White House photo
President Obama included a line in his inaugural address yesterday that seemed to be a direct rebuke to the ideology he defeated during the last election. "The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us," he said. "They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), not surprisingly, took notice and defended his ideology today, arguing that the president was attacking a "straw man."
Ryan said earned entitlements such as Social Security -- where you pay your payroll taxes during your working like to get a benefit when you retire -- are "not taker programs."
"When the president does kind of a switcheroo like that, what he's trying to say is that we are maligning these programs that people have earned throughout their working lives," he said. "So it's kind of a convenient twist of terms to try and shadowbox a straw man in order to win an argument by default."
In this case, a "twist of terms" is wholly unnecessary. Today, the far-right Wisconsinite said Social Security is not an example of a "taker" program, but we don't have to look back too far to see Ryan condemning Social Security as "a collectivist system," championed by "collectivist, class warfare-breathing demagogues," which should be privatized so that seniors can be "participants" in "our capitalist system."
What's more, in 2011, Ryan explicitly warned of "a society where the net majority of Americans are takers not makers." He didn't specify who would qualify for the "taker" label, but in context, Ryan apparently meant people who rely on social insurance programs. The same year, the congressman tried to end Medicare altogether,
Obama doesn't need a "straw man"; he just needs Paul Ryan to keep talking.
Leave a Comment:
typical cockroach/republican response: shine a light on them and see how they scurry away.
These repTards are such hypocrites , what a bunch of weasels , they don't even know what they say or have said because they lie constantly and cant keep up with their own lies or rhetoric , they are just simply Insane ! Goofs .......
Oh, dear. Obama isn't rolling over and asking for more any longer, Republicans?? What an evil man!
P.Ryan What Twit/Twerp !
@Eddie
Your ongoing use of the term repTards when you profess to care about others is rich...
Even richer that I never see anyone on this blog ever call you on your continuous and massively ignorant use of a term that is considered to be highly derogatory towards a specific group of individuals.
Must be that individuals with intellectual disabilities don't warrant your "righteous indignation"...
If you are going to talk the talk... why not learn how to walk the walk...
@Lisafp....and he is a re-reg with multiple accounts...Thor...., S.N.A.F.U.A.U., Mighty.Quinn...He has a habit of defending himself with his other identities....just a little helpful tidbit.....
Nag , Nag , Nag - Find something to do other than Yap , Yap , Yap ! The both of ya , Go clean out the Commode or somethin' ........................................ repTards !
Re-Reg, Re-Reg, Re-Reg.....^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The ignorance and stupidity of Republicans is bottomless.
Yet they do retain a certain animal cunning...
@TC
It's rich that someone on this blog uses the term Tard ... you don't even notice or don't care... then comment on the ignorance and stupidity of Republicans...
I'd be far more interested in hearing your views regarding the article, lisafp, instead of wasting time schooling the commentors. That is what the box with the ! on it is for.
So, [settles in comfortably with a cup of Tea] do you feel Ryan's words today reflect the campaign he ran yesterday...?
Lisp , Yeah and LOOK just who reacts to these words ~ You ! Must be hittin' a bone , are you hungry for something ? Go to the kitchen and make yourself useful for once , instead of sittin' on the couch eatin' bon-bon's and criticising everyone else !
The Peter Principle says that people rise to their level of incompetence. Paul Ryan is a counterexample in that he rose so far past his level of incompetence that he can't remember when he was doing anything competently. He wasn't even a particularly outstanding student of economics at Miami of Ohio, not exactly a bastion of academic excellence.
Obviously Ryan Bought his way through that academy ! I think he still has trouble calculating 2+2 , and the gopteabaggers want a better education system for the wealthy kids ~ I Wonder WHY !
See Post Turtles
Ryan has just traded in his tap shoes for a pair that can do a soft shoe shuffle!
Hey Ryan and buddies - we've heard your attacks on these earned entitlements over the past 7 years! Yeah, you heard it right, the past 7 years - ever since re-elected President Bush said on national TV more than a dozen times that he would use his "political capital" to fundamentally transform Social Security into a voucher system of personal investment tied to the stock market!
Yea Paul Ryan - you've been wasting our time! -Kevo
Maybe someone can ask Ryan why Republicans keep demanding changes in Social Security since by his own admission, the participants are those who contribute the funds along with the employer.
You really have to wonder what the attention span is of people who would support a Paul Ryan. What is even more telling is the tea party signs, "Don't touch my Medicare/Social Security" and were from supporters of a Paul Ryan.
The president was attacking a straw man -- a straw man named Paul Ryan. Why do you think his clothes fit so badly?
(Social Security)" which should be privatized so that seniors can be "participants" in "our capitalist system."
Speaking of "straw men", young fella, everyone- young and old alike, can be "participants"- all they have to do is invest some of their after taxes income in "the market". But keep your filthy hands of SS- it is called a "safety net'" for a reason!
They keep talking about abortion and in reality, it is to take women’s rights away. People can be emotional about this issue which is fine, but it is still a women’s right to make her own choices. Just as these people who have chosen to say they don’t like abortions which is fine, but that is your choice to decide and not your right to take someone else’s choices away, especially when it comes to a persons body. There are many reasons for why a woman has an abortion and all of them are personal. Some people go against abortion, because of supposed religious reasons, but these very religions cannot even get the actual true facts of what really exists as far as with God. One religion says one thing as another religion says another thing. But at the same time, they say that it is terrible to be away from God and the light. And when you get down to it, that is a long time for a fetus to be in a womb in the dark away from God. Or perhaps, really there is no soul there, since than the fetus is really just cells. To have actual awareness, it takes a living thing to have a brain and why does a fetus develop the brain much later. Plus on top of it a soul or spirit has self-awareness also and why would God leave someone for that long a lone in the darkness. I don’t think God would be that cruel and there is nothing there, except cells. Too many things in life and nature a lone have it where fetus’ are lost all the time and it is just part of it all. And we are no different than other living creatures on this planet, when it comes to losing a fetus. They seem to even blow up pregnant women and children in other countries pretty good, but seem to have no concern about that either. Personally, I’ll keep my choices just as I’ll let people make their own choices that I have no business about and just as they have no business to make my choices.
They want to privatize abortion too , just like they want to privatize schools and the government - so as they can overtake ALL and benefit personally for themselves - Period ! That's it in a Nut-shell ! They want to turn America into the new Nazi-Germany , where Only the Dictators RULE ! A. Hitler would be SO very proud of them !
just to add something to what Ded -3596991 said. what i found curious is the fact that the G.O.P , the party of Christians, they 're against abortion, against women having free contraceptive bill , so my question is why they can possibly be in bed with N.R.A knowing how many people are getting kill by guns, if they are really fighting for unborn baby as a person , why not fighting against gun violence . i do believe guns violence make more victims than abortion, where are the churches when it comes to guns violence fight, so it 's just normal for them (church leaders) to be against contraceptive pill for women than speaking out loudly against guns violence. at least tell the truth to their followers that no one will take their guns away but at least some common sens need to be in place.
Was thinking the same thing alfodj0. Awfully curious these religious hypocrites just love their guns and killing. They talk about these people doing these gun shootings are sick. But who is more sicker, when it comes to wanting people to have guns on the street. Better put these loony tune politicians and rich bastards in the loony house fast.
Of course, I do have to re-state from what I said from the beginning, we are dealing with morons. But the words loony tune politicians and rich bastards do fit well too. Jebbie Bush is famous for wanting all these guns, especially on the streets. What a moron!!!
It's been my experience that employers that are either sole proprietors or partner/member/investor types, feel that employees who merely "work for" the company are "takers." They "make" the company and, therefore, the jobs; employees "take" their salaries and the government and unions force the makers to "give" the "takers" even more money in the form of social security taxes and benefits.
Whether it is vocalized or not, the 'Tude is there. Every dime "given" to a "taker" is a quarter out of their pockets.
Paul Ryan is another who chooses to ignore there is press coverage and video tape of everything he says in public. Gotcha Paul!
But he has the Etch-A-Sketch now.
Paul Ryan is Alex Keaton without the charm or the brains. The problem with the whole "Makers/Takers" Randian version of the universe is that by default only the successful (wealthy) qualify for positions of authority and power...in short it is those who manage to achieve financial gain who decide what the rest of us are to receive and that is not determined by the worth of our labor but rather by their magnanimity and divine vision. That sounds more like a totalitarian dictatorship than Democracy to me. (I think its worth remembering that Rands Holy symbol was a dollar sign (and No I am not making that up just to be snarky))
Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties? Good reference.
I'm not well-versed in the Randian world view. Are you saying it's like a meritocracy where "merit" is measured in money? Is that the same as a plutocracy?
Sort of...combine plutocracy with technocracy and that's more like it. Rand was big on heavy industrial and engineering based archetypes...but that was the vogue of the period.
Her overly romantic and idealized idea was that the people who ran companies were the "Real" inventors and real engineers of society and that without them society would crumble and so only they should be allowed to govern...
The problems with that as a philosophy are way to many to go into...but if followed to it's ultimate conclusion you get a totalitarian oligarchy that is more Huxley's brave new world but without any of the fun.
Paul Ryan is nothing but a WATB
Directly. People keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I head someone on MSNBC say this, someone on NPR say this, a NJ reporter said this, and now you're written that President Obama "directly" rebuked Paul Ryan.
He did not. He was oblique in referencing something Ryan said.
A direct rebuke would have been, "Paul Ryan says Social Security and Medicare make us a nation of takers. They do not."
What more could one expect from someone that denounces stimulus money in one breath and and takes it in the next. Ryan's world view is so detached from reality - it's like he just shrugged it off . . .
Are you sure you didn't get that backwards?
I thought he first took the money then denounced the money.
I could be wrong ....
.
Not for nothing, Ryan - the Prez didn't win this argument by way of any 'strawman' -- he won it by way of the vote.
Ayn Ryan?
Paul Rand?
Paulann Ryand?
?
LOL , Yeah , they are all ditto heads that parrot the very same crap in the very same ways !
Once again these kind of politicians are too immature to take responsibility for their own comments or political policy. I think the children have taken over the Republican party.
Paul Ryan has no solutions or intelligent thoughts can only pick apart others statements. He is a joke!
Isn't this guy supposed to be the future of the republican party?
I hope so . . .
so, are Defense Contractors takers?
Paul Ryan is probably the worst kind of enemy our country faces, because he and his merry band of Randians strike at our nation from within. Obama has sworn to defend our country from enemies both foreign and domestic, and Paul Ryan, Grover Norquist and Mitch McConnell fall within the domestic enemy category. The fact that they all took the same oath makes them traitors.
Labeling your political opponents "traitors" is a bit of a stretch don't ya think?
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
one way to smoke this liar out. he's insinuating that the president's characterization of his position was a strawman, right? i.e. that he supports these programs just as the president does. very well, dare him to come out and adopt the president's acclamation of these programs as being his own principles.
Why would Paul feel the need to 'defend' himself against this particular strawman? It must have been some other Republican pushing the makers vs. takers thing. Why not put that guy on Ingrahams show to make the case for the Makers against the Takers.
Just taking the long view - What kind of 'democracy' will we be living in when Redmap delivers the entire government to a minority party bent on remaking the entire social fabric in secret.
We already have had an example of that - it was called the Confederate States of America. How did that work out?