Here is the transcript:
TERRY CAMP, reporter for WJRT-TV: "Does the country have a gun problem?"
REP. PAUL RYAN: "This country has a crime problem."
CAMP: "Not a gun problem?"
RYAN: "No, if you take a look at the gun laws we have, I don't even think President Obama is proposing more gun laws. We have good, strong gun laws. We have to make sure we enforce our laws. We have lots of laws that aren't being properly enforced. We need to make sure we enforce these laws. But the best thing to help prevent violent crime in the inner cities is to bring opportunity to the inner cities, is to help people get out of poverty in the inner cities, is to help teach people good discipline, good character. That is civil society, that's what charities and civic groups and churches do to help one another, make sure they realize the value in one another."
CAMP: "And you can do all that by cutting taxes? With a big tax cut?"
RYAN: "Those are your words, not mine."
RYAN SPOKESMAN: Thank you very much, sir.
RYAN: "That was kind of strange, you're trying to stuff words in people's mouths?"
CAMP: "Well, I don't know if it's strange."
RYAN: "Sounds like you're trying to put answers to questions."
To be fair to Ryan I think the reporter was somewhat clumsy with his questioning at the end, however he WAS correct in identifying that the ONLY solution that seems to have been offered by the Romney/Ryan camp, for seemingly every problem, is to cut taxes. Which is the premise for his "bring opportunity to the inner cities" comment.
The reporter's question may have come off as snarky, but it was not entirely baseless.
I am also somewhat confused by which gun laws are not being enforced that would have prevented the recent incidents of gun violence. The problem is that guns are WAY too accessible, way too powerful, and they are finding their way into the hands of people who should not have access to them.
The ONLY solution for that is too make buying guns, especially assault weapons, much more difficult.
Personally I think that this interview demonstrated that, number one, Paul has no solution for anything beyond cutting taxes, and two, he is a brittle little prick who does NOT like to be challenged.
I am guessing that Joe Biden will watch this video with a huge smile on his face.
I am from the Flint area and visit the city every day to see my grandson. Terry Camp is not a favorite and I wish some of the other reporters who have been left go because of "age" would have had the chance at this interview. Perhaps they would have challenged Ryan to walk the streets in the north end of Flint and experience what guns have done to this city. Streets just 20 years ago when I would go for a run with my daughter I would not even drive down with the windows rolled up and doors locked. Guns and drugs are ruling the city now. And the city burns at night.
ReplyDeleteI agree he's going to be ugly at the debate. Bad temper. Biden has a good sense of humor though so it should be fun to watch.
ReplyDelete"he is a brittle little prick who does NOT like to be challenged. "
ReplyDeleteYep. Great description!
O/T but, have you seen this? It's laughable!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2012/10/09/sarah-palin-writing-fitness-book.html
The Paylins writing a fitness book?
The Paylins writing a fitness book?
DeleteYES and no one will call her out on anything. She is fit and eats right and she can lead you to better health. Above all remember her tight abs when she was pregnant with baby Triggy. End of story.
How sweet. A family that writes together...can these people write? They can't even seem to think clearly. Maybe Piper is doing the writing? Or Trig? Wait, Trig is AWOL. Maybe Britta the Palin Governor's aide, or whatever she was, is literate? Wonder if there's a chapter on how NOT to get pregnant before marriage? Nah.
DeleteI did hear that the chapter on Todd's development comes with color swatches.
DeleteMaybe Ryan will pull a Bristol and walk out on Biden.
ReplyDeleteIn the end the reporter's question was perfectly appropriate. Here's Ryan spouting fancy words that have no meaning if you do not support them with funding. Yes, enforce existing gun laws - but it costs money because you cannot lay off police men when they are needed on the streets. "Bring opportunity" to cities - but that means funding schools and providing programs that will educate and give trade training to students who will never have the chance to go to college. "Help people to get out of poverty" - but that means making sure that poor people have job opportunities, safe homes, enough food and a sense of security, a sense that they are as important to the nation's leaders as the wealthiest among us.
ReplyDeleteA "plan" that relies solely on continuing and expanding tax breaks for the wealthiest is no way to "bring opportunity" to the poor in the country, whether they live in cities or in the smallest of towns. Ryan's reaction to the conundrum that he created shows how illogical the Republican "plan" is.
Beaglemom
And just minutes ago we had another shooting. At a TX restaurant:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kens5.com/news/Double-shooting-at-North-Richland-Hills-restaurant-173364761.html
Nope, no gun problem here. Asshole.
He seems to think that volunteers will make the difference in the cities. There is going to have to be a major reform in the judicial system to keep the inner city people from spending their lives on parole or incarcerated. See "The New Jim Crow."
ReplyDeleteThose pesky Community Organizers are going to turn this world around :)
Delete"Brittle little prick" sounds like an apt description for both Ryan and Romney. And Ann, too. They don't like being held to account for anything and they don't like reporters that don't kiss their entitled asses. Romney wouldn't take questions on his European Tour and Ann says "you people' have everything you need to know. Questions get a little tough for Ryan and his nanny has to step in to protect him. How do these people think they can play on an international stage when they can't even handle local TV reporters?
ReplyDeleteI hope Joe Biden shows no mercy with this guy.
Have you noticed Ryan's wife is nowhere to be found? There would be a LOT of questions about her career as a DC lobbyist, I;m sure...for health care companies.
DeleteThe Inevitable Collapse of Organized Religion in America
ReplyDeleteOrganized religion in America is on the decline. The Church—any church, all churches, the omniscient "Church" representing all organized religious institutions—holds less allure for a new generation of American adults.
http://gawker.com/5950175/the-inevitable-collapse-of-organized-religion-in-america
Which is why the fundie pastors have gone off the deep end. If women are not working and are pregnant all the time, all the more time to host those fun little neighborhood prayer groups I got involved in when I was home with two babies. We were encouraged to pray, be subservient to allow our husbands to feel
Deletetheir full worth, and in return, those gusy would just love us all the more. There was mroe sex involved, but this was 30 years ago, so I don't remember the details. All I know is these women were encouraging each other to pray more. I think these groups went by the wayside as women had to work for a salary to keep the family going. I expect that the shrillness of the anti-abortion group has a LOT to do with whites havign more children to feed the churches' insatiable greed.
Paul Ryan says in the interview that even Obama isn't introducing new gun legislation, so why are the Teabaggers convinced President Obama is trying to take them away?
ReplyDeleteOh that little detail? They'll cover that angle when they figure out a good spin!
DeleteAnd, the NRA is endorsing Romney and Ryan if you can believe that!! President Obama has NOT taken away gun laws since being in office - in fact, he has added two...guns OK in national parks and one can be carried for some type of transportation - forget what?
DeleteThe NRA does not like the Democratic party and has a history of favoring Republicans - no matter what! Go figure!
And apparently the bad actors all live in the inner cities.
ReplyDeleteRacist much?
Operative phrase, and probably why the (clumsy) tax cut question cheesed rLyin' off:
ReplyDelete"...that's what charities and civic groups and churches do to help one another, make sure they realize the value in one another."
Yup. All of those types of organizations usually don't get government subsidies (except for the tax exempt status of churches - another issue all together) "'You people' go ahead and better yourselves, just as long as it doesn't cost me anything." Ryan is an ideological dullard who has no concept of investment in society.
Unfortunately, I've met Paul Ryan and he's arrogant and without compassion for everyday, working people. He may put on a good front, but for him, it's all about money and power. Ryan as vice president is a dangerous proposition.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is a pompous ass! He and Romney go well together, but America does NOT need them heading our country. We'd be in a world of hurt if they won the election.
ReplyDeleteThere is no comparison in them to our wonderful President Obama and VP Biden!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Romney made two huge mistakes, running for office and picking Ryan to rally the base.
ReplyDeleteOf course "those people" can rely on charities to lift them out of poverty then whisk them off to gated manses! I read all those fairy tales, apparently Ryan BELEIVES they're true.
I live in a big city with a gun and drug problem, the neighborhood I grew up in was multi cultural, mostly poor (that's "polite" for "ghetto"), but we watched out for each other, when someone succeeded, we had their back. Fights were settled with words and if that didn't work, a fair fist fight would be the last resort.
I can't drive through that neighborhood today,let alone walk. When the cops are out gunned, what chance does an unarmed citizen have? Where are the charities and churches lifting them out of danger?
Ryan's a schmuck who's made his living off of government his whole life, I hope he gets his clock cleaned in the debate.
If Romney/Ryan are able to convince enough people that they are going to somehow make them all rich, if they vote for them (sadly, this is what I'm told is the "reason" for many I know who intend to vote for them)
ReplyDelete--and the schmucks DO win the White House, it will be very interesting to watch how ONLY Fox channel reporters ever get to question them, at what will be a JOKE of a "press conference."