We're Not Gonna Say It: The Media, and the Romney Campaign, Aren't Telling You Just How Hypocritical Paul Ryan is.

Paul Ryan is said, by nearly every writer except the guy from Slate, to be a "serious" man with real political views that challenge the this or take on the that and otherwise do the something to the something else.

Paul Ryan is a phony.  I started a while back tweeting votes Paul Ryan had made that contradict his positions or that he would likely not want his so-called conservative backers to know about, and I'm continuing that effort here.  So here are some more things Paul Ryan has lied about, immediately reversed himself about, or tried to cover up, and which you won't hear in the media or get an explanation for from the Romney campaign:


The Budget Control Act of 2011:  Remember this? This was the bill where Congress decided it didn't want to really deal with the issues, so it delegated its powers to a tiny committee that then didn't do anything.  The backbone to this fake law was that it was supposed to impose mandatory across-the-board cuts in spending if the "SuperCongress" didn't cut a deal.

Paul Ryan vocally supported the bill, until he didn't support it once it became clear it would cut spending.  He was for it before he was against it, initially speaking in favor of it but then opposing those mandatory across-the-board cuts.  (Oh, while I'm on the subject: Ryan scuttled the SuperCongress deal.  So he deliberately sabotaged both parts of this bill.  NOW THAT'S CONSERVATIVE!)

Freedom of Information:  You'd expect a vocal supporter of freedom of information, and a so-called conservative, to be all about the First Amendment, right?  It was written by the Founders!, and those guys are like Gods to Paul Ryan.

And Ryan does pay lip service to freedom of information and expression, supporting the "Free Flow of Information Act," which protected journalists from prosecution if they refused to reveal their sources.  HOORAY! A WIN FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT! USA USA USA... what's that?

Oh, nothing much: Just that Ryan also voted to punish sit-in protestors in government buildings with up to 10 years in prison, and to allow military arrest and indefinite military detention of US citizens without probable cause. 

Job Creation:  Ryan, who benefited from a business he didn't create and social security benefits he didn't pay into before receiving, casts himself as the friend of the small business, once framing a vote in favor of tax cuts as a pro-small business move because, he said, many small business owners pay the taxes as individuals (something they mostly do because the inane federal tax rules require a popular form of corporation to empty its coffers on December 31 or face double-taxation, a rule that penalizes businesses that want to hold money to invest in the coming year).  Ryan and Romney have been making hay out of Obama's "you didn't build that," but it might interest people to know that Ryan (who has been reported to have helped stimulus funds find their way to his district despite his supposed opposition to earmarks and stimulus) has benefitted from a program he voted to slash.

The program is the "Economic Development Authority," a branch of the much-reviled Commerce Department; the EDA makes loans and grants to businesses within certain parameters, and one of those is a $1,200,000 grant to build a Janesville Innovation Center, a project almost entirely funded by government money:

Organizers say that the primary objective of the facility is to provide a flexible building and environment that supports local businesses and leads to the creation of new companies and jobs in the greater Janesville area. These business owners will be able to take advantage of flexible, short-term leases for small office and manufacturing spaces. Business support services will be available at affordable rates. And in addition to the camaraderie, tenants will have access to technical expertise offered through the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Innovation Center, Black Hawk Technical College’s proposed Advanced Manufacturing Center and other business and economic development resources. 

Ryan, presumably, will not be at the ribbon-cutting this November; he voted this May to cut the funding of the EDA.

Health Care:  As Ryan touts himself as a reformer and drags his Mom around Florida -- never one to shy away from having his family get him what he can't get himself -- it would interest people to know that Ryan, a self-proclaimed health nut -- voted against stricter regulation and labeling of tobacco products, and has repeatedly voted against health care for children. (He's for seniors, apparently, because they vote but would cut off health care to little kids in a second, it seems.)

Why would Ryan, who reportedly falls for infomercials and does that workout every day, not want to regulate tobacco and use the tobacco taxes to fund children's health care?  It can't be just because his wife was a high-paid lobbyist for the merchants of death.  While Ryan doesn't appear in the top 20 tobacco lobby money recipients, Romney does -- he's third on the list.

Housing and Foreclosure:  Can Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contribute to politician's campaigns?  Can they employ one as a lobbyist once his career ends?  I only ask because Ryan voted for the TARP bailout of the big banks on Wall Street, but found his conscience lying in the gutter in time to vote against bailing out Fannie Mae and  Freddie Mac.  While Ryan claims to have wanted to reform the entire system, he hasn't produced a single piece of proposed legislation to help homeowners.  Even though, you know, he sits in charge of the most important committee in Congress.

Social Security and a "Lock Box."  Many times throughout his career, Ryan has claimed to be against "raids" on Social Security and has claimed he wants to protect it.

Why, then, did Ryan in 1999 vote against protecting Social Security and a balanced budget?:

In 2000, the House voted on a bill that would make it out of order to consider a budget that set forth an on-budget deficit for any fiscal year for either the overall budget or social security. In other words, the government could not go into a year with a budget that it knew spent more money than the government took in. The bill failed in a 205-222 vote. Paul Ryan voted against the Social Security and Medicare Safe Deposit Box Act of 1999. 

ROMNEY/RYAN:  VOTING ANY OLD WAY THEY FEEL AND CLAIMING IT'S A PRINCIPLE, SINCE 1999.

There's more, but that's all I have time for today. The man's been in office for a decade-and-a-half; I can't cover all his lies, half-truths, pandering moments, and hypocrisies in one morning.