I never thought I’d see the day when I would write a glowing review of a pretty thorough interview by anyone on TV news other than Rachel or LarryO. Since Tim Russert’s passing, I can’t remember any tough hosts that clearly exposed the GOP’s continued destruction of the middle-class. Today, Bob Schieffer (of all people) came close in his interview with Paul Ryan as he exposed just how radical Ryan's plan really is.
Instead of his usual pleasantries, Bob started with a full frontal assault by playing an audio split-screen when Obama’s said this about Ryan’s voting record:
"Eliminating the health care bill would cost us $1 trillion dollars," the president said. "It would add $1 trillion to the deficit. So when Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he's just being America's accountant and trying to you know be responsible, this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill -- but wasn't paid for. So it's not on the level. And we’ve got to keep on you know, keep on shining a light on that.”
http://blogs.abcnews.com/...
I was a tad surprised when Schieffer hit him so hard so soon about his “personal role” in the deficits and his reckless games with the debt limit. At one point, Ryan rolled his eyes in dismay because he seemed disturbed that “sweet-ole-southern-Bob” would handle him this way.
Regardless of the question, Ryan went to his trusty ole play-book—still whining about how the president "was leaving them out" and Bob challenged him by saying “that’s not what you told Charlie Rose” when you said you wouldn’t sit down with the president—are you ready to sit down now?
Bob should have followed up again but I believe we get the point.
You'll see in the video below that these questions went on and on as Ryan looked like a young child being scolded by his teacher. Bob even challenged him hard about taxes asking him (paraphrasing): “you claim the country is broke, how could you propose to give the richest Americans another tax break?”
Great question Bob.
Interestingly, as I watched the video, I was surprised how frequently Ryan told bald-faced lies. He claimed Obama is trying to raise the tax rates to 44.5% when he full knows that’s simply not true. When Bob put him on the defensive about privatizing Medicare, he lied and claimed his plan stops the dems from “rationing” Medicare.
Wow??
Overall, I’m pleased with the interview because finally one of these Sunday-soft-ball pundits asked decent questions—still not nearly tough enough but clear enough to further expose the truth about the GOP plans.
You see, the real deal is that Paul Ryan is a complete fraud. He was there with tinker-bells on his toes when the deficits were completely out of control. He personally voted for the two wars, the three-trillion-dollar prescription give-away to big pharma and he never said a word. He was screaming about Obama shaving Medicare Part D last year and gave voice to seniors who worried about losing their coverage.
Now he’s leading the surge to completely, destroy Medicare? Child please.
This is his deficit people!!!
I cannot for the life of me understand why these well-meaning conservative voters get duped by these corporate owned con-men like Paul Ryan—over and over again.
Let's keep the pressure on and try to save them from themselves because the polls are showing that nearly half of all Americans have no clue that the GOP voted to destroy Medicare.
A slightly jacked-up video below.
Full-screen to see complete content.