President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) V. Archuleta

98%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Marshall Dawson

95%

5%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

50%

50%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(D) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank

(D) River Gassen

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) John Fabbricatore

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen

(R) Sergei Matveyuk

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

70%

30%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
September 04, 2012 04:43 PM UTC

Denver Reporter Demolishes Paul Ryan In Five Easy Sentences

  • 12 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

The redoubtable Eli Stokols of FOX 31 strikes again, this time via satellite:

The noted deficit hawk who is the author of the controversial House GOP budget plan blamed President Obama for adding to the country’s ballooning deficit because of the 2009 stimulus package and Obamacare, which was signed into law last year.

“It’s actually the economy that’s given us the deficit we have and the massive deficit spending and domestic spending we’ve seen under President Obama,” Ryan told FOX31. “Yes, the wars are a small part of it.”

Actually, the Iraq war, which Ryan voted to authorize, will cost the nation more than $3 trillion; and the Bush tax cuts, which Ryan also voted for when they first took effect in 2001, will ultimately cost the nation $3.2 trillion if extended again through 2021. [Pols emphasis]

The stimulus, by comparison, came at a price tag of $787 billion…

We really need folks to stop for a moment and look again at what Eli Stokols, political correspondent for a local FOX affiliate in a major market, has done here. Like just about every other reporter in America, or at least the majority of them uncritically reprinting whatever fact-free nonsense gets circulated by a presidential or other electoral campaign, Stokols let GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan get his unabridged talking point out there in all its accusatory glory.

But then he did something unusual: he debunked it. Right there.

Because it’s a simple, demonstrable fact that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and elsewhere) since 2001 have cost many times what President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill did. The Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 cost many times what the stimulus did. Stokols could have gone farther and noted that “Obamacare” is projected to reduce the deficit, not grow it, or how plunging federal revenues in the recession widened deficits, not “massive deficit spending and domestic spending.” But even without those, this is one of the most succinct and damning refutations of the central GOP talking point in the 2012 elections we’ve seen anywhere.

And again we ask, why doesn’t every reporter do this? Stokols makes it look frustratingly easy.

Because if they did, if every American understood a few basic facts at the root of every fiscal policy debate in America today, we might be having a very different election season.

Tweet
Share

Comments

12 thoughts on “Denver Reporter Demolishes Paul Ryan In Five Easy Sentences”

  2. Wars are not a small part of anything. It’s fucking WAR! It’s a big deal!

    Another example of how Romney’s campaign is completely ignorant of the fact that the President is also the Commander-in-Chief of the military.

  5. let’s hope every speaker at the Dem convention works these simple, easy to understand facts into their speeches and remarks.  These facts are every bit as sound bite friendly as any of the big GOP lies.

    Even though few watch conventions anymore,  most see and hear something in the coverage. See Crazy Uncle Clint. Also the lazy media like to milk a good easy to package narrative as long as they can. The whole Lyin’ Ryan angle that has been building since the R conclave makes it likely that coverage will stick with that narrative as long as Dems can keep feeding them clips.

    The message should be that Rs, especially as embodied by Lyin’ Ryan, are lying when they talk about cutting the deficit. They don’t give a damn about that. They just want to cut all the programs that help ordinary people while giving more and more wealth and advantage to a few at the top. They know and don’t care that their policies won’t create jobs for you or lower the deficit. That’s just smoke and mirrors. They admit they are willing to keep making claims they know aren’t true in order to get your vote. They know the truth is their enemy.  Here’s the simple truth. Don’t be suckers.

  6. …because ever since Fox sold this O&O to a local equity firm, the Political reporting has gotten excellent, while the overall reporting on both networks (they jointly operate KWGN2 with an agreement with Tribune Broadcasting) has improved as well.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

57 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!