Sponsored Content
« Boehner Rejects Democratic Accounting Gimmicks, Prepares Another CR | Main | Breaking: White House Calls Boehner To Reject CR »
April 05, 2011

"Washington Isn't Telling You The Truth"
Update: Ryan & Budget Committee Reps Unveiling Plan in Press Conference Right Now

Update: Ryan and his gang can be seen previewing the plan on CSPAN3 or their live feed here. Oh, he just hit the "faster growth" argument, noting an analysis indicates the plan will increase economic activity by $1.5 trillion over a decade, and reduce unemployment to... 4% by 2016.

Terrific video, and I think that line is great-- politics is the art of forming coalitions, after all, and people have a natural tendency to dislike those telling them lies and like those telling them truths.

I do have a complaint: The relationship between reduced government spending and increased economic activity isn't hit nearly hard enough. The public's number two concern is debt and the future, but their number one concern is the economy in the present. An argument about all the scared money sitting out of the economy due to quite-rational beliefs that the country is going to implode, and how a safe, secure, certain economic environment would ignite the economy, would have been helpful.

Oh, I know he mentions that obliquely, sort of, by mentioning a "diminished future" and lower growth if we don't take the Path to Prosperity, but it would be better to also include the positive version of that statement -- the good stuff that happens if we do choose this path. And yes, he throws in a disposable line about "getting the economy growing today," but he's not making an argument about how that would happen, explaining the mechanism by which Policy Choice A translates to National Goal X.

I see in the post-queue that the Doom Master Monty notes that Ryan's plan is 'necessary, but not sufficient." I take that position on all of these things -- no single plan, even one as big and comprehensive as this, is enough. We still need to do more after this.

But still, every journey begins with a single step.

The stagecraft of the video is good. Ryan doesn't begin addressing the camera. He's shown doing his homework, burning the midnight oil, near a display case showing photos of his family.Visually pushing the idea that this isn't just a campaign pitch, it's a hard-thought plan that took a lot of work and expertise, and establishing, with just a suggestive photo, that this is of crucial importance to our ultimate legacy, our children.

Only after that preparatory work does Ryan walk down the hallway and stand, uncomfortably (another useful visual cue -- as if he doesn't like the politics part of his job) in front of the camera to explain, as if a scientist, his findings and predictions.






Recent Comments
Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "[i]Good morning morons Awake before Pixy is awa ..."

lurk: ">>Or they can all fuck off. Seconded. Call f ..."

Ciampino --- it is just a pile of schist: "266 Cops in Europe are soft. Even the crooked ones ..."

San Franpsycho: "Good morning morons Awake before Pixy is awake ..."

Skip : "Time to get rolling ..."

Ciampino -- it is just a pile of schist: "285 I'd move the food a tad further from the litt ..."

Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "Morning, folken! A Wednesday that feels like a Tu ..."

little green men with the anal probes: "Earth air tastes like dinosaur farts. ..."

Ciampino - it is just a pile of schist: "214 I know I deserve some karmic retribution for t ..."

publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz): " A fart gas expulsion is probably on the same or ..."

Ciampino --- it's just a pile of schist: "173 @shitbiscuit · 1h I was on the verge o ..."

publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz): " This is related to another question along thes ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64