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Tag Archive for 'Paul Ryan'

LOVE.

Published by Mockarena on February 7, 2010 in You Know What I Love?. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

While he continues to insist that he won’t be running for President in 2012, Our Man Mitch keeps getting attention from the national press about just how good he’d be if he changed his mind.

George Will is, I think it’s safe to say, a Mitch fan.  In his latest article, his lead paragraph is, in fact, as follows:

“In 2013, when President Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor, is counting his blessings, at the top of his list will be the name of his vice president: Paul Ryan. The former congressman from Wisconsin will have come to office with ideas for steering the federal government to solvency.”

OMG – that could be my ultimate dream team.  Can you even imagine the awesomeness?

Granted, the bulk of the article is about Paul Ryan – more so than about Mitch, but it’s pitch perfect all the same.  Will describes Ryan’s Roadmap, which includes tax reform, a reduction of our debt, retirement security, and healthcare reform.   And the more I read about the Roadmap, the more I like it.  Ryan wants to eliminate taxes on stuff like capital gains and death.  He wants to reduce the corporate income tax, which is crippling US businesses and driving them overseas.  Ryan wants to use refundable tax credits to help people buy portable health insurance coverage in any state.  He wants to encourage more use of medical savings accounts, which more closely resemble auto insurance plans than they do the common PPO-type health insurance option many people have grown far too accustomed to.  He wants to let workers decide if they want to invest part of their social security tax in personal retirement accounts.

I mean, it just makes sense, you guys.  Particularly when you compare Ryan’s Roadmap to what Will describes as the Democratic  ” impenetrable labyrinth of health care legislation.”

Daniels/Ryan 2012.  It’s my ultimate Presidential/VP ticket fantasy.

My Love For Paul Ryan Continues To Grow

Published by Mockarena on February 3, 2010 in You Know What I Love?. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

I love when Paul Ryan smacks Timmy Geitner around a bit. Actually, I love it when ANYONE smacks Timmy Geitner around a bit, but I especially love this.

Rep. Paul Ryan Is Totally In My Top 10 Favorite Congresspeople

Published by Mockarena on January 30, 2010 in You Know What I Love?. 1 Comment Tags: .

His thoughts on the President’s participation in the House Republican retreat. Direct, respectful, and cautiously optimistic.

LOVE.

Time To Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, Obama

Published by Mockarena on January 28, 2010 in News. 9 Comments Tags: , , .

So last night he said it himself – he said he was willing to hear any and all ideas people had (Democrat OR Republican) about healthcare reform. Let’s see if he means it. Reps Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes are re-introducing their Roadmap for America’s Future plan. I’ll be reeeeeally interested to hear if Obama gives them the time of day.

Young Guns – And Making Over Conservatism

Published by Mockarena on January 10, 2010 in You Know What I Love?. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

My mom sent me a great article about the new crop of Republican faces, called “The Young Guns” being introduced to the public thanks to the efforts of Reps. Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, and Kevin McCarthy.  They are working to “repopulate (the GOP) with a crop of reformist candidates in the midterm.” In other words, they’re trying to do a little rebranding, which you know Daisy and I are big fans of.

Pictured above is Sean Duffy, a Republican 38-year old district attorney who intends to run against David Obey, who has been in his congressional seat for longer than Duffy has been alive. And amazingly, as the article states, Duffy is starting to gain some traction in his blue state.

It was Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard who originally started calling Cantor, Ryan and McCarthy the “Young Guns.”   All three are strong believers in fiscal conservatism and small government, and they’re all youthful and fresh.  Kinda like a really good makeover.

Inspired by the moniker Barnes gave them, the three decided to start the Young Guns program, designed to recruit “a new generation of House Republicans.”  In 2008, they selected 24 potential candidates and supported them through the election cycle.  Seven won, including Pete Olson (TX), and Tom Rooney (FL).

Now, the program has specific requirements which must be met in order for potential candidates to receive support and financial assistance, and 47 potential candidates are seeking a spot as a new Young Gun.  Sean Duffy says, “I’m running because this is the fight of my generation. The prior one fought the Cold War, before that it was World War II. But our fight is becoming one for the principles of free markets and against creeping socialism.” Duffy raised $140,000 in his first fund-raising quarter, apparently a record for that district.

Is the Young Gun program the answer to the GOP’s problems?  Nope.  But it’s a great step in the right direction, and we here at COTR are ALL ABOUT fresh new faces.  It’s all part of the makeover.

Plus, Sean Duffy is hot.  :)

Rep Paul Ryan Totally OWNS MSNBC

Published by Mockarena on July 30, 2009 in You Know What I Love?. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

GOD this is fantastic. The last couple minutes are the best. Just watch him completely obliterate that smug little snot, Katrina Vanden Heuvel. The triumphant look on her face when she tries to make her ridiculous point is totally punch-worthy, but then he just makes her look like such a moron, and it’s a thing of beauty.

I love me some Paul Ryan SO MUCH.

Are We Entitled?

Published by Mockarena on July 23, 2009 in Question.. 11 Comments Tags: , , , , .

So, I guess that’s really what the whole healthcare question boils down to, in a way. Does everyone have the RIGHT to healthcare?

I recall from some obscure document somewhere that we have stuff like a right to freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. Somewhere else I read that we have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But I don’t recall seeing anywhere that we have an inherent right to healthcare.

Now, I’m not saying people don’t NEED healthcare. They do. But they also NEED food. They NEED shelter. They do not have a RIGHT to those things. And there is a difference. We have the right to PURSUE food and shelter and healthcare. The government cannot and should not stop us from our pursuit of those things. And at the same time, they are not obligated to provide those things for us. And they’re certainly not obligated to take money from one person to pay for someone else’s healthcare. But that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. And all sorts of people are inexplicably completely ok with that.

I like the way this article explains it.

And, while I’m the first to admit that Ann Coulter is a polarizing figure in many ways, she’s right when she says, “We already have near-universal health coverage in the form of Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ hospitals, emergency rooms and tax-deductible employer-provided health care — all government creations.”

Yeah. And look how well that’s worked out for us. So hey – you know what we should do? Have more government involvement. Brilliant!

The things that irked me most about Obama’s press conference last night were that 1) he tried to employ the same scare tactics he used with the economic crisis – “If we don’t act now the world will fall apart” basically – and 2) he disingenuously declares that his opposition is suggesting that no action is the answer.

NO ONE is saying that healthcare doesn’t need reform. It does. But it doesn’t need single payer reform. There are plenty of good ideas on the table, which Obama keeps insisting on ignoring. See here, for example.

Leonard Peikoff had it right, I think, when he said, “Health care in the modern world is a complex, scientific, technological service. How can anybody be born with a right to such a thing? Under the American system you have a right to health care if you can pay for it, i.e., if you can earn it by your own action and effort. But nobody has the right to the services of any professional individual or group simply because he wants them and desperately needs them. The very fact that he needs these services so desperately is the proof that he had better respect the freedom, the integrity, and the rights of the people who provide them. You have a right to work, not to rob others of the fruits of their work, not to turn others into sacrificial, rightless animals laboring to fulfill your needs.”

Discuss.

In Case You Missed It

Published by Mockarena on June 22, 2009 in You Know What I Love?. 4 Comments Tags: , , .

“Rising Star” Paul Ryan (R-WI) was interviewed by Chris Wallace last night on Fox. As usual, Chris was tough on him, which is what I love about Chris, and Paul handled himself beautifully. I wrote about Paul a few weeks back because he’s involved with the Republicans’ healthcare plan, and the more I read/hear about him, the more I like him.

Now, do I like the fact that he uses the word “precedence” when he in fact means “precedent?” No. I do not. But I can forgive that because I like that he flat admits that House Democrats refuse to be bipartisan about the healthcare issue. People need to hear that. And people need to hear exactly what will happen with a government healthcare plan when it “competes” with the private sector. I also like that he shatters the misperception that Republicans haven’t been putting together solid plans to counter all the Democratic nonsense that’s being passed left and right.

I like that he readily admits that Republicans have screwed up over the last several years with respect to fiscal responsibility. But mostly, I love how he addresses the question about whether or not he plans to seek higher office: “I have two higher aspirations right now – number 1 – to be the best husband I can be and 2 – to be the best father I can be.”

LOVE.

I Miiiight Have A New Crush

Published by Mockarena on May 23, 2009 in News and You Know What I Love?. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis) is kind of awesome, and he appears to be a new rising star in conservative politics. The video above is his presentation on the Patient’s Choice Act, part of some comprehensive health care reform legislation. This is what I love to see – concrete, substantive ideas which show sensible alternatives to Obamacare.

Ryan was interviewed recently by Human Events editor Jed Babbin, and responded to a question about single-payer systems. He said in part:

“Here’s where the nucleus of this problem occurs at least in my mind: the entire premise of a government-run plan option. The problem with that is that when you have the government as an offerer of health insurance in the marketplace, it is basically akin to having the referee serve also as a player in the game. The government has such enormous built in advantages, there is no way the private sector can compete with it….So every person that moves over the government pay plan because they have a pre-existing condition, they don’t have insurance now, or the employer says, I’ve had it, I don’t want to do it anymore, the government can take care of you, every one of those people who keeps moving over you get a death spiral with private health insurance becoming more expensive. So according to the Lewin Group, in a few years, 120 million people will move from private health insurance to government-run healthcare….According to Lewin, seven out of 10 people who have health insurance from their jobs will be losing it in the next few years under this kind of scenario. You have to understand, the goal here is to have a single-payer system but to use our rhetoric of choice and competition – “if you like what you’ve got you can keep it.” That’s really not the intent of the policy. The intent is, set up a system that LOOKS like if you like what you’ve got you can keep it, you can choose your plan, you can keep your doctor, but the effect of setting it up this way is that in just a handful of years the only thing left standing is the government plan option and it becomes the government plan monopoly.”

So, we’ve got democratic congresspeople saying that we’re going to single-payer, we’ve got republican congresspeople saying that we’re going to single-payer, all the signs point directly to a single-payer outcome, and yet we’ve got people reading this post right now who insist that’s not going to happen.

I don’t get it.

But you know what? I’m liking Paul Ryan. And he’s a hottie to boot.

Another Brilliant Liberal Idea – Let’s Rush Healthcare Legislation Just Like The Spendiddlydimulus!

Published by Daisy on April 23, 2009 in General Political Mockery. 7 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

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The Obama administration is on its way to rushing healthcare legislation through the Senate. According to Fox News today, “by a 227-196 vote, the House affirmed Democrats’ plans to move health care legislation under rules that block Republicans in the Senate from being able to slow — or even stop — it from proceeding.”

What does this mean in non-Senator-person terms?  It’ll be easier for Democrats to have control over the legislation, thereby hurling it through to fruition – much like that whole spendiddlydimulus thing (24 hours to read legislation?  Yeah RIGHT, Mr. Obama).

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., warned that Democrats were preparing to use fast-track legislation “to jam through a government takeover of health care.” 

Socialized healthcare may soon be on its way, folks.  Just think of the possibilities ahead of us – waiting in lines to get treatment, being denied care just because you’re at the bottom of some socialized recipient list, a decline in the overall quality of American healthcare.  FABULOUS mediocrity.  Pure. And. Total. Crap.

Eat your heart out, Canada.