August 13, 2012 by David K. Sutton
Paul Ryan: Member of the Republican Obstructionist Party Controlling the House
Congress’ approval rating is lower than that of former Vice President Dick Cheney, and that’s really hard to pull off! Yet this didn’t stop Mitt Romney from choosing Paul Ryan, a member of congress, more specifically, a member of the majority obstructionist party controlling the House. In the era of the Obama administration, obstructionist is just another way of saying Republican. Mitt Romney didn’t have to choose a current member of congress, but that is exactly what he did, and so the low approval rating of congress will be part of the critique of the Romney-Ryan campaign. And President Obama wasted no time making this connection in a speech on Monday in Iowa:
President Obama: “Right now folks here in Iowa and across the heartland are suffering from one of the worst droughts in 50 years. Farmers and ranchers depend on a good crop season to pay the bills and put a roof over their heads, and I know that things are tough right now. The best way to help these states is for leaders in Congress to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to natural disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them some long-term certainty. But right now, too many members of Congress are blocking that bill from becoming law. Now, I’m told Governor Romney’s new running mate might be around Iowa these next few days. And he’s one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities. It’s time to put politics aside and pass it right away.” – TPM
One of Paul Ryan’s biggest attacks on Obama is to say that the President had a Democratically controlled congress during the first two years of his presidency to push his policies through. Does anyone think a Democratically controlled congress is the same as a Republican controlled congress? Plus, it’s not like Democrats had a 60-vote majority in the Senate during that entire 2-year period due to absences, illnesses and deaths. And as I stated, Republicans are the obstructionist party, so any time Democrats lacked 60 votes you could be sure nothing was getting done. Paul Ryan is part of that obstructionist Party, he should own it. Republicans (and conservative Democrats) are the biggest reason we don’t have a healthier economic recovery. If we were living under Obama’s policies (as Ryan likes to say) we would have passed a more robust stimulus. Instead they passed what they knew they could pass, and it just barely passed at that. Oh, and the last time I checked congress did nothing with Obama’s American Jobs Act. If you want to make the case that Obama’s policies have failed, shouldn’t we at least try them first?
So yes, the Romney campaign has opened itself up to attacks by selecting Paul Ryan as running mate, a member of the obstructionists party in congress. / photo by Tony Alter
