Yes, Mr. Ryan, I’m from Iowa

[sweettooth]

www.salon.com/2012/08/15/ryans_policies_arent_iowa_nice/

This letter was written by one of the women who was ejected from a Ryan event after asking about his plans for Medicare. He said she must not be from Iowa, because people there are polite.

Attention, Congressman Ryan: I am one of the women you said must not be from Iowa or Wisconsin because we did not sit back quietly, respectfully, and smile and say nothing while you lied to us during your first solo stump speech as a vice-presidential candidate at the Iowa State Fair earlier this week. Actually, I am from Iowa. I grew up here. My parents are from here. I have taught school here, in Des Moines, for 40 years.

I asked you if you were going to cut Medicare. You didn’t answer. The truth is, Congressman, I already know the answer. I know what’s in the budget you wrote, that your fellow Republicans in Congress voted for, and that your running mate, Gov. Romney, supports. I know it ends Medicare as we know it today and turns it into a voucher program that raises seniors’ costs by thousands of dollars a year and throws us on the mercy of private insurers.

And I assure you, Congressman, what I did, what those other Iowans did that day, wasn’t easy for those of us raised to be “Iowa nice.” From a young age I learned to behave in the way you alluded to, to be extremely friendly and to always assume the best of people. Over the years I’ve sat very patiently, listening to politicians, watching them dodge questions or distort answers or really just abuse the facts and I never said anything because it wouldn’t be nice, it’s not Iowa nice.

But I’m 63 years old now, I’m retired, and I’ve seen the impact of that silence. I’ve seen who really pays the price for silence and it is the poor and the middle class. I have seen the big picture – how corporate greed erodes democracy and factories take over farms. I’ve seen it all up-close and personal too, every day, for 24 years, teaching middle school in a district that serves low-income families. I have seen kids come to school in the dead of winter with no socks and kept my classroom stocked with food to make sure these kids had a fighting chance to learn when they made it, by themselves, with no one to set the alarm and no one to drive them through the snow, to school against the odds. I’ve seen their parents struggle to get off drugs and wait months, years even, for a spot in a treatment program that would give them a fighting chance to be the parents they truly want to be.

So you understand, Congressman Ryan, and Governor Romney, that when I hear you tell a crowd that you want to “help the middle class to prosper,” by cutting off the lifelines these young people need to survive – food stamps, Medicaid, public education and, yes, drug treatment, it makes my blood boil. It sends that Iowa nice thing right out the window.

I get just as angry when you talk about broadly shared prosperity, as if that’s something you believe in, when you have written and voted for plans that slash taxes on millionaires and corporations and do nothing at all for my 86-year-old aunt, whose groceries I buy half the time, because she lives on $1,400 a month, mostly from Social Security, and pays $785 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

There’s so much more, Congressman Ryan, and Governor Romney, that makes me forget my upbringing – at least the part of my upbringing that tells me to sit back, grin and bear it, and let you lie to me and destroy people’s lives and then maybe, at most, grouse about it quietly in private. Or maybe I’m not forgetting my upbringing at all, come to think of it. Maybe I’m remembering well the lessons of generations of hardworking Iowans who value community, fairness, opportunity and kindness in the face of a mean-spirited policy of greed. A little of that Iowa nice has turned from Iowa nice, to Iowa sad, to Iowa angry and finally, to Iowa strong.

Cherie Mortice is a retired schoolteacher and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) Action Fund member from Des Moines, Iowa.

[y4m]

She "asked" him a question about Medicare when? While he was in the middle of giving a speech? Sounds like a heckler to me.

[IIOY]

Was it this woman?

...

Ryan's first foray into Iowa came on the same day when President Obama began his bus tour through the Hawkeye state.

"I heard that President Obama is starting his bus tour today and I heard he wasn't going to come to the Iowa State Fair," Paul said.

"Are you going to cut Medicare?" a woman shouted.

"It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites, we like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to one another. These ladies must not be from Iowa or Wisconsin," Paul said, referring to the protesters.

And that's when things got much rowdier. A female protester began to climb on the small stage. She was able to get up before being dragged off by Ryan's Secret Service detail.

Full article at link below

news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-heckled-iowa-state-fair-205502003--abc-news-politics.html

[anonymous]

She does sound like a heckler, but he sounds pretty condenscending as well.

[eclaires]

I agree that it sounds like she was a heckler, and I think his response was perfect in that situation. Much better than getting all angry or something... not sure what you should do when someone heckles/interrupts a speech, but his response is reasonable, IMO.

Aug 16, 2012 2:12:30 GMT -5 sweettooth said:

www.salon.com/2012/08/15/ryans_policies_arent_iowa_nice/

I get just as angry when you talk about broadly shared prosperity, as if that’s something you believe in, when you have written and voted for plans that slash taxes on millionaires and corporations and do nothing at all for my 86-year-old aunt, whose groceries I buy half the time, because she lives on $1,400 a month, mostly from Social Security, and pays $785 a month for a one-bedroom apartment.

This kind of makes me laugh. Social Security sucks, for so many reasons, and she proves it right here. I don't have a lot of sympathy for people if they don't save for retirement, but I understand with older people they thought that SS was their retirement. That said, my grandparents who are very well off get SS, and that's why SS is a huge problem. Ryan/Romney are at least willing to tackle some of these entitlements that make no sense whatsoever, but they are the bad guys in the author's eyes. Whatever.

*eyes glaze over with old people hate*

[lys]

Definitely a misinformed heckler.
The Ryan plan (Not the Romney plan) does not end medicare -- for those currently under 55 - things do change. At age 65 they have the OPTION to 1) continue with the current Medicare plan OR 2) go to a voucher plan - the same type voucher plan that currently is in existenance and working well for Federal workers. The voucher amount would be at the 2nd lower amount of the insurance bids received for the insurance covereage specified. If you choose a less costly plan - you keep the difference. If you choose a more costly plan - you pay the difference. You have the option every year to make a new choice.

Obama's plan removed over 700B from Medicare and puts it into ACA (it is 1/3 of the funding for ACA). Ryan's plan does have savings of 500B which are put back into Medicare to help sustain it.

What is being forgotten here is that although Romney supports Ryan's philosophy Romney has his own plan - similar, but not exactly the same.

Obama's plan shortens the life of Medicare and his plans are to dump those on Medicare into ACA -- or he hopes Universal Health Care. Most of those Medicare people put into ACA will be on the voucher system.

[y4m]

He gave basically the same response to a heckler at a speech in Wisconsin, and when the person kept going the crowd started chanting USA to drown the heckler out. I thought it was a very good response.

[sweettooth]

She was shouting out in the middle of the speech, so it is heckling. However, I doubt he would have answered her at the end, especially when you hear the tone he has. Last summer he required that people pay to his events if they wanted to ask questions. www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/61454.html

I don't advocate shouting out in town halls or meetings, but after the concentrated encouragement that people got to disrupt the health care reform meetings while death panels were being touted, I can't say that this was as bad. No, one doesn't make the other one right, but when you are being lied to--and the speeches about Obama "stealing" from Medicare and taking away the welfare work requirement are lies--I can see how someone would be upset. Obama is taking money from Medicare Advantage and is cutting inefficiency and fraud and is not shorting benefits to the elderly. Romney and Ryan have been saying that he is stealing from the trust fund and that is not true. On welfare--some governors asked for a waiver and were told ok but they had to show they made up for it.

[mominatrix]

Aug 16, 2012 8:19:55 GMT -5 y4m said:

He gave basically the same response to a heckler at a speech in Wisconsin, and when the person kept going the crowd started chanting USA to drown the heckler out. I thought it was a very good response.

Yes.
Because shouting people down with a patriotic platitude is what this country is all about. Yay for the First Amendment!

/snark

For real. Part of the political process is give and take. This guy isn't delivering a stand-up comedy routine that might be 'ruined' by people in the audience.

He's running for the second highest position in the country. Yes, it's rude to interrupt. But it's also the case that answering these questions and concerns would be of benefit to him and his supporters.

[IIOY]

It's not right to heckle. But others did it. And this wasn't as bad. But that doesn't make it right. But when you're being lied to...

[eclaires]

Well I don't think anyone is suggesting a heckler should go to the gulag or something.

But I think it sets a bad precedent to answer questions like that and invites chaos to every speech you make. I love the 1st Amendment, but there's something to be said for being polite and having some order when you're making a speech/campaigning. It's a speech, not a townhall meeting or a Q&A session. And even then, I think there should be some order and people who yell questions out of turn shouldn't be answered either.

[mominatrix]

Aug 16, 2012 8:43:20 GMT -5 eclaires said:

Well I don't think anyone is suggesting a heckler should go to the gulag or something.

But I think it sets a bad precedent to answer questions like that and invites chaos to every speech you make. I love the 1st Amendment, but there's something to be said for being polite and having some order when you're making a speech/campaigning. It's a speech, not a townhall meeting or a Q&A session. And even then, I think there should be some order and people who yell questions out of turn shouldn't be answered either.

I actually totally agree.

[cookiemdough]

Aug 16, 2012 8:17:32 GMT -5 lys said:

Definitely a misinformed heckler.
The Ryan plan (Not the Romney plan) does not end medicare -- for those currently under 55 - things do change. At age 65 they have the OPTION to 1) continue with the current Medicare plan OR 2) go to a voucher plan - the same type voucher plan that currently is in existenance and working well for Federal workers. The voucher amount would be at the 2nd lower amount of the insurance bids received for the insurance covereage specified. If you choose a less costly plan - you keep the difference. If you choose a more costly plan - you pay the difference. You have the option every year to make a new choice.

Federal workers are on a voucher plan? Say what now?

[ladybrettashley]

She was heckling, and I really don't think he was all that rude to her. I certainly don't expect him to answer questions that are blurted out in the middle of his speech.

That being said, it seems to me these politicians rarely take the time to answer tough questions from audiences anymore. They seem to just give speeches, and if they do answer questions, the questions always seem pre-screened. Maybe this isn't true, and I'm just not paying attention, but I just don't see candidates fielding tough questions from real people in public very often. I wonder if this woman felt that heckling was the only way her question would be heard?

[soontobeka]

Aug 16, 2012 8:17:32 GMT -5 lys said:

What is being forgotten here is that although Romney supports Ryan's philosophy Romney has his own plan - similar, but not exactly the same.

More from Romney on his plan this morning: Action 2 News: Your senior campaign advisor said Sunday if the Ryan Budget would have come to your desk you would have signed it. In a January debate you called it a proposal that was absolutely right on. So I guess why are you distancing yourself from at least the Medicare portion of the Ryan Budget?

Romney: Actually, Paul Ryan and my plan for Medicare, I think, is the same if not identical--it's probably close to identical. Our plan is for people 55 years of age and older. There's no change. The only change I'd mention for 55 or older is we'd restore the $817 billion President Obama took out of the Medicare trust fund.

The former Governor cites the wrong number here--talking about The Affordable Care Act. Actually, it's $716 billion in reductions--a number the campaign has been trying to hammer in the past few days. We clarify during the interview:

Action 2 News: And you're referring to that $716 billion estimate?

Romney: The $716 billion is what the President takes out of the Medicare trust fund to help pay for Obamacare. I think seniors will be outraged to learn money they put into medicare is going to be siphoned off.

Ryan's budget, which passed the Republican-controlled House, would have included many of the same reductions as the President's. Romney says they're not running on the Ryan Budget.Action 2 News: Critics, though, will say while you say you're on the same page as Congressman Ryan you are providing no examples of the differences - one you mention is the more than $700 billion being cut.

Romney: Well, I'm not sure what critics you're referring to, but what I can tell you is Paul Ryan in joining my Presidential team is on board with my policy... The place there's a big difference is between myself and Paul Ryan and the President. The President has a very different plan. By the way, of course, individuals are going to have some differences even among those in the same party but nothing compares with the difference we have with President Obama.

www.wbay.com/story/19290298/2012/08/15/mitt-romney-talks-medicare-in-exclusive-interview-with-action-2-news?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7618541

[Deleted]

Heckling is inappropriate, but I LOL at "It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites, we like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to one another."

Does he KNOW about some of the bullshit that's been going on in Wisconsin politics over the last couple of years? Is he even aware that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin exists? Nice? Polite? HAHAHAHAHA.

[eclaires]

Aug 16, 2012 9:00:52 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Heckling is inappropriate, but I LOL at "It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites, we like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to one another."

Does he KNOW about some of the bullshit that's been going on in Wisconsin politics over the last couple of years? Is he even aware that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin exists? Nice? Polite? HAHAHAHAHA.

Personally, I was thinking of the Iowa/Wisconsin football rivalry... isn't it a pretty big rivalry? I swear I read some article not too long ago about the rivalry between the two.

And my eyes start to glaze over for the second time in this post...football!!!!!!!!!!!! :beer:

[Deleted]

I think she was a heckler and he handled himself quite well. I don't think he was rude.

[heyjude]

She's a heckler but his plan deserves heckling.

[josieposy]

Aug 16, 2012 9:03:27 GMT -5 eclaires said:

Aug 16, 2012 9:00:52 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Heckling is inappropriate, but I LOL at "It's funny because Iowans and Wisconsinites, we like to be respectful of one another and peaceful with one another and listen to one another."

Does he KNOW about some of the bullshit that's been going on in Wisconsin politics over the last couple of years? Is he even aware that the Supreme Court of Wisconsin exists? Nice? Polite? HAHAHAHAHA.

Personally, I was thinking of the Iowa/Wisconsin football rivalry... isn't it a pretty big rivalry? I swear I read some article not too long ago about the rivalry between the two.

And my eyes start to glaze over for the second time in this post...football!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah. It's a decent one. They just recently started playing for the Heartland Trophy every year, but the rivalry itself is an old one. GO HAWKS!!

[Deleted]

Is that one of those rivalries that's a bigger deal to Iowa than to Wisconsin? Because I've never really heard anybody talk about it here. Sort of like how the Wisconsin-OSU and Wisconsin-Michigan games are a bigger deal to Wisconsin than to the opponents. There's the game against Minnesota where the winner gets Paul Bunyan's axe, but can it really be called a rivalry when one team constantly demolishes the other?

Anyway, I'm just thinking of the recent jaw-dropping press release from the Milwaukee County sheriff and am back to laughing my ass off at Wisconsin politics being "nice."

[josieposy]

Honestly I don't know that Iowa-Wisconsin is a big rivalry so much as an old one. I don't hear it talked about much either. Minnesota hates Iowa and they play for Floyd every year. Then there's the Iowa-Iowa St. game (Cy-Hawk) which is usually a pretty big deal.

[sweettooth]

Aug 16, 2012 8:17:32 GMT -5 lys said:

Definitely a misinformed heckler.
The Ryan plan (Not the Romney plan) does not end medicare -- for those currently under 55 - things do change. At age 65 they have the OPTION to 1) continue with the current Medicare plan OR 2) go to a voucher plan - the same type voucher plan that currently is in existenance and working well for Federal workers. The voucher amount would be at the 2nd lower amount of the insurance bids received for the insurance covereage specified. If you choose a less costly plan - you keep the difference. If you choose a more costly plan - you pay the difference. You have the option every year to make a new choice.

Obama's plan removed over 700B from Medicare and puts it into ACA (it is 1/3 of the funding for ACA). Ryan's plan does have savings of 500B which are put back into Medicare to help sustain it.

What is being forgotten here is that although Romney supports Ryan's philosophy Romney has his own plan - similar, but not exactly the same.

Obama's plan shortens the life of Medicare and his plans are to dump those on Medicare into ACA -- or he hopes Universal Health Care. Most of those Medicare people put into ACA will be on the voucher system.

This is not true. Obama takes money from Medicare ADVANTAGE and does not decrease benefits. This is the lie that the people were upset about. I will find the fact check that I posted yesterday.

This is the problem. R and R are running ads that are false. This is why people who know the truth are upset.

[MrsAxilla]

I think his answer was totally condescending and rude in a "bless your heart" way. He could have ignored her (if she wasn't being too disruptive); he could have said "I appreciate that Medicare is an important issue. I will address that in a minute/I'm talking about X issue today but you can find that information here".

[y4m]

Aug 16, 2012 12:23:55 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Aug 16, 2012 8:43:20 GMT -5 eclaires said:

Well I don't think anyone is suggesting a heckler should go to the gulag or something.

But I think it sets a bad precedent to answer questions like that and invites chaos to every speech you make. I love the 1st Amendment, but there's something to be said for being polite and having some order when you're making a speech/campaigning. It's a speech, not a townhall meeting or a Q&A session. And even then, I think there should be some order and people who yell questions out of turn shouldn't be answered either.

I don't think he had to answer the question when it was asked. I think he could have said, "Ma'am, I appreciate your concern, there's a lot of misinformation out there. If you'll let me continue talking, you might find that I have some information about that topic that is useful to you." Or something like that.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA

And then the heckler would be all like "thank you so much Mr. Ryan for your thoughtful response. I will stop interrupting your speech now, and will look into the resources you have been so kind as to provide"

[sweettooth]

First of all, I think the candidates should take questions if at all possible. If they would say at the beginning that no one should interrupt but that there would be time for questions at the end, a lot of this would be unnecessary. He does have a history of not taking questions.

Here is the fact check information and I have to admit I am getting tired of the lie/distortion in the ads and speeches. It would make it difficult to list to when you know it is wrong

www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/....n-medicare-cut/

Mitt Romney said Barack Obama robs Medicare of more than $700 billion to pay for Obamacare

Share this story:



Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan appear on "60 Minutes."

Medicare is a hot topic in the presidential race since Mitt Romney picked U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate.

Ryan, R-Wis., is the head of the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and the architect of a plan to dramatically restructure Medicare.

Ryan’s plan is for people who are under age 55 now. It would give them voucher-like credits to buy traditional fee-for-service Medicare or competing private insurance plans. (The credits are sometimes called "premium support.")

Though House Republicans voted overwhelmingly for Ryan’s plan, polling shows public opinion is mixed, and Democrats have vigorously attacked the proposal as a voucher plan and worse. The Romney campaign, meanwhile, refutes those charges by saying President Barack Obama has targeted Medicare himself.

Here’s how Romney put it in an interview with 60 Minutes shortly after selecting Ryan:

"There's only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call Obamacare."

Here, we’re checking whether Obama "robbed" Medicare of $716 billion dollars to pay for Obamacare.

$700 billion from Medicare?

The claim that Obama cut $700 billion out of Medicare is relatively new. Not long ago, the oft-cited number was $500 billion. How did he manage to cut another $200 billion when no one was looking?

First things first: Neither Obama nor his health care law literally cut a dollar amount from the Medicare program’s budget.

Rather, the health care law instituted a number of changes to try to bring down future health care costs in the program. At the time the law was passed, those reductions amounted to $500 billion over the next 10 years.

What kind of spending reductions are we talking about? They were mainly aimed at insurance companies and hospitals, not beneficiaries. The law makes significant reductions to Medicare Advantage, a subset of Medicare plans run by private insurers. Medicare Advantage was started under President George W. Bush, and the idea was that competition among the private insurers would reduce costs. But in recent years the plans have actually cost more than traditional Medicare. So the health care law scales back the payments to private insurers.

Hospitals, too, will be paid less if they have too many re-admissions, or if they fail to meet other new benchmarks for patient care.

Obama and fellow Democrats say the intention is to protect beneficiaries' coverage while forcing health care providers to become more efficient.

Under the new law, the overall Medicare budget is projected to go up for the foreseeable future. The health care law tries to limit that growth, making it less than it would have been without the law, but not reducing its overall budget. So claims that Obama would "cut" Medicare need more explanation to be fully accurate. In the past, we’ve rated similar statements Half True or Mostly False, depending on the wording and context.

Because Medicare spending gets bigger every year, the cost-saving mechanisms in the health care law also get bigger. Also, it takes a few years for the health care law’s savings mechanisms to kick in. In fact, the effects of time are the main reason the $500 billion number has turned into $700 billion.

The CBO determined in 2011 that the federal health care law would reduce Medicare outlays by $507 billion between 2012 and 2021. In a more recent estimate released this year, the CBO looked at the years 2013 to 2022 and determined the health care law affected Medicare outlays by $716 billion.

So it’s timing that’s making the cuts bigger, not changes to Medicare.

Historic steal for ‘Obamacare’?

Now, to address the word "robbed." We know the civility is at a low ebb these days, but we think it’s worth pointing out that the money was not robbed in any literal sense of the word.

Congress passed the law through its normal process, and the proposal was debated out in the open during the many weeks that the final law was being negotiated.

At the time the health care law was being finalized and passed, Democrats said it was important to them that the new law not add to the deficit. So the reductions in Medicare spending were counted against the health care law’s new spending. That spending is primarily to cover the uninsured, by giving them tax credits to buy private insurance. But some new spending increases Medicare coverage for prescription drugs for seniors.

Finally, Romney said Obama is the "only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare." In reality, several presidents have reduced Medicare spending.

We reviewed this history in detail in a fact-check of Romney’s statement from December, "Only one president has ever cut Medicare for seniors in this country . . . Barack Obama." We rated that False. Many presidents have sought to rein in Medicare spending.

Here are a few highlights from that fact-check:

• President Ronald Reagan cut Medicare by reducing payments to hospitals, and he cut benefits by raising deductibles.

• President George H.W. Bush cut benefits by repealing a law that would have expanded coverage for drugs and catastrophic illness.

• President Bill Clinton cut Medicare by changing payments to doctors and other providers, which could be considered to have an indirect effect on beneficiaries.

Our ruling

Romney said, "There's only one president that I know of in history that robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call Obamacare."

The only element of truth here is that the health care law seeks to reduce future Medicare spending, and the tally of those cost reductions over the next 10 years is $716 billion. The money wasn’t "robbed," however, and other presidents have made similar reductions to the Medicare program.

We rate this statement Mostly False.

[eclaires]

Aug 16, 2012 12:23:55 GMT -5 asdfjkl said:

Aug 16, 2012 8:43:20 GMT -5 eclaires said:

Well I don't think anyone is suggesting a heckler should go to the gulag or something.

But I think it sets a bad precedent to answer questions like that and invites chaos to every speech you make. I love the 1st Amendment, but there's something to be said for being polite and having some order when you're making a speech/campaigning. It's a speech, not a townhall meeting or a Q&A session. And even then, I think there should be some order and people who yell questions out of turn shouldn't be answered either.

I don't think he had to answer the question when it was asked. I think he could have said, "Ma'am, I appreciate your concern, there's a lot of misinformation out there. If you'll let me continue talking, you might find that I have some information about that topic that is useful to you." Or something like that.

Sure, he could have.

But personally, I can appreciate a little snark myself. Especially towards hecklers. Bless your heart, you know?

[caden]

I think Ryan should have yelled at him. "And the answer to your question mam— and the next I'd prefer you let me finish my statements before you ask that question -- is that this is the right thing to do for the American people" /gavel

[IIOY]

"Yo heckler, I'm really happy for you. Imma let you finish but Wisconsin has one of the best hecklers of all time. One of the best hecklers of all time!"

[caden]

LMAO