The Anger Blog, Forget the Fact-Checkers!

Forget the Fact-Checkers! As if it's not bad enough that the GOP is trying to win the 2012 presidential election by implementing voter suppression legislation, now they have the audacity to tell outright lies over and over again. The political campaign ads that bombard our airways (seemingly limitless numbers now, thanks to the conservative U.S. Supreme Court ruling that created the Super PACs) are filled with false information. However, speeches at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this week really put the icing on the cake.

Most of us realize that each of the two major political parties in the United States is always going to be negative toward the other one, sometimes as negative as possible. I can accept that, but what angers me most is that the Republican convention was jam-packed with orators espousing family values, Christian beliefs, and the positive influence of God in their lives but who, in their next breath, were spewing lies and hatred. The hypocrisy was almost more than I could stand.

I could spend days listing examples of the duplicity I'm referring to, but, for brevity's sake, I will limit it to Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan's wonderful speech on Wednesday evening (as well as other comments he makes on a regular basis). He was praised by many as a very competent orator who aroused his fellow Republicans and who would be a difficult debate opponent. Admittedly, the speech was well-delivered and well-received. But, when you are allowed (by whom?) to fabricate information to suit your purpose and audience, it certainly gives you an advantage. It seemed to me like throwing raw meat to the lions.

Mr. Ryan referred to President Obama's "ignoring" the Simpson-Bowles bipartisan debt commission recommendations as being one of the reasons the economy is still weak. However, what he neglected to mention is that Ryan himself was a member of that commission and, not only did he vote down their recommendations, but he also voted to kill the report so that President Obama never even received the report to be able to act upon it.

Ryan claims that President Obama failed on his promise to save a General Motors plant in Wisconsin. It's strange (his being a Congressman from Wisconsin and all) that he "overlooked" the fact that the plant was closed under the administration of George W. Bush, before Obama even took office.

Congressman Ryan's assertion that the United States credit rating was downgraded because of the President's "failed economic policies," when, in fact, this downgrade could more easily be laid at the feet of the Republicans in Congress who refused to raise the debt ceiling. They made it clear that the only way they would agree to raise the ceiling was if the Democrats agreed to cut trillions of dollars from social programs and not to raise taxes on the wealthy (i.e., not to let the Bush tax cuts expire).

Congressman Ryan continues to criticize the President's stimulus package, saying that it increased the nation's debt without creating any jobs. He conveniently forgot that he, himself, had asked for and received some of this stimulus money for his home state, and that, in his request, he stated that it could create thousands of jobs for Wisconsin.

Another absurdity is Ryan's claim of being the champion of Medicare, when, in fact, he has continually espoused dismantling it and replacing it with a voucher system. After the Republicans begged President Obama to cut billions of dollars from the Medicare budget, he finally agreed to the following: elimination of $718 billion in provider reimbursements, which should make the system more cost-effective and more secure. But now … the GOP is condemning this action, saying that the President "gutted" Medicare and is taking away services for the elderly. It makes me so angry I can hardly type this message! Incidentally, Paul Ryan is using this $718 billion savings in his own proposal to balance the budget by 2038. So now the same people (Paul Ryan and the Republicans) who wanted to get rid of the government-run Medicare program have all at once become its greatest advocate! It reminds me of the swift boat ads that made George Bush out to be the war hero and John Kerry a lying traitor.

No wonder the Romney-Ryan campaign says that they "don't worry about fact-checkers!"

I could write forever about the hypocrisy and lies that we heard this week but I will close with the following question to consider. Why, as the debt clock (that the convention organizers so prominently displayed) keeps ticking, didn't they mention the $5 trillion that George W. Bush added to it? And, of all people, Congressman Paul Ryan cast votes that added $7 trillion to the national debt. It is a sad day when our so-called democracy is held up to the world as the best way to govern, when our voters are fed lies and half-truths to help them determine our leaders.