's never forget that the current deficit of $1 trillion was mainly caused by two unpaid-for wars and tax breaks for the rich? I think so, and he's right! Hands off SS and medicare.

Great post. As a senior I can see that Romney has no plans for the future, but tells the American people he will reveal plans after he is elected. Ryan does, however, have a plan for the future. He plans to take us back to the past. These two will wipe out every gain made by women,blacks, gays and all other minorities in the past century. The only people who will benefit from the election will be the ones who need help the least, the rich upper crust 1%.