Before we get to the debate – let’s compare historical fact checks of both Joe Biden and Paul Ryan by Politifact on who is the most honest. A full 50% of all of the statements verified by Politifact relating to Paul Ryan were either Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire lies (source) compared to 33% for Biden (source). So – quite literally – half of the time that Paul Ryan is speaking he is lying despite his moderate veneer.
The last time Paul Ryan spoke to the country he had a major speech at the Republican National Convention; we fact checked that HERE and the media vilified him for his lies HERE. More lies by Ryan HERE.
The media is so focused on who “wins” and “loses” and I suppose that is important if you’re trying to gauge where voters are headed but “winning” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t have integrity. As it stands – pundits are calling it a draw as they challenge Biden for what they call rude, interrupting behavior and Ryan for his dishonest but moderate sounding answers; I’d say that’s true of both. Clearly – after Obama did not challenge Mitt Romney’s lies in the first debate, Vice President Biden and the Obama campaign decided they were not going to let Paul Ryan pull off the same stunt. At the core of it – Paul Ryan lied a lot; when Joe Biden heard lies – he challenged him and interrupted him. Paul Ryan nor Mitt Romney just do not have the truth on their side. On the whole – I think Biden won.
Regarding Libya – Paul Ryan said:
When you take a look at what has happened just in the last few weeks, they sent the U.N. ambassador out to say that this was because of a protest and a YouTube video. It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack.
The USA Today says this is “mostly false” HERE.
Regarding Libya – Joe Biden said:
I will be very specific. Number one, the — this lecture on embassy security — the congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for, number one. So much for the embassy security piece.
This is absolutely true as we have shared HERE.
Regarding Iraq – Paul Ryan said:
Let’s have a status of forces agreement to make sure that we secure our gains. The vice president was put in charge of those negotiations by President Obama and they failed to get the agreement. We don’t have a status of forces agreement because they failed to get one.
That’s a really unbelievable whopper. Obama didn’t need to negotiate a status of forces agreement because President Bush negotiated and agreed to one BEFORE President Obama took office (source).
Regarding Afghanistan – Paul Ryan said:
Now, with respect to Afghanistan, the 2014 deadline, we agree with a 2014 transition. But what we also want it do is make sure that we’re not projecting weakness abroad, and that’s what’s happening here.
So they agree with President Obama’s deadline but we’re projecting weakness by saying this publicly and forcing the Afghans to take responsibility for their own country instead of relying on an open ended blank check from American taxpayers. Makes no sense whatsoever.
Regarding Libya – Paul Ryan said:
This Benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of itself, but unfortunately it’s indicative of a broader problem. And that is what we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy, which is making the (inaudible) more chaotic us less safe.
I wonder if Paul Ryan felt this way when 7 embassies were stormed and Americans died under George W. Bush (source).
Regarding Iran – Paul Ryan said:
Mitt Romney proposed these sanctions in 2007. In Congress, I’ve been fighting for these sanctions since 2009. The administration was blocking us every step of the way. Only because we had strong bipartisan support for these tough sanctions were we able to overrule their objections and put them in spite of the administration.
So – now … Romney is responsible for this grand plan of sanctions. Sure. Here’s what we know – sanctions are working (source); Iran has significant hyper inflation and a destabilized economy. This will make it very difficult for them to enact any military programs. These sanctions would not have happened without the support of Russia and China. Period. Except Israeli Prime Minister wants to attack Iran and Romney has said publicly that our position with Israel should be exactly the same … and he said he supports Israel attacking Iran (source). If that happened … the coalition would devolve.
Paul Ryan said:
Imagine what would have happened if we had these sanctions in place earlier.
So – why didn’t Bush do it then? If only Republicans weren’t so preoccupied with attacking them.
Paul Ryan said:
Let’s look at this from the view of the ayatollahs. What do they see? They see this administration trying to water down sanctions in Congress for over two years.
Again – hilarious. This is one of the few things that Obama doesn’t need Congressional authority on. He has great freedom to negotiate these deals on his own. And – these sanctions were passed by the Security Council at the U.N. in June of 2010 when Democrats controlled the House and Senate (source).
Regarding Iran – Joe Biden said:
The ayatollah sees his economy being crippled. The ayatollah sees that there are 50 percent fewer exports of oil. He sees the currency going into the tank. He sees the economy going into freefall. And he sees the world for the first time totally united in opposition to him getting a nuclear weapon.
That’s all true.
On the economy – Biden said:
Let’s look at where we were when we came to office. The economy was in free fall. We had — the great recession hit; 9 million people lost their job; $1.7 — $1.6 trillion in wealth lost in equity in your homes, in retirement accounts for the middle class.
We knew we had to act for the middle class. We immediately went out and rescued General Motors. We went ahead and made sure that we cut taxes for the middle class. And in addition to that, when that — when that occurred, what did Romney do? Romney said, “No, let Detroit go bankrupt.” We moved in and helped people refinance their homes. Governor Romney said, “No, let foreclosures hit the bottom.”
But it shouldn’t be surprising for a guy who says 47 percent of the American people are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. My friend recently in a speech in Washington said “30 percent of the American people are takers.”
That’s all true. We were losing 800k jobs the month Obama took office and Romney says very different things in private relative to the middle class ala 47%.
Paul Ryan says:
Job growth in September was slower than it was in August, and August was slower than it was in July. We’re heading in the wrong direction; 23 million Americans are struggling for work today; 15 percent of Americans are living in poverty today. This is not what a real recovery looks like.
We’re not losing 800k jobs a month and the unemployment is lower today than when Obama took over; there have been significant gains from the peak of the unemployment that Obama inherited. Unemployment is a LAGGING indicator; every economist knows this. Paul Ryan knows this. It’s a lie to say we’re heading in the wrong direction. It’s misleading to say 23 million Americans are struggling for work today because it is 12 million who are unemployed. Those Americans living in poverty – Paul Ryan wishes to cut any possible safety net that is available to them today. And as far as a “real recovery” – for a fiscal crisis … this is actually significantly better than the average. You can see the study by two Harvard economists that shows that HERE.
Paul Ryan says:
Get America energy independent in North America by the end of the decade. Help people who are hurting get the skills they need to get the jobs they want.
But Republicans are against Obama’s plan to increase fuel efficiency standards on American cars; they want to repeal those standards. And he has voted against and has tried to cut funding for worker retraining programs. Many times over. He has voted against unemployment benefits.
Paul Ryan says:
Get this deficit and debt under control to prevent a debt crisis.
Paul Ryan’s budget doesn’t balance the budget until 2040 (source). So much for controlling the deficit.
Paul Ryan says:
Let’s not forget that they came in with one-party control. When Barack Obama was elected, his party controlled everything. They had the ability to do everything of their choosing. And look at where we are right now.
For only 6 weeks – Democrats had a filibuster proof majority in the Senate; Republicans set a record for the most bills blocked in the history of the Senate … a full 19% of the time (source). Republicans BLOCKED everything they could.
Paul Ryan says:
Look at just the $90 billion in stimulus. The vice president was in charge of overseeing this. $90 billion in green pork to campaign contributors and special interest groups.
Politifact rated this “false” HERE when Romney said it.
Biden nails Paul Ryan on his requests for stimulus money that he denounces in the debate:
I love that. I love that. This was such a bad program and he writes me a letter saying — writes the Department of Energy a letter saying, “The reason we need this stimulus, it will create growth and jobs.” His words. And now he’s sitting here looking at me.
Undeniable. Not only did he request stimulus money under Obama; he supported it under Bush (source). 33% of the stimulus was tax cuts.
Paul Ryan says regarding the stimulus:
Was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on electric cars in Finland, or on windmills in China?
Politifact rated that “mostly false” HERE.
On Israel – Paul Ryan said:
They see us saying when we come into the administration, when they’re sworn in, we need more space with our ally, Israel. They see President Obama in New York City the same day Bibi Netanyahu is and he, instead of meeting with him, goes on a — on a daily talk show.
Politifact rated that “false” HERE.
Ryan says:
Look what — look what Obamacare does. Obamacare takes $716 billion from Medicare to spend on Obamacare.
Politifact rated this “mostly false” HERE.
Paul Ryan says:
And Social Security? If we don’t shore up Social Security, when we run out of the IOUs, when the program goes bankrupt, a 25 percent across-the-board benefit cut kicks in on current seniors in the middle of their retirement. We’re going to stop that from happening.
This is NOT the guy you want to fix Social Security. Paul Ryan calls Social Security a “welfare transfer system” and has tried to privatize it multiple times (source).
Biden says:
But let’s talk about Medicare. What we did is, we saved $716 billion and put it back, applied it to Medicare. We cut the cost of Medicare. We stopped overpaying insurance companies, doctors and hospitals. The AMA supported what we did. AARP endorsed what we did. And it extends the life of Medicare to 2024. They want to wipe this all out.
That’s true.
Biden says referring to Medicare:
It’s a voucher. When they first proposed — when the congressman had his first voucher program, the CBO said it would cost $6,400 a year, Martha, more for every senior, 55 and below, when they got there. He knew that, yet he got all the guys in Congress and women in the Republican Party to vote for it. Governor Romney, knowing that, said, I would sign it, were I there.
Politifact says the Ryan Plan could raise the costs for future retirees by more than $6,000 is “mostly true” HERE. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to change Medicare from a Guarantee to a voucher plan.
Paul Ryan says regarding the Romney/Ryan plan:
Look, this is a plan — by the way, that $6,400 number, it was misleading then, it’s totally inaccurate now. This is a plan that’s bipartisan. It’s a plan I put together with a prominent Democrat senator from Oregon. We — we — we put it — we put it together with the former Clinton budget director.
Well – Ron Wyden has said he doesn’t support their Medicare proposals HERE. Bill Clinton’s former OMB director Alice Rivlin said, “I don’t support the version of Medicare premium support in the Ryan plan” HERE.
This exchange said a lot:
BIDEN: Martha, if we just did one thing, if we just — if they just allowed Medicare to bargain for the cost of drugs like Medicaid can, that would save $156 billion right off the bat.
RYAN: And it would deny seniors choices.
Paul Ryan is against allowing Medicare to negotiate for drug prices by using their purchasing power. This would save American taxpayers BILLIONS.
Biden says:
We want to extend permanently the middle-class tax cut for — permanently, from the Bush middle-class tax cut. These guys won’t allow us to. You know what they’re saying? We say “let’s have a vote — let’s have a vote on the middle-class tax cut and let’s have a vote on the upper (ph) tax cut; let’s go ahead and vote on it.” They’re saying no. They’re holding hostage the middle class tax cut to the super wealthy. And on top of that, they’ve got another tax cut coming that’s $5 trillion that all of the studies point out will in fact give another $250 million — yeah, $250,000 a year to those 120,000 families and raise taxes for people who are middle income with a child by $2,000 a year
And he’s right. The Republican party is blocking permanent tax cuts for the middle class because they know Democrats won’t vote for tax cuts for the rich. They are holding them hostage. You can see the study which shows Romney’s tax plan raises taxes on the middle class …. there is no other option (source). When Paul Ryan was asked to give any specifics on loopholes – he was unable to. Not one. His best response was this:
RYAN: We want to work with Congress — we want to work with the Congress on how best to achieve this. That means successful. Look…
RADDATZ: No specifics, again.
Paul Ryan says:
Absolutely. Six studies have guaranteed — six studies have verified that this math adds up.
Politifact calls that charge “mostly false” HERE.
Biden says:
Governor Romney on “60 Minutes” — I guess it was about 10 days ago — was asked, “Governor, you pay 14 percent on $20 million. Someone making $50,000 pays more than that. Do you think that’s fair?” He said, “Oh, yes, that’s fair. That’s fair.”
Watch it yourself HERE; he’s right.
Paul Ryan was asked how the Romney campaign could afford to increase defense spending by two trillion – he doesn’t answer and claims Obama wants to cut defense:
You don’t cut defense by a trillion dollars. That’s what we’re talking about.
As I fact checked Romney HERE – that’s a lie.
That’s a lie. Period. What he is no doubt referring to is the deal that Republicans forced in order to “cut spending”. Paul Ryan voted in favor of this bill that he refers to; it says that if Congress can’t make a deal for $1.3 trillion over 10 years towards the deficit then serious cuts go in place that will be painful for all. That includes defense. Obama’s actual budget on defense spending is below.
Biden says:
Now with regard to the way in which the — we differ, my friend says that he — well I guess he accepts Governor Romney’s position now, because in the past he has argued that there was — there’s rape and forcible rape. He’s argued that in the case of rape or incest, it was still — it would be a crime to engage in having an abortion. I just fundamentally disagree with my friend.
Paul Ryan’s treatment of rape victims is EXTREME. Read all about it HERE.
That’s not even the whole thing. Paul Ryan just lies that much.
You can read the entire transcript HERE.
