Get the Facts

“Obama has a lot more private sector experience than Paul Ryan”

And so it’s surprising that Romney has picked Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a man who, outside of a job at McDonald’s and a brief stint at a company owned by his family, has hardly any private sector record.

Obama actually worked for private companies for the sum total of 14 years.”

Two issues here:

One, if the comparison is intended to demonstrate that President Obama has a better grasp on the national economy or a Federal budget which hasn’t been passed in over three years, the facts of our current economy demonstrate otherwise.

Secondly, this claim about the president’s biography fits perfectly within the phony narrative of himself that he used to write the first of two fictionalized autobiographies by age 34. In reality, the sum total of Barack Obama’s private sector experience consists of:

One year as a research associate for Business International Corporation in New York City.

Here’s the real story: after what must have been a whirlwind twelve months, Obama left to work as a community organizer; first in New York City, and then Chicago. After three years at Harvard Law, Obama returned to Chicago to become a law lecturer while writing his first book. Later he ran the non-profit Project Vote while serving on the boards of a number of local nonprofit groups.

Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1997, six years after graduating from Harvard Law, spending those years entirely within either the public sector or non-profits. Either ThinkProgress is just as confused as to what the term “private sector” means as the president himself is, or they are just continuing the shameful pattern of lies begun by the president’s own campaign.

Paul Ryan Wants to Eliminate Medicare

We couldn’t credit one particular source for this lie, so allow us to attribute this to essentially every Democrat on planet earth. For example:

"House Republicans’ vote to end Medicare is a shameful act of betrayal." Nancy Pelosi

The ironically-named “Obama Truth Team” claims:

“He would end Medicare as we know it.”

Only Democrats would insist on continuing what is clearly a failing program just so that it can be used to demonize opponents for political gain. Here are some facts:

Our nation is facing historically large deficits for as far as the eye can see. Nothing that President Obama has proposed even addresses this obvious problem.

Medicare spending as a percentage of our GDP is growing much faster than the rest of the federal budget.

By 2040, Medicare spending alone will account for 81% of the projected budget deficit.

Medicare currently faces $26.9 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

Over the next decade, each American’s share of Medicare spending will nearly double.

Recipients receive roughly triple the amount in benefits that they pay into the system. Taxpayers make up the shortfall.

Obamacare will cut $421 billion from Medicare.

Here is Barack Obama’s plan to fix Medicare:

(sound of crickets chirping).

Seniors Won't Support Him

This is another one of our favorites, though it’s possibly more accurate to describe this as a myth instead of a blatant lie (though this is a line that will be used against the campaign over and over).

National Journal is reporting that:

(T)he age group most receptive to House Budget Chair Paul Ryan's plan to deal with the budget - seniors.

The poll finds 48 percent of seniors (those 65 and over) support Ryan's plan over President Obama's plan, while 42 percent back the president.

That's the highest total among the age groups tested - a 47 percent plurality between the ages of 50 and 64 backed Ryan, and a 45 percent plurality of those between 30-49 backed Ryan.

It’s as though people are surprised that seniors would a) not be in favor of seeing their grandchildren crushed by the enormous entitlement debt we are facing, and b) might have an interest in seeing the program that they know so well actually be improved.

Also, as President Obama’s Deputy Campaign Manager admitted, Obama Care actually cuts more than $700 Billion from Medicare. Even Nancy Pelosi admits:

“We took half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in the Affordable Care Act, the health care bill, already, and there's certainly more opportunities for savings in that respect."

So, the next time that someone tells you that senior citizens won’t support Paul Ryan, you can respond with the facts.

Paul Ryan Won't Pass the Farm Bill

The Midwest is currently in the midst of a drought that is truly of Biblical proportions, but don’t pretend to be shocked that Democrats won’t use this suffering for their own political advantage. Here’s what the President told Iowans on Monday:

“The best way to help these states is for leaders in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some long-term certainty. But right now, too many members of Congress are blocking that bill from becoming law. Now, I’m told Governor Romney’s new running mate might be around Iowa these next few days. And he’s one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities. It’s time to put politics aside and pass it right away."

Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki doubled-down on this theme later on, saying:

"Paul Ryan happens to be in Congress, as you may have heard," Psaki said. "And he has not, as far as we can tell, taken steps to move the farm bill forward”

Now, we know that President Obama has been busy out on the campaign trail, but we were under the impression that they had the latest communications equipment on Air Force One. If they had, they would've learned that the House has already passed the bill that the Obama Campaign claims that it won’t. Even better, the bill is actually being held up in the Senate. Yes, the very same Senate currently controlled by Democrats.

We’re not sure if the president doesn’t read any newspapers or if this is just another shameless lie, but now you know the truth.

"Romney says his plan is "the same, if not identical" to Ryan's Plan"

Serious people are unafraid to tackle the serious issues of our time. Unserious people resort to lies and demagoguery because they lack the courage to propose real plans.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are serious people, proven by the fact that they have dared to touch the “third rail” of politics and put forward a workable plan to resolve the coming Medicare insolvency. Instead of putting forth their own proposals, the campaign of President Hopenchange are doing their simply lying.

The latest example is this deceptive edit of a Romney speech. From SooperMexican:

The lie is that Ryan’s plan would change benefits for those 65 and older – it wouldn’t. If you want to see a painful attempt by Debbie Wasserman Shultz to contort the truth into their narrative,watch this exchange between her and Wolf Blitzer.

Today, they added a deceptively edited video [a la Andrea Mitchell] to substantiate their lie.

However, it cuts out the rest of Romney’s comments, mid-sentence. Here’s the transcript via Action 2 News:

Actually, Paul Ryan and my plan for Medicare, I think, is the same if not identical–it’s probably close to identical. Our plan is for people 55 years of age and older. There’s no change. The only change I’d mention for 55 or older is we’d restore the $817 billion President Obama took out of the Medicare trust fund.

"[Paul Ryan] is Not a Pick for Women"

Shortly after Mitt Romney announced that Paul Ryan would be his running mate, discredited journalist Andrea Mitchell had this to say:

“This is not a pick for suburban moms. This is not a pick for women. This is a pick for the base."

Ignoring the obvious question of just when Andrea Mitchell became a spokeswoman for every woman in America, we wondered just which ideas that Rep. Ryan supports are “anti-women”?

Perhaps we should allow a woman to respond, such as Breitbart.com’s Dr. Susan Berry, who writes:

During this economic recession, America’s mothers and small business owners have been cutting spending and their budgets, looking for ways to save money. This is exactly the thinking of Paul Ryan.

Under President Obama, women have fared poorly, with 780,000 more women unemployed than when he took office. Not to mention those women who have had to reduce their hours to part-time. With inflated food and gas prices added into the mix, American women need a leader who understands how the economy works and has real, down-to-earth solutions to fix the problems. What’s President Obama’s answer to the economic problems of America’s women? More food stamps.

The Sandra Flukes of this country have begun a campaign to condemn Paul Ryan. They are bringing out all the “War on Women” phantom artillery. But they will lose, mostly because they seem so ludicrous doing so. You see, American women are smart. And they have their homes, their families, and their businesses on their minds. Not contraception.

So, according to Andrea Mitchell, women won’t support the deeply religious, happily married father of three who wants to see women succeed financially and intends to see that everyone’s children won’t be crushed under the debt burden left by this administration? That a man who understands loss and pain like few others isn’t empathetic to the struggles faced by families from all walks of life?