The Drive By Media is running wild right now with the stories from Florida about how Ryan is going to be toxic down there because of his Medicare plan and general attitude towards entitlements. There is no path to 270 for Romney that doesn't include Florida, so I have to wonder now more than ever how Rubio was passed over when the state is so vital to his chances. Hadn't thought about that angle with Ryan, but they had better get on top of that quickly because they can't lose Florida under any circumstance and you can bet that BHO is going to blanket the airwaves with images of Ryan pushing Granny over the edge of the cliff in her wheel chair.

IggyPride00;1245640 wrote:The Drive By Media is running wild right now with the stories from Florida about how Ryan is going to be toxic down there because of his Medicare plan and general attitude towards entitlements. There is no path to 270 for Romney that doesn't include Florida, so I have to wonder now more than ever how Rubio was passed over when the state is so vital to his chances. Hadn't thought about that angle with Ryan, but they had better get on top of that quickly because they can't lose Florida under any circumstance and you can bet that BHO is going to blanket the airwaves with images of Ryan pushing Granny over the edge of the cliff in her wheel chair.

I thought they were on top of it yesterday with their pointing out that Barry has ALREADY stolen $700,000,000,000 from Medicare through the fabulous Affordable Care Act. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blood-on-their-hands-rnc-chair-hits-back-at-obama-camp-over-medicare-cuts/

David, if we do nothing and if we go down the road that this president wants to go down… Medicare will be changed forever as we know it. It’ll be bankrupt by 2024. Medicare is going broke. Every person in America watching this now knows that that’s true. This president stole– he didn’t cut Medicare– he stole $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare. If any person in this entire debate has blood on their hands in regard to Medicare, it’s Barack Obama. He‘s the one that’s destroying Medicare.We are the ones that are offering solutions as to how to, number one, preserve Medicare for seniors that are at or near retirement, and, number two, figure out a way the make sure that for future generations– we‘re talking about if you’re 54 or younger, how to save Medicare and Social Security.

The key point to drive home to those living in heaven's waiting room is that Ryan's plan does not affect anyone 55 or older. Whenever they are asked about it, this should be the first sentence out of their mouths and the last sentence in their answer.

^^ BG, there was a good clip of this already being debated on Meet The Press.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/08/12/national-reviews-rich-lowry-destroys-msnbcs-rachel-maddow-meet-press#ixzz23LfPVrnA

Repubs trying to sell us on Ryan overcoming childhood loss of his Dad...truth is the old man ran a huge construction business and yeah its tough to lose a parent as a teenager, I'm sure the big inheritance helped soothe the pain. Irish Catholics need to be very wary of this guy, he's not Shanty Irish as he wants you to believe, he's Lace Curtain Irish and those are the worst kind.

Great choice by Mr. Romney. We now have another adult in the room who is young, smart, articulate, and energized about telling the truth to Americans and then truly solving our nations bankrupt social programs, and fixing our deficits and debt problems.

He will make an excellent vice-president.

IggyPride00;1245640 wrote:The Drive By Media is running wild right now with the stories from Florida about how Ryan is going to be toxic down there because of his Medicare plan and general attitude towards entitlements. There is no path to 270 for Romney that doesn't include Florida, so I have to wonder now more than ever how Rubio was passed over when the state is so vital to his chances. Hadn't thought about that angle with Ryan, but they had better get on top of that quickly because they can't lose Florida under any circumstance and you can bet that BHO is going to blanket the airwaves with images of Ryan pushing Granny over the edge of the cliff in her wheel chair.

In other words, they need to overcome a barrage of lies and distortions from the mainstream media and Democrat campaigns. Same as every election cycle.

QuakerOats;1245837 wrote:Great choice by Mr. Romney. We now have another adult in the room who is young, smart, articulate, and energized about telling the truth to Americans and then truly solving our nations bankrupt social programs, and fixing our deficits and debt problems.

He will make an excellent vice-president.

You mean we now have another career politician in the room who doesn't have an F'n clue as to how the rest of us make a living everyday.

QuakerOats;1245837 wrote: and fixing our deficits and debt problems.

He will make an excellent vice-president.

Amazing. Paul Ryan's Roadmap for America's Future added $60 trillion to national debt and didn't balance the budget until the 2060's. His revised plan the path to prosperity which passed the house didn't balance the budget until the 2030's while adding $6 trillion to the national debt this decade. Additionally, he just shifts the costs to beneficiaries with no evidence that costs will be controlled. Furthermore, those budgets had outrageous projections such as 3% unemployment.

Paul Ryan is not a fiscal conservative and he's not a truth teller and he's just as unqualified for high executive office as Barack Obama was.

BGFalcons82;1245731 wrote: The key point to drive home to those living in heaven's waiting room is that Ryan's plan does not affect anyone 55 or older. Whenever they are asked about it, this should be the first sentence out of their mouths and the last sentence in their answer.

Exactly something you would do if you were trying to pass something terrible. If an inadequate medicare voucher is going to be good enough for me why isn't it going to be good enough for Mitt Romney or anybody else over 55?

BGFalcons82;1245731 wrote:I thought they were on top of it yesterday with their pointing out that Barry has ALREADY stolen $700,000,000,000 from Medicare through the fabulous Affordable Care Act. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/blood-on-their-hands-rnc-chair-hits-back-at-obama-camp-over-medicare-cuts/

Amazing. Democrats get started on some real cost control with medicare in the ACA without putting those costs on the beneficiaries and Republicans have the audacity to complain.

BoatShoes;1245924 wrote:Exactly something you would do if you were trying to pass something terrible. If an inadequate medicare voucher is going to be good enough for me why isn't it going to be good enough for Mitt Romney or anybody else over 55?

Like Romney is going to trust any major medical problems of his own to some quacks here in the states. That SOB would be on his private plane to Switzerland so fast the cancer would have jet lag.

Tiernan;1245770 wrote:Repubs trying to sell us on Ryan overcoming childhood loss of his Dad...truth is the old man ran a huge construction business and yeah its tough to lose a parent as a teenager, I'm sure the big inheritance helped soothe the pain. Irish Catholics need to be very wary of this guy, he's not Shanty Irish as he wants you to believe, he's Lace Curtain Irish and those are the worst kind.

What an awful piece of S### thing to say, as if the feeling of loss of a parent is dependent on how much money one has. This is so typically democrat....more class warfare in its naked ugliness. Doesn't your side have anything else to run on? How about "Hope and Change"....er no...that's not working so well.

I'm still trying to figure out this selection. One one hand it appears that Mitt is appeasing the right-wing base of the party in order to show them he's "one of them". On the other hand, it's real obvious that he is desperate to get the whole tax return issue on the back burner and the Ryan selection can do that for him. I think he is gambling that the debate over Ryan's budget proposal will be easier to deal with than his tax returns. It's a bold move, to be sure.

I don't think it does anything to help him in battleground states, especially in those with larger percentages of senior or near-senior voters (read Florida, Pennsylvania). In truth, none of the so-called front-runners would help him in any state other than their own.

I'm wondering if Ryan was Romney's original choice or whether he was pressured to "go right".

I guess we'll find out whether it was a wise choice or not come November.

HitsRus;1245955 wrote: Doesn't your side have anything else to run on? QUOTE]

Not "my side" Sparky...I'm an Anarchist and would love to see ALL career politicians strung up like Mussolini.

Oh, now I understand! You are still a piece of S### for posting that garbage.

P.s....please try not to take out your frustrations on somebody's church, OK?

Repubs trying to sell us on Ryan overcoming childhood loss of his Dad...truth is the old man ran a huge construction business and yeah its tough to lose a parent as a teenager, I'm sure the big inheritance helped soothe the pain.

Actually, the liberal websites are lambasting him as a hypocrite on that story because they are going wild about the fact he happily accepted the Social Security money after his father's death until he was 18, but now (according to them) wants to gut the program so others in the future won't be as fortunate as he was in the event of an early loss of a parent.

They have the attack dogs out in full force no matter how unsightly the allegations.

The race is officially on now, and neither side is going to leave any stone unturned in an effort to out smear the opponent.

BoatShoes;1245924 wrote:Exactly something you would do if you were trying to pass something terrible. If an inadequate medicare voucher is going to be good enough for me why isn't it going to be good enough for Mitt Romney or anybody else over 55?

Something terrible, eh? What if we do nothing? What happens to the system around 2024? It will cease to be, that's what will happen. Is that better or worse than what Ryan has proposed? Based on yours and the Obamabot's statements to date, losing it is better.

So, here comes Mr. Ryan with an idea. I'm sure it can be modified, but the whole idea is to keep medicare, although it's form will change. As he states, he'd rather have 50,000,000 people choosing what plan is best for them rather than Obama's 15 appointed bureucrats pontificating what will be in place for the masses. It comes down to the fundamental question again: Do people want individuals to be in charge or would they rather have every health decision mandated from the guys hiding behind the faux Greek columns?

Lastly, it is the absolute TRUTH Ryan's plan does NOT AFFECT ANYONE OVER 55. I'll go along with your idea that federal workers should be treated like the rest of us lackeys in fly-over country. With the federal government unions and the Postal Union, what are the odds on that happening? Like I wrote, the 55 and over floor criteria needs to be said over and over and over and over to make sure those that continue to misunderstand and mischaracterize it are made mute.

BoatShoes;1245924 wrote:Exactly something you would do if you were trying to pass something terrible. If an inadequate medicare voucher is going to be good enough for me why isn't it going to be good enough for Mitt Romney or anybody else over 55?

I don't think it's a question of whether it's good enough or not--I see the "no changes for those over 55" as a political move and a reasonable compromise to get something done. If you're 30, you still have some time to adjust to changing realities and plan, but massive changes at 70 can be more disruptive. I don't think it's a perfect solution, but as far as political realities go, it seems reasonable.

Rep. Ryan represents my district in WI. He attends church with Mrs. FFT's parents. By all accounts, he's a solid, sincere, honest guy. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.

As an aside, he walked in our 4th of July parade last year, and we almost had him take a picture with the C-Monster, but didn't want the police gunning us down if we came sprinting out of the crowd toward him. In person, he's surprisingly tall, built, and good-looking, which I think will play over well with many of the voters (for the same reason that Obama had a built in charisma edge over McCain).

BGFalcons82;1246013 wrote:Something terrible, eh? What if we do nothing? What happens to the system around 2024? It will cease to be, that's what will happen. Is that better or worse than what Ryan has proposed? Based on yours and the Obamabot's statements to date, losing it is better.

So, here comes Mr. Ryan with an idea. I'm sure it can be modified, but the whole idea is to keep medicare, although it's form will change. As he states, he'd rather have 50,000,000 people choosing what plan is best for them rather than Obama's 15 appointed bureucrats pontificating what will be in place for the masses. It comes down to the fundamental question again: Do people want individuals to be in charge or would they rather have every health decision mandated from the guys hiding behind the faux Greek columns?

Lastly, it is the absolute TRUTH Ryan's plan does NOT AFFECT ANYONE OVER 55. I'll go along with your idea that federal workers should be treated like the rest of us lackeys in fly-over country. With the federal government unions and the Postal Union, what are the odds on that happening? Like I wrote, the 55 and over floor criteria needs to be said over and over and over and over to make sure those that continue to misunderstand and mischaracterize it are made mute.

Well, we shouldn't do nothing...we just shouldn't bother with something that has no evidence that it's going to solve the problem.

You don't seem to understand what the problem is. You look at the federal budget and you see a large outlay for medicare and thing shifting that outlay to beneficiaries will make everything better because it's no longer a part of the federal budget. This couldn't be more incorrect.

The problem is an unsustainable course of healthcare costs. This happens to affect medicare.

Medicare, however, has done a better job than our pilot voucher programs in controlling costs. So, if we care about evidence, putting Paul Ryan's plan into place merely shifts the costs and doesn't offer any way to control the real problem of exploding healthcare costs and so the unsustainable course for our economy as a whole continues and probably gets here faster, despite mildly rosier budget outlook.

Then, never mind that any savings from this would be blown on a $5-$6trillion tax cut.

But let's get this straight, you're claiming medicare will cease to be in 2024 yet whining about parts of the ACA that attempt to make sure that doesn't happen and instead proposing a premature elimination of the program anyway. LoL.

BoatShoes;1246025 wrote:Well, we shouldn't do nothing...we just shouldn't bother with something that has no evidence that it's going to solve the problem.

You don't seem to understand what the problem is. You look at the federal budget and you see a large outlay for medicare and thing shifting that outlay to beneficiaries will make everything better because it's no longer a part of the federal budget. This couldn't be more incorrect.

The problem is an unsustainable course of healthcare costs. This happens to affect medicare.

Well, we agree on one thing. Healthcare costs are rising. Obama has made a silly attempt at "controlling costs" - which NEVER work and believes the almighty federal government is best equipped to control costs by controlling what plans are available, what services are necessary or not (don't get old!), and mandating what will be paid for services. I believe he wants the ACA to fail (because he said it will take 10 to 15 years) such that big daddy single-payer will be necessary to save the day, but that's for another thread. We are in a terminable loop with other posters in that the only way to reduce costs are to minimize the inputs of third-party providers. That's how costs are controlled, not by the heavy hand of Our Dear Leader, Kathleen Sebelius, and the IRS.

BoatShoes;1246025 wrote:Medicare, however, has done a better job than our pilot voucher programs in controlling costs. So, if we care about evidence, putting Paul Ryan's plan into place merely shifts the costs and doesn't offer any way to control the real problem of exploding healthcare costs and so the unsustainable course for our economy as a whole continues and probably gets here faster, despite mildly rosier budget outlook.

Then, never mind that any savings from this would be blown on a $5-$6trillion tax cut.

But let's get this straight, you're claiming medicare will cease to be in 2024 yet whining about parts of the ACA that attempt to make sure that doesn't happen and instead proposing a premature elimination of the program anyway. LoL.

Shifting cost control to the doctor-patient relationship is the answer. This is part of what he's proposing. There are millions of Americans that believe people are too stupid to obtain their own healthcare, so we're left with either insurance carriers or Our Dear Leader to provide it for them. And here we are.

Healthcare costs are rising because we subsidize the cost for the entire world.

We are the only country that doesn't have government imposed prices controls essentially, so we pay through the nose to subsidize the profits corporations can't make anywhere else.

That is the dirty little secret.

A pill that might cost a $1 in Canada costs $20 here because because we have to pay for the lost profit margin from countries all over the world. For better or worse that is the way the system works.

The profit motive has led to tremendous strides and discoveries in medicine, but we can't continue to eat the cost for the entire world indefinitely.

No one ever talks about it ( as Willard would say, it is the kind of thing that should be discussed in quiet rooms) but it is the raping and pillaging of the American people by the healthcare industry that is driving up costs at an unsustainable pace.

It is easy to blame it on government, but whether government is involved or not it doesn't change that as long as we are the only free market in the world for health care we will continue to getting stuck with an unsustainable rise in prices. As long as companies are accountable to shareholders to create wealth, they will raise prices as much as necessary on us because there is no where else they can to help even things out.

Figure out how to solve that problem and most everything else will start falling into place.

I like President Rommey pick ..VP Paul Ryan This will make the voting simple for the American People

One ticket RR : Republic Conservative American Values and Prosperity Party
or
Obama and Biden OB : Democrat Socialist Entitlement Want Be Europe Party

HitsRus;1245955 wrote:How about "Hope and Change"....er no...that's not working so well.

Well it's about to win them two consecutive Presidential elections, so it must not be too bad a strategy.

The idea that anyone 55 and older can opt for traditional Medicare is ridiculous, and the reasoning can be found in the Republicans' arguments that Medicare will run out of money by 2024.

Let's say the Ryan budget is approved by a Republican Congress and signed by President Romney sometime in 2013. Anyone who is 55 next year will have to wait until 2023 before they are eligible to receive benefits. If the system is set to run out of funding in 2024 how in the world can all these people expect to have benefits waiting for them one year after they are eligible?

The answer is simple: their benefits will be cut drastically or they will have to go on the voucher system the Ryan budget calls for. Either way the whole "55 and older" argument is a lie.

Republicans have been searching for years on ways to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and they now think they have found the perfect excuse.

One more thing: these programs are called entitlement programs because individuals were taxed over their entire working history. Once they reach the eligible age requirement, they are entitled to those benefits. It isn't a freaking handout, as so many righties and teabaggers would have you think, they are goods and services which were purchased over a lifetime of working.

Medicare costs are 6x what people have put in. So, yeah, it's a handout.