Paul Ryan is too smart to explain his tax plan
By Richard K. Barry
Ed. note: Think Progress adds:
-- MJWS
**********
Who is advising these guys? Did Paul Ryan really say he couldn't offer details about the Rommey-Ryan tax plan because, by golly, it was just too complicated? Yes, yes he did.
On Fox News Sunday he told Chris Wallace, after avoiding an answer for some time, he said he couldn't really get into it because "I don't have the time. It would take me too long to go through all the math."
Does this mean he thinks he's so smart that the rest of us wouldn't get it? Or is it that he is doing whatever he has to do to avoid details that don't work?
Daily Kos sides with the second option:
In any case, it's never a good idea for a candidate to tell voters that they'll just have to trust him or that they're too stupid to understand.
As you will see in the clip below, Ryan provides an incredibly evasive reply to a very direct question. Perhaps the derivation of the details might be complicated, but a straight up answer about the cost of cutting taxes shouldn't be hard to provide if you have any interest in providing it.
Ryan is even able to frustrate Chris Wallace with his Randian rhetoric.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
Ed. note: Think Progress adds:
Ryan's refusal to talk specifics only lends further credibility to the various studies and reports that have found time to do the math. And as ThinkProgress has reported, those studies from non-partisan organizations show that the Romney/Ryan tax plan would actually result in a huge tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. And the only way to keep it revenue neutral is to balance their plan on the backs of middle class families, who would see a tax increase of more than $2,000.
-- MJWS
**********
Who is advising these guys? Did Paul Ryan really say he couldn't offer details about the Rommey-Ryan tax plan because, by golly, it was just too complicated? Yes, yes he did.
On Fox News Sunday he told Chris Wallace, after avoiding an answer for some time, he said he couldn't really get into it because "I don't have the time. It would take me too long to go through all the math."
Does this mean he thinks he's so smart that the rest of us wouldn't get it? Or is it that he is doing whatever he has to do to avoid details that don't work?
Daily Kos sides with the second option:
Ryan is straight-up using his reputation as the Republican party's big budget wonk to get out of giving direct answers to any actual budget wonking questions. Because from his point of view, "I don't want to get too wonky" or "I don't have the time" are more palatable answers than "if I gave you details you'd see that I've been lying."
In any case, it's never a good idea for a candidate to tell voters that they'll just have to trust him or that they're too stupid to understand.
As you will see in the clip below, Ryan provides an incredibly evasive reply to a very direct question. Perhaps the derivation of the details might be complicated, but a straight up answer about the cost of cutting taxes shouldn't be hard to provide if you have any interest in providing it.
Ryan is even able to frustrate Chris Wallace with his Randian rhetoric.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
Labels: 2012 election, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, tax policy, taxes
posted by Richard K. Barry at
1:09 PM
1 Comments:
Note that when Ryan talks in generalities, he sounds like a progressive. On the 60 Minutes interview when he was named the VP candidate, he was talking about corporate welfare and tax loopholes. It seemed like he really believed it. But the few details of his budgets show that he doesn't. His budgets are not about deficits; they are about pushing the conservative agenda of cutting taxes on the wealthy and programs for the poor.
He's a charlatan, pure and simple.
"Flim Flam Man" (Paul Krugman's choice) also works.
By
Frankly Curious, at 5:15 PM
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