Posted by nathan on September 11, 2012. One comment.

Yesterday, Paul Ryan, on the campaign trail, weighed in on the Chicago teachers union strike by declaring his support for “bipartisan education reform” (9/10/2012):

“We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that’s a bipartisan issue,” Ryan continued…

“We will stand with education reform, we will champion bipartisan education reforms,” Ryan said. “This is a critical linchpin to the future of our country, to our economy, to make sure that our children go to the best possible school, and that education reforms revolve around the parents and the child, not the special interest group.  This is something that’s critical for all of us.”

But if his (immediate) past record in congress is any indication of what he means by “bipartisan education reforms,” he is probably referring to his highly partisan Blueprint Budget that garnered the total support of zero Democrats, and which would slash funding from K-12 education by up to $2.7 billion.(3/22/2012):

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan warned lawmakers today of potentially dire ramifications if the budget blueprint put forth earlier this week by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., were to become law.

“We could see disastrous consequences for America’s children over the next couple of years,” Duncan said in remarks prepared for testimony before the House subcommittee that oversees education spending. “Passage of the Ryan budget would propel the educational success of this country backwards for years to come and that is a risk we cannot afford to take.”

To put the cuts in perspective, Duncan said the $14.5 billion Title I program, which helps districts cover the cost of educating disadvantaged kids, could see a $2.7 billion cut. As many as 38,000 teachers aides could lose their jobs, he said.

Now the real question is whether any news reporter will actually ask him to back up his rhetoric. Though most likely, he’s going to continue to stump on this without any critical examination by the press.

Posted by nathan on September 11, 2012. One comment.

With the political conventions finished and a little over 50 days until voter’s cast their ballots on November 6th, the focus on the campaign trail is now on how Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will perform against one another at the presidential debates. Here’s a handy television schedule of when the 2012 Presidential debates will take place, as well as the single Vice Presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

2012 Presidential Debate Schedule

Source: debates.org

Posted by nathan on September 9, 2012. 2 comments.

A Rasmussen Presidential tracking poll released today confirms what has been widely suspected since friday: President Obama gained a significant “bump” in his polling numbers from the Democratic National Convention this past week. The latest Rasmussen poll puts Obama at 49% over Mitt Romney’s 45%, while the Gallup poll from Friday had Obama with a 49% to 44% advantage. As this article in the HuffingtonPost points out, “Obama is now polling against Romney better than he has since early March.”

It’s hard to imagine that Romney is going to gain any ground back on Obama with his tepid performance on Meet The Press that aired this morning. You see, when asked by NBC’s David Gregory about the specifics of his tax-cut plan (AKA the foremost expected line of questioning),  Romney consistently prevaricated and avoided giving Gregory a single direct response to the question of specifics about his tax plan:

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Here’s a highly abbreviated version of their exchange:

GREGORY:  But, Governor, where are the specifics of how you get to this math?  Isn’t that an issue?

MR. ROMNEY:  Well, the– the specifics are these which is those principles I described are the heart of my policy.  And I’ve indicated as well that– that contrary to what the Democrats are saying, I’m not going to increase the tax burden on middle income families.  It would absolutely be wrong to do that.  But you know I’ve had the experience of being a governor.  I’ve demonstrated that I have the capacity to balance budgets.  I balanced them four years in a row in Massachusetts and we cut the taxes 19 times in Massachusetts.

GREGORY:  Can you give me an example of a loophole that you will close.

MR. ROMNEY:  Well, I can tell you that people at the high end, high income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions.  Those– those numbers are going to come down.  Otherwise, they’d get a tax break.  And I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention.  I am not reducing taxes on high income taxpayers.  I’m bringing down the rate of taxation, but also bringing down deductions and exemptions at the high end so the revenues stay the same, the taxes people pay stay the same.  Middle income people are going to get a break.  But at the high end, the tax coming in stays the same.  But we encourage small business, because small business is able to keep more of what it makes and therefore hire more people, which is my priority.

So Romney hits the specific talking points of (a) the Democrats want to tax the middle class but he’s cut them “19 times” as governor, and (b) he’s for small business! — all the while, refusing to answer Gregory’s simple question of naming a single loophole, deduction, or exemption that will offset his upper class tax cuts. This must be a successful interview in his book, since he clearly entered the interview without any intention of giving the media anything substantial.

Posted by nathan on August 30, 2012. 2 comments.

During his speech last night to delegates at the Republican National Convention, Paul Ryan made some astoundingly misleading and fraudulent claims about President Barack Obama’s previous 4 years in office. So misleading and deceitful was his speech that the Associated Press released a fact check article this morning titled, ”Ryan takes factual shortcuts in speech,” that calls out Ryan for his fraudulent claims. One of the most mendacious claims that Ryan made was that President Obama refused to tackle the national debt when given a plan by a congressional debt commission (8/29/2012):

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