Ryan's speech doesn't surprise area Republicans
TAMPA, Fla. — Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave viewers a lot to think about and provided fodder for pundits to argue with his speech Wednesday at the Republican Party National Convention.
Area Republicans attending the event can be excused if they were not surprised or startled by what he said.
"Most of us in the Wisconsin delegation were not surprised because that's been his policy positions for the past 14 years," said Jan Deters of Janesville, an alternate delegate. "What was exciting was to be there and hear him deliver those messages to a national audience."
Janesville's Bryan Steil, another alternate delegate who worked on economic issues for two years in Ryan's congressional office, agreed that Ryan has not strayed from his basic policy positions during his 14 years in Congress.
"It's the same message to a different audience," Steil said. "As for his speech, I think he knocked one out of the park.
"He discussed the risks of runaway spending," Steil said. "He provided the convention with a serious discussion about what needs to be done to fix this economic mess we are in."
Kim Travis of Williams Bay said she was proud to be from Wisconsin and proud to be able, as a delegate, to cast a vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket.
"His speech showed the nation that he's ready to lead and ready to lead us out of the economic problems we are in," Travis said. "It was a great moment for me."
The area representatives all agreed that Ryan's comments on the Janesville General Motors plant were factual and on point.
Ryan has been attacked for pointing a finger at Obama for the plant's shutdown. Critics say Obama did not take office until January 2009, long after the decision had been made to idle the plant. During his 2008 campaign, however, Obama commented that his policies, especially on green technology, could ensure that the plant would stay open another 100 years.
"Paul Ryan accurately pointed out the broken promises of President Obama," Travis said. "The message is that the Romney/Ryan administration will take action, not break promises."
Deters agreed that the GM comments pointed out Obama's inconsistency.
"Paul Ryan, in his speech, made the point that what Obama said and what he did are two different things," Deters said.
Steil said Ryan comments on GM were offered in a broader sense.
"I agree with Paul Ryan that Janesville and cities like Janesville across the country will be better off with a Romney/Ryan administration," Steil said.
UW-Whitewater professor emeritus John Kozlowicz said he expected Ryan would give a good speech and he did.
"Expectations were high, especially knowing he was a speechwriter for Jack Kemp," Kozlowicz said. "He certainly met those expectations."
Kozlowicz questioned the strategy of bringing Obama into the Janesville GM plant issue.
"First of all, I think the important date in all this is June of 2008 when GM announced the shutdown," he said. "I think it's a stretch to try to tie Obama to that decision."
Sep 9, 2012 at 8:38 a.m.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-3RZkzp...
Sep 2, 2012 at 12:38 p.m.
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Thank you Paul Ryan...Do whatever it takes to help us get the White House back. America and the Democrats have a very short memory...keep stretching the truth and we will own the White House again in January.
Sep 1, 2012 at 3:33 p.m.
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ALL OF THE PAUL RYAN DISTORTED information does NOT surprise me.....even POLITIFACT pointed to the FALSE claims RYAN made pertaining to GM. It must be the RAND thinking that helps him to change the facts to make people believe he is telling the truth.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/stat...
Now we know why Paul has a long nose that grows longer when he speaks.
LOOK AT ALL of the WALKER FALSE CLAIMS...Must be part of the new Re-fib-lican image.
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/...
MORE ON RYAN...FACT CHECK TIME.
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/ryans-vp-sp...
Sep 1, 2012 at 3:32 p.m.
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TO: Kim Travis (Delegate)
You are 100% WRONG. President Obama did NOT "promise" to keep open the Janesville Plant -- you are either wrong or you are spewing lies intentionally.
Here is the comment directly from Obama on 2/13/08
""And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your president."
1) Obama gave a statement of belief that, with government help, the Janesville plant could remain open -- but NOT a promise to keep it open.
2) If Paul Ryan were not so set on NOT letting the taxpayer help out Auto Plant, THEN maybe the Janesville Plant would be open?
FACT: Paul Ryan does NOT support any form of Government "handout" to Auto so a Romney/Ryan Administration would have meant a CLOSED PLANT in Janesville.
FACT: Obama did NOT make any promise and the GOP continue to lie.
Sep 1, 2012 at 3:23 p.m.
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To: Paul Ryan
Even Fox News called out Paul Ryan for telling "greatest number of blatant lies."
When Fox News calls out a Republican for being the "greatest blatant liar" then you know that Republican can not be trusted.
Sep 1, 2012 at 1:04 p.m.
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It's national news--the number of lies and misrepresentations spewed by Ryan at his speech, Stan, and you just ignore it? That's the real story: A Congressman who wears his religion on his sleeve (when it suits him), yet he, and the R's, made a concious decision to lie--over and over again--to the American people, in an attempt to deceive voters. As the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynahan said, "you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts." Shame on Ryan and the R's for perpetuating misinformation. MORE shame on the media that won't acknowledge it.
Sep 1, 2012 at 10:58 a.m.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01...
Just can`t help himself?
Sep 1, 2012 at 10:35 a.m.
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What is unsustainable is military spending. Romney/Ryan not only want to reinstate the cuts that have been made to defense spending they want to increase military spending. Eisenhower warned about unlimited funding of the MIC (Military Industrial Complex)
Historical records show that there is a very clear connection in the long run between an individual Great Power's economic rise and fall and its growth and decline as an important military power.
China and Russia combined spend only 10% of what the U.S. spends on defense.
There are 750 U.S. military bases in 50 nations and 255,000 service members stationed abroad, 116,000 in Europe, nearly 100,000 in Japan and South Korea.
Military spending is 19% of federal spending and consumes 44% of tax revenues. During the Bush administration, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — funded by borrowing — cost each American family more than $25,000.
Military spending and debt are destroying the U.S. economy. Besides the U.S.S.R., the U.S. is following the same path of other nations that have faltered and collapsed under the weight of military spending. Examples are; The destruction of the Spanish armada, Napoleon's Empire, Italian Renaissance, the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire in 1945, crushed by immense debts to wage World War II. It is very arrogant and dangerous for the U.S. to think we are any different. Brings to mind the saying "If you don't learn from history, you are bound to repeat it.”
Sep 1, 2012 at 9:42 a.m.
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The only people lying consistently to the American's are the GOP. They are fake, corporate welfare schmoozing hypocrites who wouldn't know a fact if it smacked them in the face.
Obama never once "promised" to keep the Janesville plant open. He said with government help he'd like to keep plants LIKE the one in Janesville open. The fact is that GM decided in it's business plans that Janesville was not a viable or profitable option. Never mind, as has been pointed out a thousand time already, that the decision to shutter the plant was made under Bush.
Could there have been some provision in the GM bailout that mandated they open the Janesville plant? Sure, but Janesville was not the only GM plant closed, and GM has opened plant in TN that was on standby.
I would love to see the plant reopened. It'd be great day for Janesville and S. Wisconsin. Do you think Romney/Ryan are going to open the plant?
Sep 1, 2012 at 9:39 a.m.
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wislady you are lying to the gazette a majority of the time as to you posts.Your links are not as reliable as you want them to be as they are mostly right sided and EVEN FOX CALLED THE LIAR OUT ON THIS SPEECH!!!!!!!!! RYAN LIED AT LEAST 5 TIMES and THIS IS ABOUT LYIN RYAN NOT OBAMA. Please just once stick to an article and the subject of it.....
Sep 1, 2012 at 8:58 a.m.
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Thanks for clearing that up for me, donnaw.
Sep 1, 2012 at 8:19 a.m.
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Stan, I sure hope you are more thorough and balanced in your other stories.
You entirely missed Paul Ryan's multiple lies and distortions in his speech, as pointed out by dozens of major fact checkers and media outlets, including FOX News.
'Hope to see better reporting from you in the future, because you certainly failed on this one-sided glowing piece.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/U...
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robe...
http://www.thenation.com/blog/169648/the...
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/3...
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/0...
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/106730/rya...
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_rya...
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/...
ryan-said-president-obama-funneled-716-billio/
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/0...
Sep 1, 2012 at 8:06 a.m.
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As usual, the liberals are arguing about something that is not the point being made, just another "squirrel"moment to distract. The point being made by Ryan...Obama has lied to the American people...consistently.
Sep 1, 2012 at 7:24 a.m.
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gary..he moonlighted in Washington as a waiter when he first arrived and worked as a staff assist for an elected official.
Sep 1, 2012 at 3:13 a.m.
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The articles I've found in the Gazette archives indicate that the Janesville G.M. plant shut down -- and a couple-thousand workers were laid off -- two days before Christmas in 2008. President Obama sat down in the Oval Office a couple of weeks later. Is my research incorrect?
Aug 31, 2012 at 11:51 p.m.
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Was Ryan talking about working at McDonald's
when he said that he waited tables and washed dishes?
As far as I have seen, they don't do that there.
Aug 31, 2012 at 10:28 p.m.
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I am not from Janesville, although I have in the past rather admired Rep. Ryan.
It was very sad to see his integrity disappear during his speech. Just never expected that from this particular guy.
Lies on either side do our nation ill.
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