Paul Ryan: Medicare Should Not Be a Piggy Bank for ObamaCare

HotAir.com:

Paul Ryan stayed on the attack today in Florida, appearing at the retirement center The Villages, along with a special guest — his mother. “When I think about Medicare,” Ryan told a cheering crowd, “it’s not just a program. It’s not just numbers. It’s what my Mom relies on.” Continuing to attack Barack Obama over the transfer of $716 billion in future Medicare spending to fund the subsidies and Medicaid expansion in ObamaCare. “The President raids $716 billion from the Medicare program,” Ryan tells the crowd, “to pay for the ObamaCare program.” Ryan then went on to slam the Independent Payment Advisory Board as a rationing system, a message that Mitt Romney also delivered in a podcast earlier today. “In addition to that,” Ryan continued, “he puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare — who are required to [cut] care in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.”

It’s a tough attack — and very much on point to Obama’s record on health care “reform.”

“Four million seniors are projected to lose their Medicare Advantage plans that they enjoy and they chose, today, under this ObamaCare plan.” That is the Romney/Ryan Medicare “advantage” — the stripping of choice for extended coverage combined with the arbitrary rationing of the IPAB in basic Medicare. That message has to be hammered home as often as possible. Romney obviously agrees, as he hit the exact same issues Ryan did in The Villages:

President Obama’s healthcare law raided $716 billion from the Medicare trust fund. And he did that to finance his takeover of the healthcare system.

Now if that wasn’t bad enough, his healthcare law also put in place a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats and gave them the power to make additional cuts to Medicare without even having to get approval from Congress. This means they could deny elderly Americans the care they’ve worked for their entire lives – all because President Obama trusts bureaucrats more than he trusts seniors and their doctors.

And here’s one more troubling aspect of all this: According to independent, non-partisan scorekeepers, these cuts the President’s people will take to Medicare won’t prevent it from going bankrupt: Experts estimate that Medicare’s trust funds will be exhausted just twelve short years from now.

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Race Baiting MSNBC Host Touré Apologizes For ‘Niggerization’ Comment

Mediaite.com:

Friday afternoon on MSNBC’s The Cycle, co-host Touré responded to the firestorm over his Thursday comments that Mitt Romney is engaging in the “niggerization” of President Obama by characterizing his campaign as “angry.”

In a brief statement at the end of the show’s first segment, the provocative host apologized for his remarks. “I muddied the discussion by using the ‘n-word,’” Touré said. “I could’ve made the same point without that word.”

“I shouldn’t have used it and for that I’m sorry.”

Following the initial remarks Thursday afternoon, Mitt Romney’s campaign reportedly reached out to NBC News, assumedly to express dissatisfaction.

RELATED: MSNBC's Touré Neblett: Romney Using 'Niggerization' Against Obama

Liberal Gunman Shoots Security Guard Inside Christian Lobbying Group

CBSNews.com:

A man suspected of shooting and wounding a security guard in the lobby of a Christian lobbying group had been volunteering at a community center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

A law enforcement official has identified the suspect arrested in Wednesday's shooting as Floyd Corkins II of Herndon, Va. Investigators were interviewing his neighbors.

Another official says the shooter made a negative reference about the work of the Family Research Council before opening fire. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

David Mariner is executive director of The DC Center for the LGBT Community. He says Corkins had been volunteering at the center for about the past 6 months. Mariner describes Corkins as "kind, gentle and unassuming."

While police have not yet stated what motivated Corkins, a coalition of 25 gay rights groups released a statement through GLAAD condemning the shooting. 

"The motivation and circumstances behind today's tragedy are still unknown, but regardless of what emerges as the reason for this shooting, we utterly reject and condemn such violence. We wish for a swift and complete recovery for the victim of this terrible incident," the statement read.

The guard, who was an employee of the FRC, was taken to a hospital in stable condition.

"Our first concern is with our colleague who was shot today," the group's president, Tony Perkins, said in a statement.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in a statement that he was appalled by the shooting.

"There is no place for such violence in our society," he said. "My prayers go out to the wounded security guard and his family, as well as all the people at the Family Research Council whose sense of security has been shattered by today's horrific events."

The headquarters of the Family Research Council is in the city's bustling Chinatown neighborhood, near the Verizon Center, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and several museums, restaurants and shops.

Amy Biondi and her husband Steve were visiting Washington from Long Island with their daughter and a friend and tried to ask officers for help with a parking meter when they were told there was a situation they had to deal with. The door to the FRC was opened, and an officer repeatedly shouted, "Put the gun down, put the gun down."

"Next thing you know there are police officers swarming the area," said Biondi, 45, a massage therapist from St. James, N.Y.

The family didn't get a close look, but they said the man officers were talking to seemed to comply with the orders immediately.

The Family Research Council advocates conservative positions on social issues and strongly opposes gay marriage and abortion.

Perkins was an outspoken defender of Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's public stand against same-sex marriage, which made the fast-food chain a flashpoint in the nation's culture wars. The Cathy family foundation has funded the Family Research Council.

"He's taking a bold stand," Perkins said after Cathy's comments were reported. "Chick-fil-A is a Bible-based, Christian-based business who treats their employees well.

They have been attacked in the past about their stand. But they refuse to budge on this matter, and I commend them for what they are doing."

Two points: This will not get the attention from the liberal press that it would if the situation was reversed: conservative shoots someone inside liberal organization. Second, blame this on the current divisive and hateful climate created by Barack Obama.

RELATED: Security Guard Shot at Family Research Council in Downtown DC

Race-Baiting VP Joe Biden Tells Black Folks That GOP Will "Put You All Back In Chains"

The Race Card, a true liberal never leaves home without one:

Pointed assertions from Vice President Joe Biden this week have reignited discussion of whether he distracts from his party's message or reinforces it, a question that has arisen periodically since President Barack Obama chose him as his running mate four years ago.

Mr. Biden drew sharp criticism from Republicans after telling a Virginia audience, which included a large number of African-Americans, that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney wants to "put you all back in chains" by rolling back new Wall Street regulations.

Mr. Romney, who has called for repealing the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law, said Wednesday the metaphor was "divisive'' and that Mr. Biden's remarks diminished the White House. "Comments of this nature sink the White House just a little lower," Mr. Romney told CBS.

Mr. Obama defended the sentiment Mr. Biden intended to convey with his remark, that Wall Street overhauls should remain in place to protect consumers and the economy. But the president, in an interview on television show "Entertainment Tonight," also said, "His phrasing is a distraction for what is at stake" in the election.

The Obama campaign accused Mr. Romney of feigning outrage over a twist on a phrase that Mr. Biden regularly uses in his stump speech, in which he faults Republicans for wanting to "unshackle" Wall Street.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said there would be no change in how the campaign uses Mr. Biden.

Mr. Biden, who has earned a reputation for rhetorical miscues and likes to speak off the cuff, also told some Virginia seniors this week he could "guarantee" Mr. Obama wouldn't make any changes to Social Security.

It is a promise that could be difficult for Mr. Obama to keep if he wins a second term, given that the president has been open to changes in Social Security as part of past deficit-reduction talks if the savings were used to shore up the retirement program. The two parties are expected to make another attempt at such a deal after the election.

Mr. Biden's aides said he was speaking to voters old enough that they wouldn't be affected by any Social Security changes the White House would support.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, took the firmest stance after Mr. Biden's remarks, telling Fox News he should be replaced on the Democratic ticket by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Mr. Obama dismissed Ms. Palin's suggestion that he change his running mate. 

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Endorsing Homosexuality Hurts JCPenney

It wasn't too long ago that major retail outlet JCPenney caused a bit of a stir in conservative circles by not only featuring powerful lesbian talk show host Ellen Degeneres in one of their commercials, but further endorsing homosexuality as a normal lifestyle choice by featuring two gay "dads" in a Father's Day ad.

One Million Moms, a conservative watchdog group, was mocked and met with scorn from the liberal media for having the audacity to stand up to JCPenney for promoting sin while pushing homosexuality onto consumers who don't care about the political views of morally bankrupt, rich, white liberals and just want to shop. But after what seemed to be a victory for anti-God Left, what with calls to boycott JCPenney being met with laughs and the store defending its in-your-face, radically-leftist agenda, One Million Moms may be getting the final laugh as thanks in part to going gay we may be soon the last days of JCPenney:

J.C. Penney (JCP: 22.67, -0.73, -3.12%) swung to a loss after reporting a sharp 23% decline in second-quarter sales, but CEO Ron Johnson said the retailer’s transformation is “on track.”

The company has had a series of disappointing quarters despite undergoing a massive overhaul that is supposed to fix its price strategy and revamp the department store’s image.

In June, J.C. Penney’s highly-coveted president, Michael Francis, who was poached from Target (TGT: 62.51, -0.33, -0.53%) to help lead the retailer’s turnaround efforts, left after just eight months.

The Plano, Texas-based company reported net loss of $147 million, or 67 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $14 million, or 7 cents.

Excluding one-time items, the company lost 37 cents a share, worse than the 25-cent loss forecast by analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.  

Revenue for the three months ended July 28 was $3.02 billion, down 22.6% from $3.91 billion, narrowly below the Street’s view of $3.2 billion. Comparable-store sales – a highly-watched growth metric for retailers – fell by 21.7%, while online sales dipped 32.6%.

J.C. Penney also said it “no longer anticipates achieving the previously issued non-GAAP earnings guidance” for fiscal 2012, but said the company expects to end the year with at least $1 billion of cash on the balance sheet even after spending $800 million on the restructuring.

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Barack Obama Has Already Stolen $700 Billion From Medicare

Now that Mitt Romney has chosen fiscal conservative Paul Ryan as his running mate, liberals can't wait to push the false narrative that Romney will take on Ryan's notorious budget plan and amongst other things, kill Medicare. This despite Romney already stating repeatedly that he has his own budget plan. This despite the fact that Ryan's plan does not harm Medicare...at all. This despite the fact that Barack Obama stole $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare. Seniors, especially, should take notice:

One of the most difficult things for Obama’s campaign team and its volunteer auxiliaries in the media to cope with, since the announcement of Paul Ryan as the Republican vice presidential candidate, has been Obama’s looting of $700 billion from Medicare to finance ObamaCare.  It’s an objective fact that this transfer of funding took place, but since they desperately want to caricature Ryan as the Slayer of Grannies, they can’t process it.  As Mitt Romney put it on 60 Minutes during an appearance with Ryan last weekend, “There’s only one president that I know if in history that robbed Medicare, $716 billion to pay for a new risky program of his own that we call ObamaCare.”

Rich Lowry of National Review short-circuited Rachel Maddow of MSNBC by simply asking her if she agreed with Obama’s Medicare cash grab:


But the real fun came when Obama’s deputy campaign manager, documented liar Stephanie “I Never Heard of Joe Soptic” Cutter, boasted of the President’s achievement in cutting $700 billion from Medicare on CBS News’ Face the Nation… 


… prompting senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod to call Cutter a liar the following morning. 


Of course, Obama’s feral campaign isn’t much concerned with the nuances of truth and logic, but it’s still interesting to note that they apparently haven’t developed anything like a coordinated response to a question they had to know they would be asked.  It probably would have come up even if Ryan wasn’t the Republican vice-presidential candidate, but it was a lead-pipe cinch now that he’s on the ticket, and “Medi-Scare” once again fills the air.

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