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Paul Ryan haz a sad after President Obama smacked him around in his inaugural speech, saying those programs "do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."
Rep. Ryan didn't care for the attention, it seems. According to Politico, Ryan denies ever, ever, ever referring to people on Medicare and Social Security as "takers."
Is that a great example of denial in action, or what? Ryan suddenly forgot that he rolled out a plan for Medicare that ends it and substitutes private insurance for the lucky few who could afford it. Speaking to Laura Ingraham, he said he had been "misunderstood"! It wasn't about senior citizens, he claims; it was about some mysterious, undocumented overall slide toward a "dependency society."
Oh, Paul. Let us help you.
Paul Ryan at a 2005 fundraiser, selling the end of Medicare and Social Security:
"In case that wasn't clear enough, Ryan added: "I think if we win a few of these right now -- moving health care to a consumer-based, individualist system, moving Social Security to an individually pre-owned, pre-funded retirement system -- just those two right there will do so much to change the dynamics in this society."
Here's another quote from that same speech:
In almost every fight we are involved in here, on Capitol Hill...it is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict: individualism vs. collectivism...That is why there is no more fight that is more obvious between the differences of these two conflicts than Social Security. Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it’s a welfare transfer system…..
He also mentioned Medicare in that same context.
Paul Ryan, June, 2012:
Do you want the American idea of an opportunity society with a safety net where you can take a risk, start a business, make a difference, succeed and be honored for being successful?," Ryan said at a June 15, 2012 fundraiser. "Or do we go down the path the president is proposing -- a social welfare state, a cradle-to-the-grave society where we have more takers than makers."
Paul Ryan's October, 2012 fundraising remarks:
“With a few exceptions, government’s approach has been to spend lots of money on centralized, bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs,” Ryan said. “ … The problem is, starting in the 1960s, this top-down approach created and perpetuated a debilitating culture of dependency, wrecking families and communities. This was so obvious to everyone by the 1990s that, when a major welfare program was finally reformed, the law was passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Democratic president.”
Here are more examples, mashed up in one compact video here.
Paul Ryan believes 60 percent of the people in this country are takers. He's said that many, many times. And that category includes Medicare and Social Security recipients, no matter how much lipstickhe puts on that pig.
Always remember, this is a moral issue for Ryan. He can deny it all he wants, but this maker/taker belief rests at the core of his very being.
The only difference between Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney is a number: 13 percent. Romney said 47 percent were takers; Ryan says 60 percent are takers.
Otherwise, there's no daylight between them.