Ryan Has Factual Problems In Speech
TAMPA (CBSMiami) – Republican Vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave a rousing speech to the GOP faithful in Tampa Wednesday night during the Republican National Convention. The only problem was that parts of Ryan's speech were riddled with factual problems.
At one point in the speech, Ryan discussed a GM plant that closed in Wisconsin. Ryan laid the blame for the closing of the plant at the feet of President Obama.
"Candidate Obama said, 'I believe that if our government is there to support you…this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That's what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It's locked up and empty to this day. And that's who it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight," Ryan said Wednesday night.
The only problem was that the plant closed in 2008, nearly a full year before President Obama took office.
For video of Ryan's speech:
Ryan later went after Obama for the Bowles-Simpson debt commission. Ryan said, "He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing."
What Ryan neglected to add was that he also sat on the commission. He voted against the findings of the commission after the commission said that an increase in tax revenues was necessary to get the nation's debt and deficit under control.
Ryan also pushed the argument that President Obama "raided" Medicare to the tune of $716 billion. Ryan's own budget blueprint plan takes the same amount of money out of Medicare. However, since being selected as VP, Ryan has walked back those calls in his own budget, but the addition of that money into Medicare could actually serve to hasten Medicare's budget going into the red.
Finally, Ryan also laid the blame for the U.S.' credit downgrade by Standard & Poor's at the feet of President Obama. Ryan said the Obama presidency, "began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America."
However, both President Obama and the Republicans in Congress both played a vital role in the debt ceiling debacle. President Obama wouldn't agree to massive cuts to domestic spending without increased revenues from raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Republicans flatly refused to do any deal that included any tax hike or closing of tax loohopes.
At the time, S&P wrote, "We have changed our assumption on [revenue] because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues."
Ryan's factual problems within his speech came at a tough time for the Romney campaign, just a day after a Romney pollster said the campaign, "wouldn't let facts" dictate the campaign.
