After Paul Ryan's selection as the Vice Presidential candidate was announced, GOPUSA described Paul Ryan as "The Lion from Jaynesville". The Lion? The Lion Ryan?
In his speech at the Republican National Convention, the Lion Ryan displayed prowess that put him beyond any other politician who aspires to have Lion associated with their name. The Lion Ryan blamed President Obama for a failed promise to keep the General Motors plant open in Jaynesville. General Motors ceased operations there in December 2008, citing low demand for SUVs and high gas prices during the Bush administration as the reason for halting production. Obama became president in January 2009, a month after the plant closed. The shuffled timeline entries matter not to the Lion Ryan.
The Lion Ryan claimed the stimulus bill was political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at its worst, cutting out the working men and women and resulting in nothing but debt. When President Obama took office, unemployment was skyrocketing. The stimulus bill cut short the climb and tempered the disaster, keeping it from becoming worse than it was. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it put anywhere from 1.4 to 3.3 million working men and women back to work. Without the bill, unemployment would have been worse. But the Lion Ryan mixed another denial cocktail and the Lion party is on.
The Lion Ryan claimed that President Obama, in a cold powerplay, funnelled $716 out of Medicare. The $716 billion wasn't taken away from Medicare. It is the savings resulting from reducing payments to Medicare Advantage, private plans that provide Medicare coverage at a higher cost to the government. The Lion Ryan says a Romney administration will repeal the law and the Lion Ryan implies that doing so would restore the money that was saved. Lost in bewilderness, the Lion marched on.
The Lion Ryan blamed President Obama for Standard and Poor's downgrade of the US debt rating. In it's report, Standard and Poor blamed political brinkmanship culminating with the threat of default as contributing to less stable, less effective and less predictable governance and policymaking. That threat of default came from the Republicans. The Lion Ryan was one of those Republicans making that threat. What the Lion hides is more important than what the Lion reveals.
The Lion Ryan blamed President Obama for doing nothing after receiving the "urgent report" from the Bowles-Simpson debt commission. The commission needed 14 of 18 votes to formally approve the plan it created. It failed with 11 votes. The Lion Ryan was a member of that commission and he voted against the plan. Congress is primarily responsible for creating legislation. Not only is the Lion Ryan is a member of Congress, the Lion Ryan is the Chairman of the House Budget Committee. The Lion Ryan never once proposed legislation that incorporated the commission's "urgent report" he voted against. The Lion Ryan blames President Obama. The Lion...well...it's complicated.
The Lion Ryan said that the greatest of our responsibilities to each other is that the strong protect the weak. Yet the Lion Ryan's own Path to Prosperity would reduce Medicare to a voucher system which would increase the cost of medical care to the seniors seeking that care. Mitt Romney's tax and budget plans would result in a cut of $1.9 trillion to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program over a ten-year period. It would also cut $898 billion over ten years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, child nutrition programs like reduced and free lunches, refundable earned income and child tax credits for low-wage working families, and Supplemental Security Income for poor seniors, the blind, and the disabled. The Lion did not insult the intelligence of a single convention delegate.
Throughout the Lion Ryan's speech, the convention delegates cheered the Lion. They embraced the Lion. It was as if the Lion was their own. Now the Lion Ryan is their shining star, the brilliant and daring Lion speaking the truth as only he knows how.
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