In March of this year Paul Ryan flat out called U.S Generals liars for backing the presidents pentagon budget which would cut 480 Billion dollars over the course of 10 years.
At a policy summit budget guru Ryan was asked why the GOP budget went against the advice of generals, and increased defense spending:
ROBERTS: Why did the committee choose to go against the advice of the generals?
RYAN: We don’t think the generals are giving us their true advice. We don’t think the generals believe that their budget is really the right budget. I believe that the president’s budget by virtue of the fact that when he released his budget number of about $500 billion, the number was announced at the same time they announced the beginning of their strategy review of the Pentagon’s budget. So what we get from the Pentagon is more of a budget driven strategy, not a strategy driven budget.
So, Paul Ryan, who has never served a in the military, knows better than the US Generals who have been doing this all their lives. He is willing to substitute the facts of their statements that are based in first hand experience for his ideological 'beliefs' (funny, is that not how we ended up in Iraq to begin with?).
In the video above you will notice that when questioned about his disbelief in the generals statements, Ryan evades, throwing out useless talking points:
Obamas hollowing out defense, budget gimmicks, budget smoke and mirrors, etcetc.
The Generals did not take too kindly to having their testimony questioned:
“There’s a difference between having someone say they don’t believe what you said versus … calling us, collectively, liars,” Gen. Dempsey told reporters aboard a U.S. military aircraft after a four day visit to Latin America. ”My response is: I stand by my testimony. This was very much a strategy-driven process to which we mapped the budget.”
Ryan of course had to walk back the remark and claim he 'misspoke'. Disregard the fact that he had a chance to explain himself at the time when questioned further on the remark.
Now we all know that the GOP really do not care about the troops, and only use them as a political tool when convenient. But if for some reason somebody does not believe you, and requires proof:
In the Rep. Ryan version of the 2013 budget subsequently embraced by Gov. Mitt Romney, the word veteran never appears. The budget proposal runs to 98 pages. Zero mention of veterans. Two protracted conflicts, high veteran unemployment and a multitude of coming home issues and not one mention of veterans in this budget proposal. It clearly states that veterans are NOT a priority.
One last bit of irony:
Ryan backed the sequester as part of the 2011 budget agreement.