Ryan's Diet of Whoppers

By Eugene Robinson 

Usually, I don't read lefty stuff, but I made an exception this time.  As I suspected, he came very close to accusing the Medicare cut claim by the Romney campaign to be "racist":

To be sure, these are not the worst of the Republican lies. For me, the ultimate dishonor goes to the untrue charge that Obama has eliminated the work requirement for welfare recipients -- a lie designed not only to deceive but to stoke racial resentment among working-class voters. There are also the cynical and misleading claims about Medicare savings under the Affordable Care Act. 

As I pointed out in an earlier post, the overuse of the term racism is a power play.  This time coming from the Ministry of Truth and Propaganda, aka Robinson and others like himself.  As for the welfare work requirement--- I remember the welfare reform of 1996 and how liberals said that they would "fix it later".  Looks to me liked they fixed it!  But you can't take that statement by the liberals that they would fix it later and shove it down the memory hole---unless it's 1984.

The most honest thing he said was at the beginning:

Anyone familiar with this column knows that I prefer the progressive vision over the conservative one.

Of course!  Anyone can have a wrong opinion.  But to claim it as objective truth goes a bit too far.  This shot---"Romney's pollster, Neil Newhouse, boasted this week that "we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers." I'll say."  isn't a fair shot.  The "fact-checkers" aren't necessarily interested in the facts themselves if the facts conflict with their own biases-- like Robinson's.  Newhouse should have said "so-called" fact-checkers-- a small slip up in the use of language which Robinson has pounced upon.

He goes on to say why he thinks that Ryan lied about the closure of the Janesville plant.  I've looked at that statement myself, and I find no error in it.  That's because Robinson leaves out some important details, like Obama coming back after the closure announcement and while the plant was still open and clearly promising to keep the plant open, but failing to do so.  Therefore, it was a fair shot.

Another gem here:

Another supremely dishonest moment was Ryan's criticism of how Obama dealt with the Simpson-Bowles debt panel: "He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing."

That's right he did nothing, which is 100% correct.  But Ryan rejected it as well, which is also correct.  But you have a conflict in policies here-- you really can't expect Ryan to accept Obamacare--- nor can you expect Obama to abandon his own signature legislative accomplishment.  This one conforms to the old saying "Methinks he doth protest too much".   This one is a wash, not a reason to screech and howl in protest.

Another brief moment of honesty here with this quote:  "It's hardly unusual for politicians to highlight convenient facts and ignore inconvenient ones."  No, but one would expect an opinion writer truly interested in the truth as Robinson claims to be to be a bit more even-handed in his criticisms.  His article could have been approved by the Democrat Party.  Gee, since when do journalists get to write propaganda for one of the parties?  I think his claims to respect for truth are a bit exaggerated as the typical politician.  Maybe he missed his calling.