Paul Ryan voted for the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, he voted for the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and Medicare Part D. These policies lead us to the financial situation that we are in today. He also voted for the bank bailout and the auto bail out. He is far from being a fiscal conservative! Now, the Romney/Ryan budget calls for more tax cuts for the wealthy that are paid for by increasing taxes on the middle class. He is nothing more than the female version of Sarah Palin!

@ Steve Maher: your tired, worn out talking points don't add up to the same conclusion as the CBO:

Analysis of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) final report on what caused the January 2001 projection of a $5.6 trillion 10-year surplus to turn into an actual $6.1 trillion deficit over that 10-year period shows that:
The tax policies enacted a decade ago are responsible for just 16 percent of the swing from surplus to deficit. Furthermore, given that only about one-fourth of the tax cuts went to upper-income earners, just 1/25th of the decline from surpluses to deficits resulted from upper-income tax cuts. (NOTE: Given that CBO does not take into account any of the positive impact of tax cuts on investment, savings and economic growth, the percentage was actually even smaller than the 1/25th estimate)
The CBO report has shown that new spending and net interest were three times as responsible for the deficits as the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts – and 12 times as responsible as the upper-income portion of the tax cuts.

Regarding the reductions in tax rates in place since 2001 and 2004, see this article: "How Did Federal Surpluses Become Huge Deficits? (Hint: It Wasn't Because of Tax Cuts for the Rich)" At this site: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22280&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Well state Steve. Karl, how many jobs were created by the Bush tax cuts? How did the stock market (401 K's, etc,) do under his administration? It did not work then, why should anyone think it will work now.

Catholics are pretty much the only legitimately pro-life group, as in, they support life AFTER birth, including healthcare, alms for the poor, opposing the death penalty, etc. Even though I do not agree with you, I have nothing but respect for your position because it is 100% consistent.

But most 'Pro-Life' proponents have no interest in supporting or helping that life after birth (and indeed support the death penalty and endless wars), so you'll forgive us for taking those folks quite skeptically.

Erin, anyone can claim to be a Catholic, yet promote policies directly opposed to Catholic teaching. The current head of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, is a strong supporter of abortion up until the actual moment of birth, but claimed to be Catholic. I know Baptists who are closer to Catholic teachings than many Catholics. Strange but true.

To be fair, though, True Catholics also believe in a world-building arbitrarily-moralizing mega-being as if that's somehow more specific and less ridiculous than believing in Zeus, Odin or Xiuhtecuhtli. The media can't tell the other factual side of the story, because the other side is completely fictional, and, even if it weren't, like the being who created death, pain and entropy in the first place would even care about the death of a fetus - the being who created the Loa Loa (you know, the African Eye Worm that lives in the eyeballs of children before laying larva in their spinal fluid?) doesn't care about the death of an unborn baby.

Hi, Voter. What documentation do you have for this information?

Hello, Month. God bless you. That was a horrible thing that happened to you. Your courage and love for life should be an inspiration to many.

Obviously. This site is a left-leaning joke, like most media outlets.

Then again, Phoenixville is liberal haven, so I guess they don't need to bother with giving FACTS...

I didn't know that Phoenixville is such a liberal haven. Hang in there! Do you guys know about the valley Forge Patriots? It is a conservative group and they meet in Phoenixville. Let me know if you would like info. I'm not a member, by have been to some of their events.

Hi E. Read Obamacare? The Democrat Congress didn't even read it, so I can't believe that any of these folks would read it. Also, the scary part is that the regulations are only partly written. These regs will take years to write. The framework is in the law, but the DHHS has so much authority that they can basically write anything they want.

Except for those two years when the Democrats controlled BOTH Houses of Congress and The White House and did NOTHING to fix the ECONOMY. At a time when they could do almost anything to remake the economy in their own image, they decided to focus on the Liberal "pet project" of pushing America towards a single-payer, socialized medical system.

Two years wasted when Mr. Obama promised bipartisan answers; instead they decided to push a quick and overwhlemingly partisan bill over all objections and reasonable requests to slow down and legislate a law that all could support.

"We must pass this bill to find out what's in it.", said Nancy Pelosi.

And then they wonder where all the bipartisan support went?!? Funny ...

After the election, I fully expect Republican lawmakers to govern - if they win - or consult (Ha! ... as the ACA proved, who would listen?) - if the lose - to work to make the country better in accordance with their beliefs as to what's best for the country.

It's always funny to hear Liberals speak as if they own The High Ground. The really interesting question for me will be how the Democrats will contribute to "making the country better" should THEY lose in November.

Mike, how true. The House has about 30 jobs bills sitting in the Senate. Who are obstructing? Also, Obama unleashed could be the most destructive thing this country has ever seen. I said when he was campaigning that there was a puppeteer and I understand that individual may actually be Valerie Jarrett. Who knows what all it was that he was referring to when he told the Russians that they needed to wait until he was reelected and he would have "more flexibility." See it here: Obama caught on mic saying "After My Election I Have More Flexibility" See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYGsadcBiFA

Mike: I didn't realize the economy was something that could be fixed in 2 years. In those 2 years a lot of good was done towards economic goals, and in the two years since the GOP has tried to repeal and reverse that which was done and reflect and refute anything new that has come their way.

Dot, Valerie Jarret as a puppeteer? I really have heard some pretty stupid things from the right wing, but that is a classic. Have you been a rascist all your life or only since the last Presidential election? Go get yourself measured for one of those ridiculous bonnets the Teabaggers wear and then educate yourself.

Marc: I never said they should have "fixed" it in two years. I said they did nothing to fix it in two years. There's a difference.

Good point, Marc. See you at the Solyndra company picnic next week? I can't make it. The wife and I added up the cost of gas and at $4.00, we'll have to miss it this year. We planned on borrowing my neighbor's new Chevy Volt, but we bagged that when the cute little thing spontaneously combusted the other night in his driveway. It was crazy! And the weird thing? We didn't here a thing until the fire truck sirens pulled close to the house (who knew that fire from electric cars are silent?). We wouldn't have heard it anyway, because we were glued to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell enlightening us about how Mitt Romney's Mormon faith has made him a racist. Fascinating. Look it up!

The Democrats have created this phony "war on women". Women are NOT going to lose all the rights they've gained over the years. I am honestly more concerned about things like the economy, the ever growing deficit and jobs. I could care less about gays, abortion and any other personal decisions that people make. I am not a big fan of Romney but I do like the fact that Ryan is a fiscal conservative. As much as Americans hate to admit it, we are going to have to have budget cuts across the board in every program.

@Debbi Thomas: Yes, I agree. We need to make cuts, but not everything. Defense has the highest percentage(%24) of the US budget, followed by healthcare(%22) which includes medicare, Pension(%22), Welfare (%12), Education (%4). We should start with defense, healthcare and Pensions and go from there. But no one wants to even talk about Defense, The military doesn't need billion dollar fighter jets and Tanks.

Debbie,
When we are having the same debates over abortion and birth control as we did in the 50's, it is a war against my personal liberties. GOP wants less regulation in the board room, I don't want their regulation in my bedroom. It is no one's business, especially govt's

Yo Adrian - this stuff isn't hard to understand. The birth control issue is not about access, but about public funding. Why should we as a society have to pay that expense? And abortion is certainly not about the bedroom - far from it. It is not even about "your" body. It is about the body of an innocent life that deserves the chance to live, regardless of the circumstances of its conception. Taking innocent life is wrong, no matter what year it happens to be.

Tim, so you would rather pay for the unwanted children that are born. Way to look at the broader perspective. Unless you want the cannon fodder,

So Tim would rather pay for unwanted children than for an abortion which happens naturally 20% of the time. Guess you know better than nature or g-d if you believe in fairies in the sky.

Marc, I forgot to mention. Hey, speaking if racist Mormans and that whole thing (god, I hate Mormans!  Jerks.), do you know that my BMW-driving, Avalon beach-house-owning, kids-in-private-school, church-going, charity-giving, golf-crazy, neighbor actually tried to convince me that Harry Reid is also a Morman.   He said that if MSNBC wants to paint a picture that Romney is racist because he is a Mormon, well, they just have to draw the same conclusion for our Great Harry Reid.   You know, I just stomped away from that potential altercation (the fire dept had just finished hosing down my buddy's Volt by then anyway), and snuck off to Google "Harry Reid Mormon" on my buddy's IPad, and darnit if that jerk-of-business-owner-neighbor of his was right (I mean correct, not 'right', as in in Extreme Right.  As in in Extreme Right Wing for that matter).   But, Marc.  How can this be?   http://spectator.org/archives/2012/08/31/racists-of-the-world-unite

You mean the waste of money that Obama cut. dO You people people eVerything that FauxSNOOZE tells you to believe.

Ha, Tim! How about you look up the last few budgets for some facts, and get back to us. (hint: don't waste too much time trying to find it...)

Nona, it must be sad to be intellectually void. Here is a challenge - I will become a democrat and donate to Obama's re-election campaign if you can show just one Republican candidate for federal office, anywhere in the country, who has said anything even close to tax everyone but the 2% ....

Tim, I love a challenge, but this was too easy. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/paul-ryan-budget-taxes_n_1823020.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

One point you missed: Dems controlled the House and Senate the first 2 years he was in office. So quit the blame game and man up.

Laura, was bush's vetos on those bills overridden? Oh wait, he didn't veto them.

$10,000 per student (rounding down for ease of calculation) x average 25 kids per class = $250,000. I'm sure teachers are paid that much. Did you do well in math?

Oink oink oink, mortgage and spend, mortgage and spend. Why the deficit is higher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsDmPEeurfA
We listened then and it got us nowhere. Lets see this so called cliff. We spend more on our defense than anything else. Cut defense to get us out of this deficit mess. Why is no one discussing that? I say leave the tax cuts but cut Defense spending by a third. I am tired of the US being the worlds police department.

I bet you are a birther also.

Hey Bob...did you take the same Social Studies class as Christine O'Donnell? Care to explain exactly what Socialism and Marxism are and how exactly either of those ideals are comparable to the policies and decisions made by the Obama Administration.

Calling Obama a Marxist Socialist is like calling Romney an Elitist Money-Laundering Dog Abuser. It sounds good until you start to peel away the layers of B.S. surrounding the facts.

Marxist , socialist policies, obviously you do not know what the terms mean, just like fox news

The Republican idea of compromise was 100 percent of their ideas and 0 percent of the President's ideas. They didn't want a compromise. They just wanted people to see them SAY they want a compromise while opposing everything that came their way. The GOP keeps trying to steer this back to the Economy as if they have the answers and they don't. They just know that in an economic downtime that it's harder for an incumbent to win. But meanwhile they know that if the attention turns to virtually any other topic the GOP is in shambles. The next two months will see a lot of Republicans trying to deflect the attention away from all of their party's faults (there are a LOT of them) and towards the economy, hoping that enough of the sheep fall for their misrepresentations & half-truths.

This is nothing but politics and the GOP has been playing the game for two years, gambling our future on the hopes of helping their own and not the country as a whole.

I plan to remember EXACTLY where we've been when I cast my vote for Obama in November, because where we've been under prior administration is exactly what got us into the mess and the quagmire that BOTH parties have created with partisan politics (with bonus points to the GOP) is what is stalling our recovery -- not the policies of the Obama administration.

Guess the Republicans took their cue from the ACA debacle. Wasn't a whole lot of give & take going on with that at all!

He had a majority, but somehow 51 isn't a majority anymore. Dems should make GOP actually filibuster everything they threaten. Show what they are made of.

Obama will lose by 10 points. Watch and see.

Well, at least he didn't try to blame Bain Capital for someone's cancer.

Actually the dems that got elected that year didn't take office until 2009. Nice try.

Food stamps and earned income tax credits are corp subsidies so they don't have to pay a living wage. Minimum wage costs you not corps. You have to follow the money.
Why do you think the corps and billionaires are supporting Romney.. You think they are not expecting a return on investments? Fool.

Started 2 wars, Medicare d, TARP, and instituted tax cuts, before Obama took office and Ryan voted for it all.

You blame congress when Bush was president, but blame Obama as president and not Congress for the deficit. So who really controls the budget? (FYI, it's congress)

Well, to be fair, Obama's actually working against 30 years of Reagan's corporate deregulation that's really only in the last few truly showing its dramatically deleterious effects on our economy - the Bushes were largely just following in his footsteps (though, I guess, we are still paying for their wars). It's going to take a long time to fix it - several generations, even if the parties don't obstruct each other.

What is it, exactly, are you looking for this administration to take responsibility for? We are constantly building on the mistakes and successes of our past and it's pretty rare, certainly in a system as huge as this, for there to be an isolated event that someone even could take responsibility for.

I don't follow - isn't attempting to deal with Medicare a cornerstone of the ACA? It certainly inherits a lot of its features and costs a lot less. Again, what are they avoiding responsibility for? Not being Conservatives? I really have no idea what you are referring to, if it's something specific.

You too can blog for the patch. Just sign up.

Bob, why don't u take a look Ryan's voting record on the issues u mentioned , I think u r going to be disappointed. I do admit it is funny to watch him furiously shake his etch-a-sketch to justify his positions-just like his partner Mitt "The Shapeshifter" Romney. He is doing the same thing now,with regards to abortion in cases of rape. These guys have elevated flip flopping to an art form.

5. GOP run States try to break unions and cut education funding and teachers.

And to hear Morgan explain it, we're in this mess because of...... Uh, Reagan?

Really, Morgan?

Were you asleep from '76 - '80?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgSKIgf_kKI
Deficits are OK during recessions and time of war, according to Cheyney.

More good work, Daniel Pipes. The facts are well presented succinctly and clearly.

The Class Warfare Obama Voters respond with mindless insults.

Of course, they do.

Of the points you've reiterated (from a whtc list?) 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 15 are all trends that predate Obama's election - most of them starting in 2005 - and almost all things his administration has addressed to varying degrees of efficacy, as points 13 and 14 is how he's funded those efforts. I'd have rather paid higher taxes than borrow more money, myself - personal responsibility and all that. I'd argue points 3 and 12 are good things for the country, broadly accessible health care and renewable energy are fundamental to the next century in America.

Your point 4 is completely misleading - summer 2008 has the highest fuel prices in US history, followed by a steep drop off. Cherrypicking the lowest point (1.85) instead of the highest (4.12) just a few months prior is disingenuous at best.The actual average is around $3 (not like any President has direct control over that, anyway). There is no point 9.

You forgot the billions lost in the stock market under Bush along with the costs of the wars which he didn't include in his budget.

15. US govt debt downgraded because of GOP short sighted refusal to increase debt ceiling.

Hey - he asked for the job and has not done anything to fix it like he promised. It is not like it was a surprise. Quit whining.

You probably voted for bush twice though.

Uh - that guy's German and that all happened in Germany. How does that have any bearing on anything to do with US politics?