Paul Ryan is out on the stump calling the President a "failure;" because "he didn't reach across the aisle;" because "he doesn't know how to compromise with those on the other side."
Paul Ryan is out on the stump accusing President of only being about "partisan bitterness" because he has "no bi-partisan solutions."
Mitt Romney is touting Ryan as a champion of "finding that common ground." To which few are yet calling their hollow bluff.
Ryan Bipartisan Image Based More on Style Than Substance
by Bloomberg, businessweek.com -- August 17, 2012
Representative Paul Ryan has shown "an ability to work across the aisle" and "find enough common ground to get things done," Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said this week in introducing his new running mate to Floridians.
While a review of his record shows little evidence that Ryan has teamed with Democrats to pass bipartisan measures into law [...]
Representative Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania, the second-ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee, said Ryan has shown no interest in working with his partisan adversaries, including on a bill modeled after the recommendations of the 2010 bipartisan Bowles-Simpson debt commission on which he served. "He could have reached out and found common ground with Democrats and other Republicans on that," she said.
[...]
Not only did Paul Ryan NOT reach out to the "other side of the Aisle" --
he actively led the opposition, when Obama's grand compromise was actively in the works. They're counting on the public not recalling this little tactic that
resulted in the downgrading our once sterling credit rating ...
Ryan Helped Derail Simpson-Bowles Plan Romney Now Sees as Model
by Heidi Przybyla, Bloomberg News, businessweek.com -- August 13, 2012
Representative Paul Ryan was a pivotal figure in killing the 2010 Bowles-Simpson agreement, which Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney now holds out as a model for putting America’s fiscal house in order.
The 18-member panel needed 14 votes to send a 10-year plan to trim the debt to Congress for a vote. As his party’s then- ranking member on the House Budget Committee, Ryan led a bloc of three House Republicans who denied the additional votes needed.
[...]
That's called road-blocking hypocrisy, Mitt -- that's called
cynical disdain for two-party government --
it's NOT called "compromising".
Then again with the GOP, cooperation when it does happen is usually only about a millimeter deep ...
Ryan’s Bipartisanship Record Shows More Civility Than Compromise
by Elizabeth Dwoskin,Bloomberg News, businessweek.com -- August 23, 2012
[...]
The bipartisanship argument is one voters have heard for years. The Romney campaign is betting it’ll have particular appeal in an election year when congressional approval ratings are at record lows. There’s only one problem: The assertions don’t track with the lawmaker’s 13-year congressional career, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its Aug. 27 issue.
On paper, Ryan, 42, appears slightly more bipartisan than some of his colleagues, according to GovTrack.us, which studies congressional voting records. Of the 975 bills he has co-sponsored, 22 percent were introduced by Democrats -- a statistic the campaign has highlighted.
Yet most of these weren’t instances of compromise so much as examples of Ryan getting behind issues that had broad support among both parties -- such as sanctions against Iran -- or were relatively minor, like changing the timetable for excise taxes paid by manufacturers of firearms.
[...]
Paul Ryan is hardly
the carrier of "olive branches" that he is now, making himself out to be. What's not being mentioned is that Paul Ryan is one of the
original instigators who designed and implemented the idea of the "
Party of No." Guess that wouldn't be "polite" or "fair" in some political playbooks. Leave the bare-knuckles mud-slinging to the cynical Cretans.
What follows in an insider's spotlight on the GOP Pact that would sabotage the American Economy, throw cynical sand stones into the gears of government -- all so these supposed Republican "patriots" might win in 2012.
Guess what -- it was NOT a bi-partisan Pact that Paul Ryan took part in. Nope this was simply a window into the dark soul of the GOP. An insight into how they REALLY view the purpose of Governing ... (as if we needed anymore.)
The Romney-Ryan team are also counting on the public not recalling this little GOP planning meeting, as well as Ryan's voting record. Paul Ryan who? he was never there ...
Secret meeting to take down Obama exposed
The Last Word -- April 26, 2012
link to entire clip
On Obama's inauguration day, Congressional Republican leadership held a secret meeting where they agreed to oppose President Obama on every economic proposal according to Robert Draper's new book.
Transcript of the key snippet above. Lawrence O'Donnell:
Harry Reid's Democratic plan for the Student Loan fix is to pay for it by closing a corporate tax loophole. Now that the president has forced the Republicans to agree in principle on the Student Loan fix, we will no doubt have a few weeks of inter-party wrangling, over exactly how to pay for it.
We now know when the Congressional Republicans decided to oppose and obstruct every single thing that President Obama has tried to do. It was in a secret meeting that occurred the day President Obama was inaugurated.
Robert Draper's new book, Do Not Ask What Good We Do -- Inside the U.S. House of Representatives, details a meeting that took place on inauguration day, among leaders of the Republican Party -- including Eric Cantor, and Paul Ryan, and the disgraced former Republican speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; Along with Republican communications adviser Frank Luntz, who organized the event.
According to Robert Draper's book, after 4 hours everyone agreed on the path forward for the Republican Party:
Show united and unyielding opposition to the President's economic policies.
Win the spear point of the House in 2010.
Jab Obama relentlessly in 2011.
Win the White House and the Senate in 2012.
"You will remember this day," Newt Gingrich proclaimed to the others as they said goodbye. "You'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown."
Paul Ryan's rhetorical "ideal of compromise" left the building --
on day one.
Paul Ryan took their oath -- NOT to let Obama accomplish a single bi-partisan thing.
Remember that GOP Pact, Mr. Nice-Guy Ryan?
What Republicans have done in obstructing and blocking everything President Obama has put forward, is NOT called compromising folks -- but rather that's called the epitome of contempt and cynicism for balanced Government.
If Dems would have treated President Bush with the same disrespect, we would have never heard the end of it, from the party who has now turned "uncompromising bitterness" into their everyday SOP.
To the Bully goes the spoils of victory, right Mitt -- especially if they can convince enough People now, the GOP is all about Governing; smart Governing; pro-business Governing; getting-things-done Governing.
Given their No-Honesty, No-Accountability track record -- they just might pull it off.
Especially if no one calls BS on the GOP's unfounded "getting-things-done" claim. Anyone? Anyone besides Lawrence?