Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus appeared on "Meet the Press" yesterday and largely stuck to the pre-scripted soundbites, but there was a moment that stood out for me.
For those who can't watch clips online, host David Gregory brought up Paul Ryan's plan to replace Medicare with a voucher system. The RNC chairman pushed back, arguing, "Medicare is going broke. Every person in America watching this now knows that that's true. This president stole -- he didn't cut Medicare -- he stole $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare. If any person in this entire debate has blood on their hands in regard to Medicare, it's Barack Obama."
Even for Priebus, this is remarkable. The notion that President Obama "stole" from Medicare is absurd, but even if we put that aside, notice the incoherence of the RNC's argument -- we need to address Medicare financing, which means necessary cuts, which Obama made, which means Obama's wrong. That doesn't make any sense.
Moreover, Gregory didn't follow up on the point, but the fact is, Paul Ryan's budget plan adopted all of the Medicare savings Obama included in the Affordable Care Act. In other words, these "cuts" Republicans are pretending to be outraged by have been included in the Republican agenda. If Obama's policy is so awful, why did Paul Ryan embrace it?
But I'm especially amazed by the "blood on the hands" line. We just spent a week in which Republicans and the media were apoplectic about a super PAC ad that infers, indirectly, that a woman died when Romney laid off her husband. To implicate the candidate bears some responsibility for someone's health-care-related death was, we were told, beyond any fair standard of decency.
And yet, it's fine when the chairman of the RNC tells a national television audience that the president has "blood on his hands" because of budget cuts Republicans have already endorsed?
Incidentally, at the very end of the interview, Gregory noted the relative inexperience of the GOP ticket. Priebus said, "I think combined these guys are ready on day one."
"Combined"? Does that mean Mitt Romney, the least experienced major-party nominee in 72 years, isn't ready on his own?
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Never before has this country seen a more elitist and uber-privileged presidential ticket. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are agents from the 0.1 percent, wealthy men who have a firm belief that their money and status alone makes them worthy to lead the nation. These are two people who cannot wait to tell the American people what they can and cannot do, from whom they can marry to how much of their hard-earned income will go to bolster the riches of corporations and the super rich. This attitude is exemplified from Ryan's plan to kill everyone 55+ and in their dual resistance to releasing something as vital as their taxes. Why would they release something as crucial to deciding their presidential qualifications as tax returns? The poor masses have no business learning how much the rich are raking in off of their backs, right? - Principled Progressive
So, once again, we have reached the level of political discourse where, "Your mother wears combat boots" is answered with, "So's your old man!"
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
Thus, the latest meme from the Chattering Class is that Paul Ryan is an "intellectual."
Yes, because he has read the entire works of Ayn Rand, while most Americans have trouble getting thru the day's Peanuts, and have no idea of what the Doonesbury strip meant.
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.” - John Rogers
I think of that quote every time the Paul Ryan-Ayn Rand connection gets drawn. I also think of this one, from a different fiction reference:
That's from one of the Frank Herbert "Dune" novels - not sure which one anymore - and the wording might be long winded, but the sentiment has stayed with me for years. In mapping out his fictional future, he certainly preserved something familiar and dangerous when he painted his fictional society's government as a religio-political force. Like most sci-fi novels, he took a known human tendency, and drew it large and fantastical. But whether fiction or in real life, that's a scary marriage, and one we're in for if this team gains the White House.
The president's campaign had to know that was the tactic that republicans were going to use on this. They are going from the Rove playbook, which is accuse your opponent of your own weakness. In this case they are hoping that accusing "Obamacare" of being the "real" Medicare cut will distract from the Ryan plan to kill Medicare. Most Americans are not well enough informed to be able to distinguish reality in this case so this attack may work. This is not going to be a slam dunk and the president needs to continue to push on the flaws in the Romney/Ryan plan.
You have that so right ,
America , too stupid for Democracy
Now there's a shocker.
Another point that should be made is that the whole 'blood on his hands' thing is an obvious reference to the 'death panels' slander. Priebus is essentially moving from claiming that people will die under 'Obamacare' to the implicit assumption that people have already died. So, will anyone in the media challenge Priebus or any other Republican to show us the bodies?
I saw this somewhere but can't remember where.
Reince Priebus without the vowels: RNC PR BS.
"Rince" is a synonym for "douche." Kinda says it all.
Gregory didn't follow-up the point? Who does? Every host fails on follow-up, allowing any guest to not answer questions and instead give self-serving free-air campaign statements, which they all do, to stay on agenda and get to the next commercial. Can you think of any shows that do not fail in this area? I'd like to check them out.
Of course Gregory didn't follow up. He's owned by the same people that own all of the media and he has to follow whatever his teapub masters tell him. I'm just wondering if Reince will be hired by MSNBC as a pundit or just skip it and go to the top by being hired at Faux.
David Gregory's predecessor Tim Russert did. David Gregory sucks. He plays unabashed conservative supporter more than objective host
Well, I can think of one in particular, coughTRMScough. And the Sunday morning line-up of Hayes and Harris-Perry, also pretty excellent. You should definitely check out all of those, if you haven't already.
This "Stolen" meme is one I've seen a lot recently. It plays right into the whiney victimhood that so many on the right like to wallow in..."Help! Stop! I'm being oppressed!"...
They forget that America is made up of more than just, well, them. They forget that we live in a form of democracy where if you don't like the way your representatives vote, you need to work for change and elect someone else. And if your rep. votes the way you want but everybody else's reps don't, than maybe you need to suck it up and admit to yourself that your way is not the way it's going to go.
I mean, I don't like the way every dime of federal spending is spent, but saying that it was stolen from me is just, as I said above, whiney victimhood.
It's certainly not original to me, but definitely worth repeating:
FREEDOM ISN'T FREE. THAT'S WHY WE PAY TAXES. WE THINK AMERICA IS WORTH IT!
;-)
Shell games are at the heart of their campaigning AND their governing. Cognitive dissonance, hypocrisy, and the Reagan mantra -- don't judge us by our past, look to the future -- are the essential features of Republicanism. Ok, add shamelessness.
My jaw dropping moment in that interview was when he said that "The president is responsible for the credit rating of the United States being reduced ...
The temerity is beyond belief .
Ryan and his teabaggin' cohorts more than anyone else are responsable for the stalled economy (and the reduced credit rating)
They set out to block every attempt of the Obama administration to help the country.
Their only policy seems to be misleading claims that lead to false consequences and cooked numbers that conceal massive income transfer to 1% of American society.
We lie , you decide
You are so right..I wanted to choke that self righteous little prick....how about someone calling them out on these outrageous statements? No, our "press" are cowards too busy licking their boots.
I also watched the 60 minutes interview....the lies drip like prayers from their self-important Koch kissing lips..... That make me want to choke someone too....
You found the words I have been looking for "self righteous little prick."
Him and that other Kochsucker who kept cutting off Rachel
Maybe we can do a Santorum with it so every time you google Priebus.....
You know he got beat up and shoved in a trash can in high school, just because they could not stand him.
As for Gregory ... corporate stenographer ..if he gives them a rough time he won't get invited to any Washington cocktail parties .
They don't call it Meet the Village for no reason.
Such an excellent suggestion. I wish I knew how this was done!
Well, I don't know what "they" call it - I call it Press the Meat.
;-)
Man, Dems need to get out in front of this Lie Machine. Because after the convention, the Republicans are going to be charging the Dems of murder on everything the Republicans suck at. And that's EVERYTHING. Everything Republicans did to obstruct ...
You know it's coming. With Team Romney-Republican-Rove, this is going to get real, real ugly and if Dems don't get out in front, they aren't going to know what hit them.
Steve,
Thanks for watching the Sunday chat shows so we don't have to. My blood pressure thanks you, too.
"Combined" !?!?!
If Burton is going to be unapologetic about implying Romney killed a guys wife, Preibus is justified in being graphic. Your call about how this goes forward.
Gosh blanks,
You really have got to go back to fox news for new and better talking points.
Except for the smally little detail that the ad never implied that the Romney killed a guys wife. The ad said that Romney's decision to gut the man's workplace and take away all the money and leave them with nothing had an impact on their lives (all true). The bigger point that the man made that few talk about was that Romney did not CARE what would happen to them. Did. Not. Care.
Oh please, the only reason to drag Romney into his wife's ordeal is to blame him for closing the plant and taking away his health insurance. Insurance which some how would have miraculously saved his wife.
a) Romney didn't close the plant
b) the guy lied about not having health insurance at all
c) Bain offered Soptic a buyout
d) the Obama campaign got caught lying about knowing Soptic at all.
that ad ranks up there with Ryan pushing Granny off a cliff.
The most disheartening phrase from Steve's post is "Gregory didn't follow up on the point."
Is it too much to ask that a journalist, even a pretend journalist like Gregory, do his job?
Deflection, deflection, deflection. The questionable details of Republican plans are not open to discussion, rather, deflect the consersation to Obama, and lie, lie, lie.
And select voters honestly feel this is the path to making America "all better"?
Priebus is just another hatchet man. Isn't that the only requirement to be RNC chairman?
Agreed. Listening to a party chairman, of EITHER party, is a waste of brain cells. Their only job is to play partisan politics, speak rigid talking points they've developed based on some polling, etc. They don't have to live with their words, they don't have to own them, they don't have to DO anything. I hate listening to interviews with party chairman, or candidate "spokes persons". Worthless people to listen to.
It's in the job description- remember Steele, the last guy to spin the talking points?
Now he is a measured, rational guy (and getting a paycheck from MSNBC)
Reince Pribus is just the Republican bought and sold boy of the RNC. Pribus’ job is to set up and tell the most deceptions and lies. Also, to try to get the Democrats not to say something as the Republicans say the worst lies and deceptions around. The main thing is the Republicans don’t want the democrats to be telling the truth on how corrupt the GOP really is. The Republicans started up the thing about murder to actually try to deflect all the murder they have committed on behalf of the extreme wealthy, especially since 911. Too easily the terrorists have been used for this dark agenda of murder for extreme wealth and to destroy America’s and the world economy. And by the collapse of these economies, the extreme wealthy has made more than just mere billions. All we have been hearing from the Republicans is the twisted lies and no truth to anything. People know these Republicans are that dirty.
The Republican hands are drenched in blood that they will never get off.
This is consistent with the entire RNC playbook for this election. Blame you opponent for everything you want to do or have done first. This way when the DNC says that the GOP wants to cut Medicare, they respond "I said it first" and the media reports it as "both sides are accusing each other of cutting Medicare". The RNC has figured out that the media is not a non-partisan fact checking entity any more, and they play them like a fiddle. So much effort is put into showing both sides of the aisle now that you don't even have blatant lies called out on air.
and the cuts are to administrative costs, not medical treaments