The Budget Committee chairman slams the president in an NRO interview:
Indeed, in almost every sense, Ryan says, Obama has been “fundamentally un-presidential” throughout the summer, “dragging his feet, failing to address the looming debt crisis — which he knows is coming — because he remains committed to his ideology.”
“This is, unfortunately, the way he operates,” Ryan says. “This is his pattern of behavior, this is his personality. For the next 18 months, it will probably be like this. It’ll be in-your-face class warfare, with bitter appeals to envy, fear, and anxiety, plus the demonization of the other side’s motives.”
Ryan, usually a happy warrior on fiscal matters, sounds resigned when asked whether he can help Republicans craft a long-term deal with the president to reduce the debt. Obama, he says, has made such a scenario near impossible. He cites Obama’s remarks to CBS News last week, when he said he could not guarantee Social Security payments, as well as the president’s “very personal” criticism of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the White House, as examples of the president’s inability to “discuss these issues in good faith.”
“Whenever I hear him speak now, I just shake my head and think, there he goes again,” Ryan says. “When it comes to actually governing, leading and fixing fiscal problems, he is not in the game.” He predicts that, with their votes this week, House Republicans will show that they are.
More of Ryan’s take on the debt-limit fight here.
Well Paul, are you mad enough now to see this guy has to be defeated and perhaps get in the running to become our President?? Let us hope.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think Ryan is probably still somewhat annoyed that his 'plan' was revealed to be an unsupportable joke so quickly.
“This is, unfortunately, the way he operates,” Ryan says. “This is his pattern of behavior, this is his personality. For the next 18 months, it will probably be like this. It’ll be in-your-face class warfare, with bitter appeals to envy, fear, and anxiety, plus the demonization of the other side’s motives.”
I don't see how this is materially different than the campaigns that either side has ran for the last decade.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLOL!
Classic...
More absurd denial from the Fish.
You protest too much, and project your fears. Ryan offered a fine plan, while Obama's comedic budget was voted down by his own Party, in the Senate 97 to 0. The joke was on Mr. Obama and the Democratic Party who have made such a mess.
By the way, how is that Libyan 'non' WAR working for you?
Talk about "unsupportable jokes"...
Still no authorization for 'unilateral illegal' bombing?
Hope and change is one big pack of lies. What a surprise! Fraud over lobbyists, earmarks, signing statements, transparency, executive orders, rendition, wire taps, the Patriot Act, GITMO, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, taxation, etc.
The modern day Democratic Party is a disaster, sinking everyone.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYour ranting about Obama and the Dems is fundamentally uninteresting, so I'm just going to ignore that part and focus on this:
"Ryan offered a fine plan"
No, he did not. His plan relies on numbers which don't exist. And it's not a deficit reduction plan; it's a tax cut for business and the wealthy plan. It will not be supportable by the GOP 2012 candidate and will end up being yet another fiasco for the party that can't seem to plan ahead at all.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAren't you the same guy who keeps telling us about Obama's debt reduction plan, when in fact all Obama did was say that he wanted $4T in spending cuts without specifying a single, actual, cut?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNo, Mark. You must have me confused with some OTHER guy who points out your incessant and amateurish errors regarding economic matters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhile you routinely point out areas where we disagree, you have never pointed out an error.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMark W and all: Fish has proved once again "it never pays to argue with a fool!"
I'm outta here.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRyan is outstanding. And judging by the offering of him, Sen. Rubio, Rep. Jacobs, Ms. Liz Cheney, etc., from this Sunday, the Democratic Partisan PR game of trying to slant everyone against the Republicans is not working.
Obama and his Party's fraud, hoisted and narrated to the American Public via the partisan MSM (even some vivid push polling on the matter via CBS), is the same old Democrat story. Try to distract, vilify, debase, etc., while they ignore/block serious efforts to address the crisis they have created with their terrible policies.
But the tenor of expression provided by serious Republicans this weekend and today, suggests the reality of the American Public's mood is far different. The elected Republicans, for the most part, are not buying the tired Democratic Partisan 'con'.
Obama and Company's dangerous game of 'brinkmanship' may just take them over the cliff completely. Telling whoppers may not get them by anymore.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI like Ryan and we need him. But he diminishes himself and therefore his arguements when he tries to claim its only Obama who is being stubborn and partisan when the republicans are also refusing to increase taxes at all. People aren't stupid- they see both parties negotiating like 5 year olds and to claim otherwise is pure political hackery.
Ryan- stick to being a financial hawk and dont turn into a party drone!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf the Republicans would only capitulate and agree to raise taxes, the spending will only continue to rise. Then, in future, we will hear the same argument that if only the Republicans would be reasonable and agree to raise taxes again we could come to another compromise and all will be swell. Every time an agreement to raise taxes has been made, the spending has outpaced the revenue raised. This has to stop and to argue that the parties are negotiating like five year olds shows an absolute ignorance of past "agreements" with the Democrats. There is an adult in the room, it is Ryan. There is a 5 year old in the room, it is Obama.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFederal spending has gone from 18% of GDP to 24% of GDP in a decade. A 33% increase. If we were still at 18% of GDP, we would be much closer to a balanced budget.
We don't have a revenue problem.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseStubbornness in itself is not a vice, depending on what one is being stubborn about. Obama stubbornly wants to raises taxes and increase our debt, pablum about 'future' savings notwithstanding. Ryan, et al, stubbornly want to cut spending and reduce debt right now. This is because the problem is right now.
Nor is partisanship necessarily a vice. What we see building is a partisan war over the future of the country: a contest over whether the debt problem is a matter of too much spending or not enough revenue. The GOP has plans that will cut spending and increase revenues without raising taxes. Obama, et al, have plans to raise revenues by raising taxes and spending it, with remediation of our massive debt done down the road with vague reforms and savings, which is basically the same path that got us in trouble in the first place. It's a battle over whether to reverse course or stay the course, but the course cannot be stayed, for you soon reach the exact same cliff edge of massive, debilitating, destructive debt.
What is needed are martyr politicians, office holders willing to sacrifice re-election to do the right thing. So far, only the Tea Party freshmen offer to do this. Isn't it horrible that the Tea Party should have such influence?
If we aren't careful about it, we're going to end up with a government that does the people's bidding, a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and at that point America as we've known it will cease to exist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama has agreed to, indeed has proposed, outlines that are several ticks to the right of the American people, let alone the Democratic Party. GOP leaders are disunited, keep shifting the goalposts, and won't commit to anything that could actually pass. What Ryan's comments represent is the far-right mentality that opponents who do not capitulate entirely to you, are treacherously oppressing you. Where is the dignity in attacking the president's "personality"? Going ad-hominem like this is unambiguously an act of weakness. It's a desperate, whiny effort to game the media, the voters, the base, whoever will listen.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLMAO!
DIGNITY??? You're talking about the guy who has several times compared the GOP to hostage taking terrorists.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThey open themselves up to such comparisons by, yaknow, taking hostages.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThat is rather rich, considering Obama's words about SS checks last week.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMore lies from the master of the misdirection.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhich part, specifically, is a lie?
The GOP line has been: give us the spending cuts we want, in the areas we want, or we'll crash the economy. On purpose.
How is that NOT holding our economy hostage, to get what they want? When in control, the GOP has little stomach for reining in spending. But when out of power, that's all they want to do. Instead of waiting to get into power, however, the GOP decided that they would hold a hostage. Now it's not working out so well, and everyone is crying in their coffee this morning, with an inevitable retreat from the extreme line coming...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLike a real fish doesn't know it's wet, apparently this particular fish is so embued with lies, it can't even recognize them anymore.
The GOP never threatened to crash the economy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOnly complete ignoramuses believe that failing to raise the debt ceiling would crash the economy.