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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Government Scorned While Ryan's Supporters Reap Benefits

From the moment Paul Ryan walked into the Craig auditorium and received a loud round of applause was when I knew most in attendance were his hometown partisans. It caught me by surprise because a good half in attendance looked to be Social Security and Medicare recipients or only a few years away - the very people Ryan has been working against most of his career. Go figure.

Ryan spoke fast and loose during his well rehearsed power point presentation on HR3200 as well as throughout the meeting before taking questions from the audience. He offered no new information or willingness to collaborate with the majority party.

As far as attendance goes, I'm not good at counting heads but if I had to guess there were at least 600 people in attendance for Ryan's InsuroCorp meeting. Possibly more.

One person getting a chance with the microphone claimed to have a degree in accounting, described himself as neither a Democrat or a Republican, but admitted he voted for Ryan before taking verbal potshots at Pelosi and Reid. Who would'a known? Still, this guy was representative of the audience when he complained about the amount his social security was being "taxed" to pay for his current health care (Medicare, I suppose he expected it was free), at the same time insinuating we don't need no "socialized medicine." The crowd roared in agreement. This general theme was repeated throughout much of the event.

Ryan of course came pre-loaded with all the talking points and only used the word "insurance" when he really had to while overusing "government" at every chance available. Regarding his own plan, he described the $5,700 tax credit as a "subsidy" that would help families pay their premiums under their current plans. Never mind the fact that if you accept the subsidy, you are no longer a member of your employers' group plan. Apparently, Ryan's plans never add to the deficit because the money to fund "Patients Choice" comes from out of nowhere. And how does Ryan's "Patients Choice" work for employees of the government? It doesn't.

Neither does Ryan ever clarify the reality that the public option is merely government sponsored insurance, meaning the actual health care is still administered by private health care professionals.

A spokesperson from the League of Women Voters gently implied that Ryan’s rigid opposition to HR3200 is premature since many changes can happen before the bill is finalized. This was a sharp observation because Ryan has disengaged himself from the architectural planning of HR3200. Instead of working with Congress, he has chosen to present his own weakly written and unworkable insurance proposal.

Ironically, the one person from the audience who asked Ryan to take a stand against the astro-turf thugs disrupting health care town halls held by democrats was the only person who was heckled and almost shouted down astro-turf style by Ryan's cane-carrying brigade. But it was a mild outburst and the citizen was given the chance to finish her statement. Other than a few more rounds of loud applause mingled with a few grunts and boo's, the meeting went along without any real shout-downs or threats. None was expected after all since Ryan is a Republican.

It did seem like there were one or two applause starters near the center rear of the auditorium. Ryan could have passed gas and they would have clapped. But by far the most glaring irony of the event was the insanely illogical mindset and gullibility of the socialized pensioners in attendance supporting Ryan and his deceptive plans. As long as they got theirs (Social Security and Medicare, etc.), they are fully prepared to take a stand to make sure others don't.

SNL or Comedy Central can't touch it.

WKOW's report on the event

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"This was a sharp observation because Ryan has disengaged himself from the architectural planning of HR3200."

How true. In doing so Ryan has disengaged the entire congressional district from constructive input on HR3200. Why try to convince Ryan of anything when his mind is already made up? His job is to obstruct.

Anonymous said...

Some things to note also:
1) When I pulled up late I saw that some cars parked on the side streets in front of Craig had IL license plates. Red States and Free Republic both told their people OFA was trying to start a riot at Paul Ryan's shindig which I think is why the venue changed because so many of the nutters wanted to be there to fight liberals and I think Paul Ryan's office helped orchastrate it.
2) He chose specifically the old. One woman in front of me near the back had her arm up nearly the whole time and he was ignoring her until I shouted at him to call on her.
3) He wouldn't cut off wingers but cut off people who were asking good questions.
4) I told the brave British lady up front about your website because she knows Ryan is full of manure and seems to want to know more about what's going on here.
4) He was derisive about the idea that it is wrong to brandish a gun at a townhall, but of course the gazette makes it seem he was being supportive of the idea
http://gazettextra.com/weblogs/opinion-matters/2009/aug/26/they-held-forum-and-no-police-were-needed/
P.S. where did you sit? I was the guy in the black shirt and glasses by the big fan in the back trying to cheer on the sane people there.

Lou Kaye said...

Thanks for posting your observations.

Imagine if a democrat jokingly suggested that all constituents "with guns please leave the room." They would burn em' at the stake as a gun-grabbing stalinist.

After rubberstamping the executive branch during the Bush years, Ryan has definitely ramped up his publicity department to separate himself from all the damage it is inflicting on the nation. He's blameless as always.

I sat near the front right, by the police officer in the doorway - so I always had a gun close in case it was needed ;-)

Anonymous said...

Yeah he is trying to yet another teflon Ronny Raygun savior type of the wealthy white christians everywhere. He just don't realize it ain't 1980 anymore. You sat in the front right? Wow right in the thick of crazy, vengeful, and stupid you sir deserve a metal.
:-)

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