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Excerpt: "Remember Rosie Ruiz? In 1980 she was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon - except it turned out that she hadn't actually run most of the race, that she sneaked onto the course around a mile from the end. ... Paul Ryan is the Rosie Ruiz of American politics."

Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09.  (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)
Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09. (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)


Rosie Ruiz Republicans

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times

03 September 12

 

Remember Rosie Ruiz? In 1980 she was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon - except it turned out that she hadn't actually run most of the race, that she sneaked onto the course around a mile from the end. Ever since, she has symbolized a particular kind of fraud, in which people claim credit for achieving things they have not, in fact, achieved.

And these days Paul Ryan is the Rosie Ruiz of American politics.

This would have been an apt comparison even before the curious story of Mr. Ryan’s own marathon came to light. Still, that’s quite a story, so let’s talk about it first.

go to original article

 

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+55 # CAMUS1111 2012-09-03 07:01
Paul Ryan–the fascist marathon runner of them all… (and a fitting running mate for Mitt the Sh*t)
 
 
+23 # Texas Aggie 2012-09-03 08:41
That moniker is clever. I hope you don't mind if I borrow it occasionally.
 
 
+51 # Barbara K 2012-09-03 07:03
The blatant lies and dishonesty of Lyin' Rian should be a warning to us all of what is to come. When neither candidate shows such blatant dishonesty before the election, why should anyone believe they would be good for us or our country? They have no honor, are shameless, greedy, tax dodging Romneyhoods. Not good for us, not good for OUR country. DON'T vote Republican at any level, so we can get some states cleaned out too.

DO VOTE, our livelihoods depend on it, don't ever set out another election and let this happen to us again.
 
 
+11 # Barbara K 2012-09-03 10:27
Here is a link to the promises that the President was able to fulfill:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/rulings/promise-kept/
 
 
+19 # doneasley 2012-09-03 11:02
Quoting Barbara K:
The blatant lies and dishonesty of Lyin' Rian should be a warning to us all of what is to come...


You know, Barb, I don't believe Rmoney knew what he was getting into when he selected Lyin' Ryan. Ryan's speech was the most shameless display I've ever seen from a politician. Why and when did they decide that they would build their campaign on lies, just lies? Rmoney's speech was a lot of pablum with lies interspersed, but nothing like the Lyin' Man. Wow! I couldn't believe what I was listening to. Even some of the Fox News pundits and other Regressive media came down on Ryan.

Rmoney bought into the Ryan budget, but he didn't realize that the Lyin' Dog had fleas - Right Wing Todd Akin fleas. He didn't know that Akin's cruel abortion legislation was cosponsored by his boyish-faced Veep pick. Rmoney began to backpedal as soon as he got on the deck of the Wisconsin with The Liar, and he's been backpedaling ever since. But he's stuck now, he can't clean the Ryan dung off his shoes.

Lyin' Ryan claims he's going to save Medicare, but if you know these Regressives, they attack your strength with lies. Tell me how you save money by sifting Medicare funds thru a private insurer? You mean he's NOT gonna take his cut? To say nothing about all the other programs they plan to obliterate.

Smoke and mirrors, folks... SMOKE AND MIRRORS!!
 
 
+17 # Barbara K 2012-09-03 13:57
doneasley: I agree, I don't think Romneyhood even knows what is in the Lyin Ryan budget. People keep asking Romneyhood for his plan. Truth is he has no plan, he will be bowing to the whims and wishes of the Kochs and Roves, after all they only wanted "someone to sign the papers". A vote for Romneyhood is a vote for the Kochs and Roves of the country. I hope realize that soon.
 
 
+10 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:25
Twit Robme is the weak one in this unholy alliance just like Darth Vader and Dubya.
Dubya wasn't the one pulling all of the strings; Darth Vader has been implicated as the mastermind behind the green velvet curtain. And so it will be with Robme and Lyin'Ryan if we let them get in.
 
 
+16 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:23
I can't see where any other running mate would be any better than Lyin'Ryan. They are all cut from the same bolt of deplorable cloth. Would Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann or Chris Christie or Ralph Reed be a better choice? No matter where you look in that party, we find misfits, alcoholics, liars, cheats and thieves. The Republican Party has become the party of liars. And why? Answer: to cover up what they are really all about.
 
 
+11 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:18
How could we expect anything less from Lyin'Ryan? He is a proponent of Ayn Rand and he belongs to the RethugliCON Party; the party of liars.
 
 
+27 # Dumbledorf 2012-09-03 07:40
Paul Ryan make Andrew Breitbart look reputable.
 
 
+5 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 09:41
The right wing is now using the term "Breitbarted" for journalists taken out by Obama for digging up dirt on him,
 
 
+10 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:26
Non of them on the Right look reputable; it's a race to the bottom for all of them.
 
 
-97 # ReadyForChange 2012-09-03 07:41
So we have in Krugman another Obama apologist whose mantra is classic Democrat economics - throw a ton of money at a problem and hope you get some kind of result, never mind that you're printing fiat money to pay for these programs. Ryan dares to tell the American people that this approach hasn't worked, won't work and if implemented again, will lead the country down a disastrous road, and he's villified? Who's BSing whom?
Someone explain to me how Ryan has lied to the American people. Does anybody truly believe that Medicare and Medicaid are viable programs, that Social Security will remain solvent over the next 25 years, that we as a nation can continue to spend 3 trillion a year when revenues amount to maybe 2 trillion a year, while creating more and more entitlement programs that are not in themselves revenue-enhanci ng, and not reach the point where we become truly insolvent as a nation? It's delusional to think this practice won't come back to haunt us, and this "economist" should and does know better.
 
 
+43 # Todd Williams 2012-09-03 08:33
Apparently, Redy For Change, you didn't read the article. Your Rethug talking points are so ingrained, you cannot tell reality. You, sir, are like the Manchurican Candidate; programmed to respond when turned on by your master. Learn to think for yourself, it's fun and rewarding!
 
 
+60 # Texas Aggie 2012-09-03 08:48
You might want to check with Fox who also gave a list of the lies that Ryan made in his speech. There were numerous commentators of all sorts from Fox to NBC pointing out the "errors of fact" in his pants-on-fire speech.

If you think that Medicare and Medicaid cannot be made viable without cutting services, what does that say about your estimation of American ingenuity? Somehow every other country in the industrialized world has managed to institute programs much superior to Medicare and Medicaid at less than half the cost. Why are Americans the only people who can't figure out how to do it?

And, by the way, the CBO thinks that SS will be around for a lot more than 25 years. What do you know that they don't?
 
 
+32 # lexy677 2012-09-03 08:51
@ReadyForChange : You are so confused and misinformed.... .on SO MANY levels as to render your questions unanswerable... ..unless of course one has a couple "free years" to educate you. Good grief!!!
 
 
+44 # coberly 2012-09-03 08:54
Ready

you are confusing your stongly held opinions with actually knowing what you are talking about.

Social Security will remain solvent forever. With no changes at all. It is paid for by the workers who will get the benefits. If they are going to live longer than their grandparents they might want to pay a little more for their longer retirements. An extra forty cents per week each year will cover the famous "shortfall" you hear so much about.

Social Security is exactly "revenue-enhanc ing"... it "enhances" its own revenue.

I am pretty sure the rest of your opinions are based on ignorance, but Social Security I KNOW about.
 
 
+28 # LeeBlack 2012-09-03 09:24
It's the Karl Rove / Joseph Goebbles formula - tell a lie often enough and people start to believe it.
 
 
+12 # kelly 2012-09-03 11:13
I said that the other day and it's true but I was reminded that the first person who said it was Samuel L. Clemens, Mark Twain.
 
 
+3 # LeeBlack 2012-09-04 10:53
I didn't say Goebbles was first but knowing that Clemens was the first is an interesting historical note.
 
 
+6 # George D 2012-09-03 16:01
Sadly, the lies are known to be lies by everyone. America is so divided that the lies are told to each other to just make one side feel better about their ignorance.
Another quote; "You can't handle the truth". The "truth" is that nobody CARES about what's true; Only what's "accepted, endorsed and repeated as "true" by "their" side.
That's why I no longer try to educate anyone on the right. I live by another quote:
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig".

So how do "we" get the "kids" out to vote again this time around? Obama LOST every demographic except the black vote and the YOUTH. Absent the youth vote, we would have McCain in the White House and be in Iran by now; And, nobody would give a rats ass about the deficit, I guarantee you. And there would be no such thing as a "tea-party".
 
 
+6 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:56
You've lost your faith in what you can accomplish. Are you really going to stand back and let the liars have the field by default? Why give them an easy win?

Okay, so you feel like you are talking to the wind (in the case of the Right, you are) but I believe the winds of change are blowing and people are beginning to have a taste of what the arrogant, selfish Right has in store for us all (and it's not pretty), and just like the woman whose sign read, "Keep your government paws off my Medicare," one day the Right-wing minions will realize that Medicare IS a government program designed to help not hurt, just like so many other programs put into place by caring people, and as they get older, they are going to be wanting and needing those programs, and then the Right-wing blood suckers will get the sack.
 
 
+5 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:49
Only, that formula doesn't work any more. It is predicated on the premise that people won't make the effort to find the truth but we on the Left are natural born truth seekers, and we have been doing the work so we can't be fooled any more; our internal guidance system has detected toxic BS and our red needles are slamming the red line on the BS-ometer.

Only the Right is flying on not allowing fact checkers to influence them (how dumb and stupid is that? That right there should tell you something important.)

We on the Left demand the truth and will make the effort to have it... like, where are those Robme Income Tax Returns they are hiding over there?
 
 
+25 # BlueReview 2012-09-03 09:39
"Someone explain to me how Ryan has lied to the American people."

"Food stamps have quadrupled over the last ten years, and that’s in excess of the recession." From 2000 to 2008, before the recession began, spending on food stamps (otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) went from $18.3 billion to $39.3 billion — barely doubling. By 2011, it had increased to $77.6 billion. That is closer to a quadrupling from 2000, but this includes the effects of the recession.

Shuttered General Motors plant is “one more broken promise.” Ryan described a GM plant that closed down in his hometown, Janesville, Wisconsin, and blamed Obama for breaking his promise to keep the plant open when he visited during his campaign. But Obama never made that promise, and the plant shut down in December 2008, before Obama even took office.

“$716 billion, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” Ryan’s favorite lie is a deliberate distortion of Obamacare’s savings from eliminating inefficiencies. Furthermore, Ryan’s own plan for Medicare includes these savings. Romney has vowed to restore these cuts, which would render the trust fund insolvent 8 years ahead of schedule.

Since RSN only allows 1500 characters, here's where you can find a few more:

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_ryans_brazen_lies/
 
 
+15 # NAVYVET 2012-09-03 10:04
Our trillions are spent on war. Get your priorities straight! You are NO economist, you're as fake as Rosie and Ryan.
 
 
+7 # maddave 2012-09-03 10:05
He/she who is deaf, dumb and blind has one great advantage over arrogant orthodox ignoramuses who neither listen nor see what is all around them:

he/she is not inclined toward makeing foolish, half-witted statements.
 
 
+9 # kelly 2012-09-03 11:09
So we have another denier who doesn't really want this explained to him/her even though he/she asked how Ryan lied.It has been documented...ev en someone on Fox News said his speech reached new levels of lying. The question should be:
Can someone please explain how any of the American people still believe this swill the Republicans are throwing out? Time and time again they have lost the fact check war and still people cling to their starry-eyed vision of a Father Knows Best world that truly NEVER existed. There are several delusions here, one that a world they want "to return to" ever really existed, two, Obama caused all the problems we face today and should have fixed everything and made the world rosy in 3 1/2 years, and three, R and R will take us to OZ, only there will be no witch, no ill health only one wizard and many, many munchkins blindly following along. Oh, and better ask Ryan if it's really bad for a Harvard lawyer to be in the White House...I loved that. Romney's law degree--what a joke, I suppose he wanted to know the bankruptcy laws.
 
 
+8 # James Smith 2012-09-03 11:19
Social Security and Medicare would be in fine financial fetter if the congress stopped illegally raiding those funds for other purposes. Yes, Democrats are guilty, too. DOes that make it right for the Republicans to do it, too?
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 17:40
The problem with you is that you have accepted certain premises that are false and are building your argument from there.

We on the Left deal in facts. You on the Right delude yourselves by thinking that your leaders are honest brokers and aren't taking you down the garden path.

You on the Right don't like to do the hard work of educating yourselves. You like to be entertained by boisterous buffoons like Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Drudge, Savage, etc., but you avoid the hard work of rolling up your sleeves and finding out the truth; it takes years of paying attention and you don't practice having an attention span longer than a thirty-second sound bite.

You know nothing about what's really going on. You just pray at the feet of your leaders and because they have a lot of money, you think they are right. But big fortunes are built on big crimes, and you have to make up your mind what kind of a person you want to be: a wannabe rich crook, or a man of integrity who earns his way in the world without destroying everything he touches. And remember: Everything comes with a price tag attached to it.

We on the Left have made our choice and we have had to pay the prices for that decision. But life is a funny thing; truth, love, justice, balance, fair play and integrity always seem to win overall in the end.
 
 
+2 # Alice 2012-09-04 06:19
For some reason, the conservatives feel that only spending for social programs deserves cutting - never the wars, never the military. If we make the necessary defense cuts, which are puny cuts and can be achieved merely by cutting some (and why not all) of the weapons programs geared toward 20th century wars, it will not even be noticed except by some earmarking congresspeople. Social Security, however, can be saved forever by a mere tweak of the cap. The current cap should be removed. Capital Gains taxes should be taxed as income, as they originally were, since that is what they are. We will continue to have horrible deficits if the wealthy pay no real price to enjoy the freedoms our young people are dying for. There are easy and honest solutions, unless you are fundraising while running for office...
 
 
+1 # genej101 2012-09-04 09:28
"So we have in Krugman another Obama apologist whose mantra is classic Democrat economics - throw a ton of money at a problem and hope you get some kind of result, never mind that you're printing fiat money to pay for these programs."
So - you left out some information. Keynsian Economics is what FDR used to get us out of the Great Depression. Nixon used the same principles and said we are all Keynsians now. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. and George W. all used the same principles, sound economic principles. Dick Cheney said in 2001, the deficit doesn't matter, we have to get the economy moving. Only now that Obama is President are Republicans against policies they have always themselves followed. I call that hypocritcal. Austerity programs make recessions into depressions and THAT is what the Ryan budget would do. The Republican party is more interested in partisanship even if that means tanking the American economy than in fixing it. You stimulate until you have the economy running smoothly, THEN you deal with the deficit. Stopping the recession is first and getting people back to work then we deal with the deficit. Do a little research and learn that until now, Republicans have ALWAYS used these same principles. Why not now? Good question but no good answer.
 
 
-3 # jtatu 2012-09-04 13:45
Most of you will probably be proud of the fact that the U.S. reached a major milestone today. Our national debt broke through the $16 trillion, that's $16,000,000,000 ,000, mark.
Think Greece, Spain, Italy. Do you people that disagree with ReadyForChange really think this is sustainable?
 
 
+44 # LeeBlack 2012-09-03 07:50
Never mentioned in the Romney/Ryan medical proposals is the issue of pre-existing conditions. No matter how many vouchers you have no insurance company would take you if you had a pre-existing condition.
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:01
Bingo!
 
 
+27 # Regina 2012-09-03 08:02
R&R (no, I'm not referring to "Rest and Recreation!") would be atrocities if they represented themselves honestly. Since they're dishonest as well as deranged, they must be denied the power they're gunning for. Make that Reverse and Reject.
 
 
+13 # maddave 2012-09-03 08:06
As I recall, the immensely popular Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Jeremy Boorda went home one afternoon and shot himself dead over the revelation that he had not, earned a tiny, brass "V" that he wore on Bronze Star medal - which he DID earn ... a situation that many believe may have been an honest mistake.

Now---regardless of whether Paul Ryan's one hour "error" was due to a memory lapse OR due to a flaw in his character ---one certainly does NOT suggest that prospective VP Ryan show his remorse quite as dramatically as did Admiral Boorda, but . . . . Well, we have a right to (italics) SOMETHING (end italics) by way of a public explanation/exp iation, don't you think?

On the other hand, maybe all marathon runners forget their having run that last hour/seven miles in competition.
 
 
+20 # HarryP 2012-09-03 08:56
It is inconceivable that the "error" was due to memory lapse. Every marathon runner will tell you the day, time, splits, weather, etc. It took me five tries to break 3 hours and I remember the time to the last second 36 years ago.
With apologies to me daughter, I have a more vivid recollection of that marathon than the birth of my first child.
 
 
+3 # maddave 2012-09-03 15:57
Somehow, Harry, we all knew intuitively that a wannabe athlete simply does not forget such a landmark in his life. Thanks. You just removed all possibility of "honest error" . . . which reduces Ryan's marathon "mis-statement" to a pure character / integrity question.

I'll give odds of 100:1 that Paul Ryan was an outspoken proponent of our "Stolen Valor Act" and let out a shrill scream when it was stricken down by the Supremes.

"Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to consumate the offense."
 
 
+2 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:06
What question, what? The guy is a flat out, in-your-face liar.

But he's a Rethuglicon, what else do they do but lie???
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:04
Why bother asking for an explanation of one lie from a born-again liar; he will only tell another lie to patch up the lie that is taking on water.
 
 
+2 # maddave 2012-09-03 21:25
An Old Southern social truism states: "If a man will lie, he'll steal." What does this tell us about Lyin' Ryan?

With Mitt the S**t, it's different. Based upon the recent Rolling Stone article describing his business at Bain, we'd have to say "If a man will steal, he'll lie."

Thus the tea-bagger-domi nated GOP comes as close to "diversity" as they are ever likely to come - in ANY election.
 
 
+10 # flippancy 2012-09-03 09:01
I'm not sure which is more delusional, believing in Romney/Ryan or believing in the tooth fairy. At least the tooth fairy brings you money when you're 4, but if you're 40, the R&R boys come and take your money and give it to themselves. Kind of the tooth fairy in reverse. Hood Robbin' so to speak. The mob could give them lessons in honor.
 
 
+4 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:07
"What most voters don’t know is the way Mitt Romney actually made his fortune: by borrowing vast sums of money that other people were forced to pay back. This is the plain, stark reality that has somehow eluded America’s top political journalists for two consecutive presidential campaigns: Mitt Romney is one of the greatest and most irresponsible debt creators of all time. In the past few decades, in fact, Romney has piled more debt onto more unsuspecting companies, written more gigantic checks that other people have to cover, than perhaps all but a handful of people on planet Earth."
 
 
+14 # Sallyport 2012-09-03 09:19
Mitt would save the country the same way he "saved" so many enterprises during his vaunted business career: borrow massively, use his position to siphon off most of the gains for himself & other .01%ers & retire leaving a metastasized deficit to confound the next seekers of office.
 
 
+11 # coberly 2012-09-03 09:57
I think Krugman is right to point out this is about more than lying about how fast he ran the marathon.

Fact is these days all politicians and the people who believe them just say stuff off the top of their heads that they know in their heart must be true because it makes them feel good to believe it.

But in some cases the liars are clever indeed. Most of what you are told about Social Security is very carefully crafted lies. I know this because I have had a chance to study them. Most people don't have the time. So how are you going to know what is the truth?
 
 
+2 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:10
Reminds me of Newt Gingrich. He is never at a loss for an off-the-top-of- his-head lie.
 
 
-10 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 10:07
I agree with everything Krugman says about Romney/Ryan. Now on to the Democratic convention. I fear that this coming week we will hear more lies, just better ones, more pleasing to the ears of liberal intellectuals such as most of the readers here. But just as "Change You Can Believe In" turned into seamless continuity with Bush from the minute Obama took office, bringing in Geithner and Sommers, the very architects of our nation's economic ruin, keeping Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, very obviously not giving a damn about Constitutional or international law, it became obvious that he was no Kennedy or Martin Luther King or Roosevelt or any of those fantasies that we liberal Democrats might have had. There is a reason why he came so far so fast. The truth is that his roots are in the CIA, in the clandestine community. the Company if you will. He was groomed by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter's NSA head, also the founder of Al Qaeda which bagan as as a group of Wahabbi militants headed by Osama bin Laden sent to Afghanistan by Saudi Arabian intelligence at his request to destabilize Afghanistan and provoke the Soviets to invade. Obana is indeed an accomplished liar, like his mentor.
 
 
+4 # Independentgal 2012-09-03 10:49
You would give the right wingers a run for their money.
 
 
+2 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 11:57
It's funny how the right-wingers are so confused they think Obama's guru is "Communist" community organizer Saul Alinski when it's really fanatical anti-Communist Polish aristocrat Zbigniew Brzezinski.
 
 
-6 # fliteshare 2012-09-03 14:49
Don't forget war criminal.
 
 
-7 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 12:02
You might say that, because I'm a real Roosevelt New Deal anti-war Democrat, not a phony neoliberal CIA insert like Obama.
 
 
+3 # maddave 2012-09-03 22:03
Q: What differentiates a liberal conspiracy nut from a conservative conspiracy nut?

A. Nothin'!

===========
New subject: So who are you gonna vote for tony? Judging from your self-confessed credentials, Romney-Ryan is not an acceptable option . . . BUT a no-vote OR a throw-away vote for, say ,Ron Paul is - statistically - half-a-vote for Mitt th' S**t and Lyin' Ryan. Is THAT what you want? Really?

Go ugly early - choose Obama - 'cause there ain't no perfect, beautiful ladies coming to the bar tonight! NADA!
 
 
-3 # tonywicher 2012-09-04 08:53
madave - Sorry, I'm not asking for a beautiful lady, but Obama is a war criminal and I can't vote for him in good conscience, and neither should anyone else with a conscience. I am just amazed that when Obama commits war crimes in Syria and Libya on a scale equal to Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq, that Democrats who opposed mad dog Bush junior are now voting for Obama who has continued the Bush war policies, indeed increased the disregard for international and constitutional law beyond what was done under Bush. I'm sorry, but this goes beyond any possible "lesser of two evils" argument. Romney and Obama are the tough cop and the con cop. The bankers and the national security state control both parties. 9/11 was an inside job. The CIA has got to go, the national security state has got to go, the big banks have got to go. When I get to vote for that, I will.
 
 
+1 # Onterryo 2012-09-06 08:36
Tony...you seem to be an intelligent individual. I would have thought you would have read "It can't happen here" by Sinclair Lewis. Clearly, it can happen here and it is unfolding. If the Republicans get Presidency, Romney will be appointing one, if not two, Supreme Court Justices. A domestic crisis will occur, the President will order ground troops and then all of the armed forces to stop an "insurrection" (most likely contrived). The right wing SCOTUS will rubber stamp his decisison. "Terrorists" will be arrested. Journalists will be arrested as "terrorists" or "co-conspirator s" and there will be no one to defend you and your ideals. I don't like drones falling into weddings in Pakistan. I don't like the fact that Guantanomo Bay still holds terrorists without a trial. I do not like a lot of things that have occurred over the past 4 years, but I am also pragmatic and know that you only have two options this election. If you want to change things after that..fine...jo in one of the two parties or start your own and work to change America from the bottom up because that is how it will have to be done! As far as I am concerned if you don't vote for Obama in November you have voted for Romney. Romney will be controlled by the Kochs and the Pentagon and don't be surprised if one day there is a knock on your door!
 
 
+1 # Doctor J 2012-09-03 11:10
tonywicher:
Just wondering - who is Obana?
You must have become so involved in your rant that you forgot how to spell the president's name. If you are going to call someone "an accomplished liar" at the very least,get their name right.
 
 
-4 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 14:12
Oh, snap!
 
 
-3 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 14:35
Come to think of it, you need to go back to sixth grade (or get a grammar checker). It should have been "...at the very least, get HIS name right, not "their" name right". Your sentence also ought to have a comma after the word "liar', and you should leave out the comma after "least". You should probably also leave off the quotation marks around "accomplished liar". The corrected sentence would then read "If you are going to call someone an accomplished liar, at the very least get his name right." There, much better.
- Your English teacher
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:19
Your premise is that the Left base is comprised of spectators who are just going to buy whatever is said. To which I say, "No way, Jose."

We on the Left are tracking what's being said, checking their "facts" and if things don't add up, there will be Hell to pay. Maybe not this election cycle, but the Democratic Party can't be so stupid as to not realize any one of them can and will be replaced by genuine Progressives and they will lose their job in DC unless we start getting that Change You Can Believe In.

We on the Left have drawn a line in the sand. Enough is enough. Our representatives MUST start towing the line or they WILL be thrown out.

Have a look at the demonstrations that went on the opening day of the Democratic convention. These aren't starry-eyed Dems; these are angry people who want what they paid for.

And another thing. The Green Party is starting to develop teeth. The Liberal Left now has a real choice between corporate funded cronies or non-corporate funded representatives .

Watch out, DNC/DP, or you will find yourselves in the dust bin along with the rest of your pals from the Fascist Right.
 
 
+8 # elmont 2012-09-03 11:11
I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the blatant 'we don't care what you think' lies of the Repugs really scare me. So Neil Newhouse--Repug pollster--says up front: "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers." Put another way, "we're going to lie and lie and lie and we dare you to do a damn thing about it." Knowing full well that the truth will be miles behind the lies, playing catch-up. After W Bush was re-elected in 2004, I'm willing to believe anything can happen. Scary.
 
 
+8 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 14:26
Yes, these people think they are gods, that the words that come out of their mouths create reality, and there is no other reality. They are mad with power and they really might get us into a nuclear war. Mormons + neocons = war.
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:28
Stop drafting these terrible scenarios and have faith that We the People is not going to allow this.

Put your energy into the solution, not the problem and all will be well.
 
 
+4 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:26
Have hope that the best is yet to come. The real American people are waking up and organizing. They are becoming more savvy and more committed to not allowing the America of FDR's Second New Deal slip away.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it--always.
Mahatma Gandhi, Bauji
 
 
-1 # tonywicher 2012-09-04 11:41
Sounds like wishful thinking to me. As far has I can tell, the bad guys keep winning and are now approaching final victory. We need realism, not hope. And the reality is that we are rushing to world war with Obama leading the charge. Necessity is the mother of invention. Survival requires that we come up with something different.
 
 
+6 # Mrcead 2012-09-03 11:21
Wow, I remember the Ruiz scandal. Talk about scumbag. The sad part is that Ryan didn't even have to lie. He's in better shape than 90% of politicians anyway. Why take it further? That's what I'm talking about, the GOP and their followers can't ever leave well enough alone. They have to stir the stew 1 extra stroke, add 1 extra clove, leave it simmering for 1 extra minute, whatever, then it ruins the stew altogether because they can't sort out their restlessness - but at our expense.
 
 
+3 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:30
The reason they can't leave well enough alone and keep spoiling the stew is because they are flying by the seat of their pants and don't have a genuine recipe for living life; all they are interested in is pushing the edge of the envelope to see how much they can get away with. In the end, they are going to expose themselves for the phonies they are and fall flat on their faces and people will walk away in disgust.
 
 
+9 # MindDoc 2012-09-03 12:28
"Greed is good" - Gordon Gekko
"Facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

"Repeated lies make them true, facts are what we say they are, and only stupid people care about reality" - The new mantra of the platinum-spoon- in-mouth party of 2012.

"This won't hurt at all" - Jack Nicholson, in "Little Shop of Horrors", or WC Fields' (while soused) - or Ryan's stated plan for the 97%, the working, flesh & blood workers and families of America.

Happy Labor Day/Labour Day, US & Canada! "We the People..."
 
 
+8 # WolfTotem 2012-09-03 13:12
Such ingratitude! How is it that we've not yet seen any mention of these good people's great mentor, JOSEPH GOEBBELS?

Goebbels, aspartame-coate d, but pure Goebbels!
 
 
-6 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 14:15
Goebbles runs both parties, unfortunately. When Obama rapes Syria, then Iran, then launches a pre-emptive nuclear attack on Russia and China, my last thought will be "at least I didn't vote for him".
 
 
+7 # WestWinds 2012-09-03 18:34
I'm hoping Obama will do an FDR in his second term and prove to be one of our greatest presidents ever.

If not, he will be assigned to the "junk" bin along with Nixon, Reagan, Dubya and the rest of the Right-wing, steal-the-world crazies.
 
 
0 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 22:09
I too am hoping for a miracle, but my faith is very weak.
 
 
-2 # tonywicher 2012-09-03 22:30
Obama has committed war crimes in Libya and Syria just as surely as Bush did in Afghanistan and Iraq. He's the man with the killer drones and and the Tuesday afternoon kill review. How can any self-respecting person vote for a war criminal? I refuse. On the other hand Romney has fascist doom written all over him. So what to do? I say neither Republicans nor Democrats like either candidate. In their hearts they don't think either candidate really represents their interests. It's just that the political system is not offering them any other choice. If I could see any kind of dark horse waiting in the wings, some real Roosevelt Democrat who will take on the bankers and the miltary-industr ial complex, I would say dump Obama right now. I don't see any such thing. I guess the party of Roosevelt is gone.
 
 
+1 # coberly 2012-09-04 06:42
tonywicher

just to let you know that's the way i see it too. i am afraid there may never have been any real "roosevelt democrats". it's just that the times made roosevelt popular and that made all the politicians climb on the bandwagon. today we have mass delusions created by the politicians themselves... who have no choice but to climb on the delusion bandwagon... and become true believers in their own lies. and thus civilization marches on.
 
 
+2 # coberly 2012-09-04 06:46
i am not sure we ever see the man on the dark horse coming... no one had any idea Lincoln would save the country and end slavery. no one expected anything at all from Teddy Roosevelt. and I think even FDR ran on something like a balanced budget.

maybe god will be kind to us again, but after vietnam, iraq, afghanistan... we don't deserve it.
 

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