The GOP 72 Hour Lie-a-thon Rolls On!

We’ve heard it all this week, but not one statement of truth uttered in 72 hours.

Ryan chastised Obama for doing nothing about the recommendations to reduce the deficit provided by the bi-partisan Simpson/Boles committee. Yet Ryan was on that committee and he voted against the recommendations.

The Republicans are claiming that Obama is cutting Medicare by 700 billion over 10 years. Since when are Republicans opposed to cutting Medicare?! Only when the cuts are to their private for-profit health insurance cronies who have been getting federal subsidies for the Medicare Advantage program that is designed to kill traditional Medicare by making private insurers “appear” more competitive than they really are. The Republicans are honor bound to fight against those  cuts because they’ve been paid by the lobbies to keep those subsidies flowing. 

The Republicans are running ads that claim Obama has eliminated the “work for welfare” requirement that has been in force since Clinton. That is an outright lie. The requirement has not been eliminated. The states wanted relief from the requirement and federal government has said they will consider waivers if the states make a case for doing it that still shows an increase in work for welfare. That’s the farthest thing in the world from eliminating the work  requirement. (I personally believe that forcing a single mom with kids to work for welfare is has negative consequences. If she gets a minimum wage job she has to use it all to pay for childcare while she’s working.)

The Republicans say the whole campaign is about jobs, yet they have nothing to offer that will create jobs  except saying that Government should get out of the way so they can do what?Underpay workers, ignore health and safety regulations, avoid inspections, pollute the air, ground and water with no liability, and kill unions so workers are at the mercy of the corporations and government whims to name a few.

And while they want Government to get out of the way of business, they’re busy getting in the way between doctors and patients by  pushing for anti-abortion laws that require procedural rape with mandatory vaginal probes prior to receiving an abortion, except of course unless it’s a “legitimate” rape.

They also want to slash spending, except for the defense budget, which they want to increase to record levels.  The military industrial lobby is paying politicians dearly to ensure that  defense spending stays untouched. Which means social programs would be the sole means to cut spending, but hey, yet they seem to want to keep Medicare untouched by the way they accuse Obama of cutting Medicare spending. So how are they going to cut spending and reduce the deficit? They aren’t.  They can’t.  Only higher taxes will balance the budget and Republicans will never agree to do that.

Finally, one truism in Tampa. The National Debt is flashed in real-time and below it in larger letters is a declaration, “We Built it!”.