Hey Ajay: Methinks you "overcompensate" a little too much...desperation maybe??

Some of the groups that have or had money invested in Bain Capital...somebody's got some "splaining" to do...ha ha! (NY Post-9/1/12)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund ($2.2 million)
Indiana Public Retirement System ($39.3 million)
Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System ($177.1 million)
The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System ($19.5 million)
Maryland State Retirement and Pension System ($117.5 million)
Public Employees’ Retirement System of Nevada ($20.3 million)
State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio ($767.3 million)
Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement System ($231.5 million)
Employees’ Retirement System of Rhode Island ($25 million)
San Diego County Employees Retirement Association ($23.5 million)
Teacher Retirement System of Texas ($122.5 million)
Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System ($15 million)

Endowment Funds from
Columbia Unversity
Princeton
Yale
Cornell
Emory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Notre Dame
University of Pittsburgh.
Purdue University ($15.9 million)
University of California ($225.7 million)
University of Michigan ($130 million)
University of Virginia ($20 million)
University of Washington ($33 million)

Foundations
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
The Doris Duke Foundation
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ford Foundation, the
Heinz Endowments and the
Oprah Winfrey Foundation.

Wasserman Schultz, who serves with Ryan on the House Budget Committee, said, "To suggest that Paul Ryan is fiscally responsible is ludicrous, because his record doesn't even remotely reflect that." Just take his claim that President Obama failed to advance a deficit reduction plan. What Ryan neglected to mention was that as a member of the Simpson-Bowles commission, he voted against the plan.

"Last night, Paul Ryan lied. Repeatedly, knowingly, and brazenly, reciting charges that have been universally dismissed as false by news organizations. They just don't care. And they've said so: Two days ago, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney said they're not going to be beholden to fact checks. And boy, did they prove that last night."

A few of Paul Ryan's biggest lies:

On his district: He blamed President Obama for an auto plant that closed in his district—but the truth is the plant had shut down in 2008, when George W. Bush was president.

On Medicare: Ryan said that he and Romney would save Medicare for future generations. Their plan would actually replace Medicare as we know it with a voucher system—raising costs for seniors.

On the deficit: Ryan said, “President Obama has added more debt than any other president before him.” False.

On the middle class: Ryan called for “the strong to protect the weak.” But the Romney-Ryan plan would ask for nothing from the wealthiest Americans—instead their plan would raise taxes on middle-class families, and strip key programs like Pell Grants and Medicare, just to provide more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

The GOP has adopted an extreme platform that is incredibly out of touch. Take a look at just ten of the policies Republicans hope to enact under a Romney presidency:

Ban all abortions, with no exception for victims of rape and incest

"We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children. We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage."
Harsh treatment of immigrants

"In order to restore the rule of law, federal funding should be denied to sanctuary cities that violate federal law and endanger their own citizens, and federal funding should be denied to universities that provide instate tuition rates to illegal aliens, in open defiance of federal law."
"We insist upon enforcement at the workplace through verification systems so that jobs can be available to all legal workers. Use of the E-verify program—an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees—must be made mandatory nationwide."
"We support changing the way that the decennial census is conducted, so that citizens are distinguished from lawfully present aliens and illegal aliens."
Restrict voting rights and civil rights

"With a Republican Administration, the Department will stop suing States for exercising those powers reserved to the States, will stop abusing its preclearance authority to block photo-ID voting laws, and will fulfill its responsibility to defend all federal laws in court, including the Defense of Marriage Act."
Oppose marriage equality

"[W]e believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage."
Extreme on taxes

"We call for a Constitutional amendment requiring a super-majority for any tax increase with exceptions for only war and national emergencies, and imposing a cap limiting spending to the historical average percentage of GDP so that future Congresses cannot balance the budget by raising taxes."
Extreme on the environment

"The most powerful environmental policy is liberty, the central organizing principle of the American Republic and its people. Liberty alone fosters scientific inquiry, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and information exchange. Liberty must remain the core energy behind America’s environmental improvement."
Attack human rights for LGBT people living abroad

"The effectiveness of our foreign aid has been limited by the cultural agenda of the current Administration, attempting to impose on foreign countries, especially the peoples of Africa, legalized abortion and the homosexual rights agenda."
Put airport security in the hands of private firms

"We call for the private sector to take over airport screening wherever feasible and look toward the development of security systems that can replace the personal violation of frisking."
Scrap the Wall Street Reform law that protects our economy

"But no peril justifies the regulatory impact of Obamacare on the practice of medicine, the Dodd-Frank Act on financial services, or the EPA’s and OSHA’s overreaching regulation agenda. A Republican Congress and President will repeal the first and second, and rein in the third."
Kill Obamacare

"We agree with the four dissenting justices of the Supreme Court: 'In our view the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety.' It was the high-water mark of an outdated liberalism, the latest attempt to impose upon Americans a euro-style bureaucracy to manage all aspects of their lives."
"Through Obamacare, the current administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare."

Here are the top 10 comments about Bain from Romney’s Republican rivals Perry & Newt:

1. “The idea that you’ve got private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs, that’s not what the Republican Party’s about.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/12/12].

2. “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” — Newt Gingrich [New York Times, 1/17/12].

3. “Instead of trying to work with them to try to find a way to keep the jobs and to get them back on their feet, it’s all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it, and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon” — Ric k Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12].

4. “We find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” — Newt Gingrich [Globe and Mail, 1/9/12].

5. “Now, I have no doubt Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company, Bain Capital, of all the jobs that they killed” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/9/12].

6) “He claims he created 100,000 jobs. The Washington Post, two days ago, reported in their fact check column that he gets three Pinocchios. Now, a Pinocchio is what you get from The Post if you’re not telling the truth.” — Newt Gingrich [1/13/12, NBC News].

7. “There is something inherently wrong when getting rich off failure and sticking it to someone else is how you do your business, and I happen to think that’s indefensible” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12].

8. “If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years, then I would be glad to then listen to him” — Newt Gingrich [Mediaite, 12/14/11].

9. “If you’re a victim of Bain Capital’s downsizing, it’s the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain, because he caused it.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/8/12].

10. “They’re vultures that sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick and then they swoop in, they eat the carcass. They leave with that and they leave the skeleton” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12].

Just last night, Newt Gingrich defended his attacks, saying “I think there are things you can legitimately look at in Bain Capital. I think there are things you can legitimately look at in anybody’s record, including Mitt Romney’s record.”.

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 House Republican co-sponsors and also the PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.

Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for th e very rich.

As The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn writes:
The most significant Medicare funding difference between the two sides, at least for the short- to medium-term, is how they handle the savings these cuts generate. Obamacare puts the money back into the pockets of people who need help with their medical bills. A portion of the money is earmarked for children and non-elderly Americans, who, starting in 2014, will become eligible for Medicaid or receive tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance. A smaller, but still significant, portion of the money is for seniors. It helps them pay for prescription drugs, by filling the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D coverage. It also eliminates out-of-pocket costs for annual wellness visits, some cancer screenings, and other preventative services....

Ryan's budget—which, again, Romney has repeatedly embraced and said he would sign—actually takes those new benefits away. The Part D donut hole would open back up. Access to free preventative care would vanish. And where would Ryan and Romney put the money instead? They say it's for deficit reduction. I'd say it's really for their big new tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure that we’re, you know – that he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to be responsible… I mean this is the same guy who voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that costs as much as my health care bill – but wasn’t paid for,” Obama said on April 15, 2011.

In 2008, Ryan released his "Roadmap for America's Future," which described his sweeping vision for how to gut America's main entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The plan made him a hero among conservative circles, and Ryan eventually remade it as his "Path to Prosperity" plan, which President Barack Obama and Democrats have criticized for embracing tax cuts for the very rich while slashing government programs that help the poor. (It wasn't just Democrats who criticized Ryan. While running for president, Newt Gingrich called Ryan's plan "right wing social engineering," which probably helped kill Gingrich's bid.)

President Obama actually helped raise Ryan's profile on the right by critiquing the Congressman's budget, and just last year, Ryan was reportedly mulling his own run for president.

Critics have called Ryan’s 2011 proposal the “end of Medicare as we know it,” and that’s true. Until now, Medicare has operated as a “fee-for-service” system; under Ryan’s plan, it would operate more like a voucher system, although Ryan and his aides have resisted this term. Medicare would cease to pay for health services directly, instead operating as a board that approves a menu of health plans for public sale and doles out predetermined lumps of money to people enrolled in Medicare, to help them buy those plans.

After its release, the president called Ryan’s plan “fairly radical” and posited that it would “change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way,” ABC’s David Kerley reported.

“I guess you could call that bold. I would call it short-sighted,” Obama told 500 Facebook employees and 200 other attendees at a town-hall meeting held at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2011. “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”.

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.
Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for the very rich. Why shouldn't the very rich be paying the same tax rate I am? Why should capital gains be taxed differently? Money is money. The interest on my savings, which the bank uses to invest, is taxed the same as my income. That money is still being invested.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

Note: The author, John F. Ince of the following article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

There are at least 12 reasons why Mitt Romney would not make a good president. Here's John F. Ince's list. What's yours?

1 • Romney neither understands nor represents most Americans. The man lacks empathy for those who have not had all the benefits he has had in life. His presidency would be deeply polarizing. One can easily image his election as president would generate new waves of social unrest and violence. He clearly represents the 1% and the 99% will not tolerate policies that exacerbate the growing divisions between rich and poor.

2 • Romney's job creation claims are inflated and unrealistic. Mitt Romney's professional career was based on a very specific task: buying and selling companies for profit. He wants people to think that this qualifies him to be a job creator. With the exception of his investment in Staples and a few other early venture capital deals, his jobs creation claims are mostly chimera. He takes credit for creating jobs, when he was only an investor in those companies, not an executive. In practice, he predominantly used his power as an investor to eliminate jobs and shift other jobs overseas, all in the interest of making profits.

3 • Romney does not have a sound fiscal plan. Extrapolating from the projections Romney has offered for increased defense spending and tax cuts, his policies would blow a hole in the Federal budget, further eroding investors faith in the government's ability to get its fiscal house in order.

4 • Romney has little respect for the natural environment, nor a commitment to protect and preserve it for future generations.

5 • Romney has lived a cloistered and privileged life and today has a very narrow view of the world.
6 • Romney's worldview is rooted in intolerance.
7 • Romney does not fully understand the transformative power of technological change.
8 • Romney is temperamentally unfit for the presidency.
9 • Romney lacks direct foreign policy experience.
10 • Romney lacks integrity and honesty.
11 • Romney has no commitment to women or equal rights. There is little in his public statements or record to suggest he feels any responsibility for advancing the interests of women and minorities.
12 • Romney lacks sufficient charisma and personality to be a strong leader.

Note: The author, John F. Ince of this article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 Republican co-sponsors and PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 House Republican co-sponsors and also the PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.

Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for th e very rich.

As The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn writes:
The most significant Medicare funding difference between the two sides, at least for the short- to medium-term, is how they handle the savings these cuts generate. Obamacare puts the money back into the pockets of people who need help with their medical bills. A portion of the money is earmarked for children and non-elderly Americans, who, starting in 2014, will become eligible for Medicaid or receive tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance. A smaller, but still significant, portion of the money is for seniors. It helps them pay for prescription drugs, by filling the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D coverage. It also eliminates out-of-pocket costs for annual wellness visits, some cancer screenings, and other preventative services....

Ryan's budget—which, again, Romney has repeatedly embraced and said he would sign—actually takes those new benefits away. The Part D donut hole would open back up. Access to free preventative care would vanish. And where would Ryan and Romney put the money instead? They say it's for deficit reduction. I'd say it's really for their big new tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure that we’re, you know – that he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to be responsible… I mean this is the same guy who voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that costs as much as my health care bill – but wasn’t paid for,” Obama said on April 15, 2011.

In 2008, Ryan released his "Roadmap for America's Future," which described his sweeping vision for how to gut America's main entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The plan made him a hero among conservative circles, and Ryan eventually remade it as his "Path to Prosperity" plan, which President Barack Obama and Democrats have criticized for embracing tax cuts for the very rich while slashing government programs that help the poor. (It wasn't just Democrats who criticized Ryan. While running for president, Newt Gingrich called Ryan's plan "right wing social engineering," which probably helped kill Gingrich's bid.)

President Obama actually helped raise Ryan's profile on the right by critiquing the Congressman's budget, and just last year, Ryan was reportedly mulling his own run for president.

Critics have called Ryan’s 2011 proposal the “end of Medicare as we know it,” and that’s true. Until now, Medicare has operated as a “fee-for-service” system; under Ryan’s plan, it would operate more like a voucher system, although Ryan and his aides have resisted this term. Medicare would cease to pay for health services directly, instead operating as a board that approves a menu of health plans for public sale and doles out predetermined lumps of money to people enrolled in Medicare, to help them buy those plans.

After its release, the president called Ryan’s plan “fairly radical” and posited that it would “change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way,” ABC’s David Kerley reported.

“I guess you could call that bold. I would call it short-sighted,” Obama told 500 Facebook employees and 200 other attendees at a town-hall meeting held at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2011. “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”.

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.
Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for the very rich. Why shouldn't the very rich be paying the same tax rate I am? Why should capital gains be taxed differently? Money is money. The interest on my savings, which the bank uses to invest, is taxed the same as my income. That money is still being invested.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

Note: The author, John F. Ince of the following article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

There are at least 12 reasons why Mitt Romney would not make a good president. Here's John F. Ince's list. What's yours?

1 • Romney neither understands nor represents most Americans. The man lacks empathy for those who have not had all the benefits he has had in life. His presidency would be deeply polarizing. One can easily image his election as president would generate new waves of social unrest and violence. He clearly represents the 1% and the 99% will not tolerate policies that exacerbate the growing divisions between rich and poor.

2 • Romney's job creation claims are inflated and unrealistic. Mitt Romney's professional career was based on a very specific task: buying and selling companies for profit. He wants people to think that this qualifies him to be a job creator. With the exception of his investment in Staples and a few other early venture capital deals, his jobs creation claims are mostly chimera. He takes credit for creating jobs, when he was only an investor in those companies, not an executive. In practice, he predominantly used his power as an investor to eliminate jobs and shift other jobs overseas, all in the interest of making profits.

3 • Romney does not have a sound fiscal plan. Extrapolating from the projections Romney has offered for increased defense spending and tax cuts, his policies would blow a hole in the Federal budget, further eroding investors faith in the government's ability to get its fiscal house in order.

4 • Romney has little respect for the natural environment, nor a commitment to protect and preserve it for future generations.

5 • Romney has lived a cloistered and privileged life and today has a very narrow view of the world.
6 • Romney's worldview is rooted in intolerance.
7 • Romney does not fully understand the transformative power of technological change.
8 • Romney is temperamentally unfit for the presidency.
9 • Romney lacks direct foreign policy experience.
10 • Romney lacks integrity and honesty.
11 • Romney has no commitment to women or equal rights. There is little in his public statements or record to suggest he feels any responsibility for advancing the interests of women and minorities.
12 • Romney lacks sufficient charisma and personality to be a strong leader.

Note: The author, John F. Ince of this article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 Republican co-sponsors and PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 House Republican co-sponsors and also the PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.

Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for th e very rich.

As The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn writes:
The most significant Medicare funding difference between the two sides, at least for the short- to medium-term, is how they handle the savings these cuts generate. Obamacare puts the money back into the pockets of people who need help with their medical bills. A portion of the money is earmarked for children and non-elderly Americans, who, starting in 2014, will become eligible for Medicaid or receive tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance. A smaller, but still significant, portion of the money is for seniors. It helps them pay for prescription drugs, by filling the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D coverage. It also eliminates out-of-pocket costs for annual wellness visits, some cancer screenings, and other preventative services....

Ryan's budget—which, again, Romney has repeatedly embraced and said he would sign—actually takes those new benefits away. The Part D donut hole would open back up. Access to free preventative care would vanish. And where would Ryan and Romney put the money instead? They say it's for deficit reduction. I'd say it's really for their big new tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure that we’re, you know – that he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to be responsible… I mean this is the same guy who voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that costs as much as my health care bill – but wasn’t paid for,” Obama said on April 15, 2011.

In 2008, Ryan released his "Roadmap for America's Future," which described his sweeping vision for how to gut America's main entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The plan made him a hero among conservative circles, and Ryan eventually remade it as his "Path to Prosperity" plan, which President Barack Obama and Democrats have criticized for embracing tax cuts for the very rich while slashing government programs that help the poor. (It wasn't just Democrats who criticized Ryan. While running for president, Newt Gingrich called Ryan's plan "right wing social engineering," which probably helped kill Gingrich's bid.)

President Obama actually helped raise Ryan's profile on the right by critiquing the Congressman's budget, and just last year, Ryan was reportedly mulling his own run for president.

Critics have called Ryan’s 2011 proposal the “end of Medicare as we know it,” and that’s true. Until now, Medicare has operated as a “fee-for-service” system; under Ryan’s plan, it would operate more like a voucher system, although Ryan and his aides have resisted this term. Medicare would cease to pay for health services directly, instead operating as a board that approves a menu of health plans for public sale and doles out predetermined lumps of money to people enrolled in Medicare, to help them buy those plans.

After its release, the president called Ryan’s plan “fairly radical” and posited that it would “change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way,” ABC’s David Kerley reported.

“I guess you could call that bold. I would call it short-sighted,” Obama told 500 Facebook employees and 200 other attendees at a town-hall meeting held at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2011. “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”.

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.
Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for the very rich. Why shouldn't the very rich be paying the same tax rate I am? Why should capital gains be taxed differently? Money is money. The interest on my savings, which the bank uses to invest, is taxed the same as my income. That money is still being invested.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

Note: The author, John F. Ince of the following article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

There are at least 12 reasons why Mitt Romney would not make a good president. Here's John F. Ince's list. What's yours?

1 • Romney neither understands nor represents most Americans. The man lacks empathy for those who have not had all the benefits he has had in life. His presidency would be deeply polarizing. One can easily image his election as president would generate new waves of social unrest and violence. He clearly represents the 1% and the 99% will not tolerate policies that exacerbate the growing divisions between rich and poor.

2 • Romney's job creation claims are inflated and unrealistic. Mitt Romney's professional career was based on a very specific task: buying and selling companies for profit. He wants people to think that this qualifies him to be a job creator. With the exception of his investment in Staples and a few other early venture capital deals, his jobs creation claims are mostly chimera. He takes credit for creating jobs, when he was only an investor in those companies, not an executive. In practice, he predominantly used his power as an investor to eliminate jobs and shift other jobs overseas, all in the interest of making profits.

3 • Romney does not have a sound fiscal plan. Extrapolating from the projections Romney has offered for increased defense spending and tax cuts, his policies would blow a hole in the Federal budget, further eroding investors faith in the government's ability to get its fiscal house in order.

4 • Romney has little respect for the natural environment, nor a commitment to protect and preserve it for future generations.

5 • Romney has lived a cloistered and privileged life and today has a very narrow view of the world.
6 • Romney's worldview is rooted in intolerance.
7 • Romney does not fully understand the transformative power of technological change.
8 • Romney is temperamentally unfit for the presidency.
9 • Romney lacks direct foreign policy experience.
10 • Romney lacks integrity and honesty.
11 • Romney has no commitment to women or equal rights. There is little in his public statements or record to suggest he feels any responsibility for advancing the interests of women and minorities.
12 • Romney lacks sufficient charisma and personality to be a strong leader.

Note: The author, John F. Ince of this article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 Republican co-sponsors and PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 House Republican co-sponsors and also the PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.

Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for th e very rich.

As The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn writes:
The most significant Medicare funding difference between the two sides, at least for the short- to medium-term, is how they handle the savings these cuts generate. Obamacare puts the money back into the pockets of people who need help with their medical bills. A portion of the money is earmarked for children and non-elderly Americans, who, starting in 2014, will become eligible for Medicaid or receive tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance. A smaller, but still significant, portion of the money is for seniors. It helps them pay for prescription drugs, by filling the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D coverage. It also eliminates out-of-pocket costs for annual wellness visits, some cancer screenings, and other preventative services....

Ryan's budget—which, again, Romney has repeatedly embraced and said he would sign—actually takes those new benefits away. The Part D donut hole would open back up. Access to free preventative care would vanish. And where would Ryan and Romney put the money instead? They say it's for deficit reduction. I'd say it's really for their big new tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure that we’re, you know – that he’s just being America’s accountant and trying to be responsible… I mean this is the same guy who voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that costs as much as my health care bill – but wasn’t paid for,” Obama said on April 15, 2011.

In 2008, Ryan released his "Roadmap for America's Future," which described his sweeping vision for how to gut America's main entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. The plan made him a hero among conservative circles, and Ryan eventually remade it as his "Path to Prosperity" plan, which President Barack Obama and Democrats have criticized for embracing tax cuts for the very rich while slashing government programs that help the poor. (It wasn't just Democrats who criticized Ryan. While running for president, Newt Gingrich called Ryan's plan "right wing social engineering," which probably helped kill Gingrich's bid.)

President Obama actually helped raise Ryan's profile on the right by critiquing the Congressman's budget, and just last year, Ryan was reportedly mulling his own run for president.

Critics have called Ryan’s 2011 proposal the “end of Medicare as we know it,” and that’s true. Until now, Medicare has operated as a “fee-for-service” system; under Ryan’s plan, it would operate more like a voucher system, although Ryan and his aides have resisted this term. Medicare would cease to pay for health services directly, instead operating as a board that approves a menu of health plans for public sale and doles out predetermined lumps of money to people enrolled in Medicare, to help them buy those plans.

After its release, the president called Ryan’s plan “fairly radical” and posited that it would “change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way,” ABC’s David Kerley reported.

“I guess you could call that bold. I would call it short-sighted,” Obama told 500 Facebook employees and 200 other attendees at a town-hall meeting held at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in April 2011. “Nothing is easier than solving a problem on the backs of people who are poor or people who are powerless or don’t have lobbyists or don’t have clout.”.

The fact that Romney/Ryan purposely distort Obama's $716B cut to medicare shows me just how dishonest they are. Especially since the cut is being spent on medical care, it doesn't reduce benefits to seniors.
Compare that to Ryan's proposal that cuts the same amount and the money is used to make up the difference created by tax breaks for the very rich. Why shouldn't the very rich be paying the same tax rate I am? Why should capital gains be taxed differently? Money is money. The interest on my savings, which the bank uses to invest, is taxed the same as my income. That money is still being invested.

"The $716 billion in cuts do not affect benefits for today's seniors. Instead, they reduce provider reimbursements and are intended to curb waste, fraud and abuse." ----- And I'll bet you ten thousand dollars, Ryan / Romney did NOT mention that little bit of information to the crowd.....

Note: The author, John F. Ince of the following article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

There are at least 12 reasons why Mitt Romney would not make a good president. Here's John F. Ince's list. What's yours?

1 • Romney neither understands nor represents most Americans. The man lacks empathy for those who have not had all the benefits he has had in life. His presidency would be deeply polarizing. One can easily image his election as president would generate new waves of social unrest and violence. He clearly represents the 1% and the 99% will not tolerate policies that exacerbate the growing divisions between rich and poor.

2 • Romney's job creation claims are inflated and unrealistic. Mitt Romney's professional career was based on a very specific task: buying and selling companies for profit. He wants people to think that this qualifies him to be a job creator. With the exception of his investment in Staples and a few other early venture capital deals, his jobs creation claims are mostly chimera. He takes credit for creating jobs, when he was only an investor in those companies, not an executive. In practice, he predominantly used his power as an investor to eliminate jobs and shift other jobs overseas, all in the interest of making profits.

3 • Romney does not have a sound fiscal plan. Extrapolating from the projections Romney has offered for increased defense spending and tax cuts, his policies would blow a hole in the Federal budget, further eroding investors faith in the government's ability to get its fiscal house in order.

4 • Romney has little respect for the natural environment, nor a commitment to protect and preserve it for future generations.

5 • Romney has lived a cloistered and privileged life and today has a very narrow view of the world.
6 • Romney's worldview is rooted in intolerance.
7 • Romney does not fully understand the transformative power of technological change.
8 • Romney is temperamentally unfit for the presidency.
9 • Romney lacks direct foreign policy experience.
10 • Romney lacks integrity and honesty.
11 • Romney has no commitment to women or equal rights. There is little in his public statements or record to suggest he feels any responsibility for advancing the interests of women and minorities.
12 • Romney lacks sufficient charisma and personality to be a strong leader.

Note: The author, John F. Ince of this article is a former classmate of Mitt Romney at Harvard Business School and former reporter at Fortune Magazine. He is the author of Mitt Romney: King of Bain and the Man Who Wants To Be President.

Now with the Todd Akin RAPE "doctrine" and the Todd Akin and Paul Ryan connection redefining rape in the FORCIBLE RAPE BILL with 225 Republican co-sponsors and PERSONHOOD BILL can not be dismissed by Romney as just another flip flop! The Romney Ryan ticket is sinking like the Titanic even before the Republican Convention where they are supposed to be NOMINATED next week!

Vote straight Democratic ticket on November and throw the freshman class of 2010 House Republicans out because since 2010 the house Republicans have blindly opposed President Obama!

On Friday the 13th Mitt Romney gives very defensive interviews to FIVE networks on a single day!! Just a few days ago Mitt Romney said to FOX News that explaining means that you are WEAK. So his five interviews explaining his time at Bain were signs of his weakness!!

Presidential Candidate Mr. Mitt Romney is clearly feeling the heat on his role in BAIN Capital which was supposed to be his sole criteria for creating jobs and running for the American Presidency!

When SEC documents show Mitt Romney as CEO, President and Chairman of Bain Capital in 2001 and 2002 then LEGALLY speaking Mitt Romney is responsible to all that goes on under the banner of Bain Capital. Mitt Romney can not just share the good like job creation and leave the ugly like Bankruptcies and layoffs behind as if he had nothing to do about them.

If he really wanted to disassociate himself from Bain Capital he could have resigned and sold all his shares in Bain Capital in February 1999 then it would have been a different matter but to share in the glory of Bain's job creation accept a salary of $100,000 or MORE (where are the Tax Returns?) for three years and only to refuse to take the responsibility of Bankruptcies and layoffs on his WATCH (1999-2002) is trying to have it both ways and then complaining of playing politics having been caught with his hand in the proverbial Cookie Jar that is the very essence of an ACTIVE LEGAL ROLE in Bain Capital till 2002!!

Mitt Romney will have to face the consequences of this lie that Mitt Romney has brought on upon himself. If we keep reminding the Romney campaign of Bain and its ill effects on workers robbing them of their hard earned salaries and life long benefits all the way to November then today, 7/13/2012 (FRIDAY the 13th) will go down as the turning point of the 2012 Presidential election!

Paul Ryan is so far removed from reality the only reason he gets a national platform to spread his nonsense is because his boss, Romney, is even dummer.

And the only reason Romney has been temporarily given a national stage to prance on is because each and every one of the other candidates were utter clowns, who embarassed all sentient political life.

1. We know the US economy is in the ditch. 2. Obama's hope & change has uttlerly failed. 3. The President is dividing not leading the US. 4. Obamacare was rammed down the throats of US citizens, very unpopular & deceitfully drawn up with a 6 yr cost window. When looked at truthfully, it slashes $700 billion in hospital & provider payments. Bamacare also "claims" another $470 million in future savings by implementing ACO's (accountable care organizations), just fluff for general system bureaucratic savings. The new IPAB board (15 bureaucrats) also would also have the right to limit payments (won't that be fun!). 5. Medicare is on life support, with runaway costs, about to go over the financial cliff. 6. Journalists are part of the problem on this overhaul. We all know it's needed, both parties are coming at it from 2 different directions, it's a huge job, not sure why the ginning up of extreme characterizations?? At some point bi-partisan work is needed. Glad Euro's & journos have no say in this. Glad to see R2 leading!!

In the spirit of pointing out demonstrably misleading assertions...

"Even Fox News"
The article referred to here was written by Sally Kohn, who recently stated - in another opinion piece published on the Fox website - "Sure I'm a Democrat and want President Obama to win re-election". Perhaps implying that Kohn represents the editorial position of Fox News is demonstrably misleading?

"World War II cost $4.1 trillion in 2011 dollars"
Leaving aside the dubious assertion made by Ezra Klein that WW2 was a "one-time expenditure" (and by the way, instead of linking to other articles, why not do some research yourself?), failing to adjust for inflation when comparing financial figures is hardly a new problem in public discourse. By way of example, see how many articles (The Guardian has a few) assert that last year's Midnight in Paris is Woody Allen's "most financially successful film yet". Then see how much Hannah and Her Sisters made in "2011 dollars".

Please highlight the Republican Party's lies, but please don't accuse them of representation in an article which, if not quite post-factual, is certainly crammed with similarly specious arguments. Thanks.

You could tell he was lying... his lips were moving!