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Andrew Innerarity / Reuters
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan waves to supporters while holding a cup of coffee during a campaign stop at a Cuban restaurant and coffee shop in Miami on Saturday.
BELOIT, Wis. -- Paul Ryan has been campaigning as Mitt Romney’s running mate for six weeks but it wasn't until this week that the Republican vice presidential nominee finally pulled out a tool from his own Wisconsin playbook: a PowerPoint presentation.
“I'm kind of a PowerPoint guy so I hope you'll bear with me,” the Wisconsin congressman and budget guru joked to a crowd full of supporters Saturday afternoon in Orlando, Fla.
Speaking on the campus of the University of Central Florida, the wonky Ryan used four different slides to help demonstrate the problems with the nation’s debt and how spending has changed under President Barack Obama.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said the use of the presentation – which was displayed on two large television monitors inside a gymnasium – was “simply another tool to highlight President Obama's failed leadership."
But it’s also a staple of Ryan's campaigning for his seven terms in the United States Congress.
Ryan’s congressional re-election campaign spokesman, Kevin Seifert, told NBC News a PowerPoint presentation is “a staple of Congressman Ryan's townhall meetings” – which, Ryan himself pointed out, he has held more than 500 with his constituents over the years. Seifert added: “It is a great way to explain problems like the debt and deficits and always has spurred great discussion with constituents in the first congressional district.”
Florida politicians help Ryan woo Hispanics
After debuting the PowerPoint slides in Florida, Ryan went on to hold a nearly 30-minute question and answer town hall session with the couple thousand-person crowd.
This “new” prop comes just following reports casting Ryan as “mini-Mitt” -- that is, the Romney campaign had forced the congressman to follow the lead of the nominee, rather than letting him be himself. Plus, early Friday morning, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker publicly chided the Romney campaign for not “effectively” utilizing the GOP vice presidential nominee. But, Ryan told reporters, he is happy with his role.
“I feel really good about it [his role]. Look, I am doing the things I want to do,” he said Friday inside Walker’s Produce, a fruit stand in Lakeland, Fla. “Look at what we are doing, we are talking to local people, going around the country talking to local press. I am excited about my role. I feel very comfortable with it.”
The quick event, though, marked Ryan’s first retail drop-by since Aug. 25, when he stopped by the Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, N.H., despite holding more than 50 events in the last month and a half.
In the lead-up to his VP selection, Ryan would answer questions from the press practically whenever reporters would have questions. In the month and half since being tapped on Aug. 11 to fill this new position, the congressman has yet to do a formal press conference. Friday, standing inside the fruit stand, was the first time Ryan has answered questions from the press on the ground (he has held two quick gaggles on board his press plane flying between states).
When the House Budget Committee chairman first joined Romney’s ticket in August, he was forced to align his views with his running mate noting “no two people agree on every single issue” and Romney is the top of the ticket.
But as the weeks go on, it appears Ryan is settling into his role as Romney’s number one surrogate on the campaign trail. Perhaps this weekend is the start of Ryan being allowed to insert more of himself into the ticket with just 44 days left before Election Day.
As it is sometimes said on the campaign trail, it is always good to “let Paul be Paul.”
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Speaking as someone who lives in Wisconsin I can verify that everyone here has always known Ryan was a tool.
Oh! Another "tool" joke. How incredibly clever of you ...
Yep, those of us who know Ryan best really loathe him. It's almost like the jokes about him write themselves.
One of the funnier ones was when he proudly presented the infamous "Ryan Budget".........which contained no numbers.
"Throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, the top marginal rate typically was above 90 percent, the report states. It now stands at 35 percent."
No one paid the 90% rates, you moonbats....
Well Bob in VA - You might wish to check on a marginal tax rate during a period in the 40's when a little thing called WWII was going on!
The Romney/Ryan plan is to cut taxes on the wealthy while invading Iran, very similar to the Bush plan but just a few miles to the east.
Oh wow...he used a Power Point Slide!
He just lost the voters of Apple Users. Apple Keynotes would of been better. :)
Ryan sure doesn't help the approval ratings of Congress (12%) - he prefers coffee over Tea.
When Ryan is not telling the truth 41% of the time and only half truths an additional 25% of the time, it makes no difference how he is delivering his spin.
Ryan could be using the Time Square Jumbotron and the end result of his distortion and deception remains the same.
Why are the Republicans working so hard to defeat an unpopular president? Oh wait, he's not unpopular.
...he is a failed president
Just liike your failed candidate !
the real story is, he's in a cuban restaurant. He's a commie!
Folks, do ya ever Wonder why all of these Republican TeaBillly Conservative Extremist Whackjobs walk Funny?
Because they are Constantly shooting themselves in da Foot.....LOL
You BetCha.....Fer Sure.
They also could be walking funny because they have pants full of elephant poo.
Yo …..Mitt “ F da Poor” Romney and Paul “ Middle Class Warfare” Ryan. How about you just give Vouchers to Registered Republicans and TeaBillys. Good Luck selling that Plan to your Sheep.
You BetCha….Fer Sure.
So..........after da Clinton Speech............Ryan looked at Romney and said............"Do ya think handing out Walmart Applications for Job Creation is a Good Idea"?...................and them Romney said..........."I think we ought to put Our Life Jackets On..............this Ship is gonna go down Fast"..................LOL
You BetCha....Fer Sure.
This just in………………Bill Clinton’s speech was so Powerful…………..that Paul “ Middle Class Warfare” Ryan was seen jumping up and down in da First Row…Clapping his hands and Screaming “ Hercules……Hercules”….LOL
You BetCha…..Fer Sure.
LOL! Using PowerPoint is a metric for a VP candidacy? If so many people could try for a VP spot in America. Ryan is trying to domesticate himself by showing, "Hey I use the same crappy software everyone else does!"
Not going to work Paul and even if it does did you already forget that you got booed at for about 45 minutes last week by seniors? In Florida?
Here is a breakdown of why Mitt's camp is a train wreck:
Non of the Black vote, way behind with Hispanics, totally destroyed with Women, only slightly ahead with White men. There is probably a much more detailed breakdown somewhere but these are the most telling stats. No way Mitt will win unless he gets in bed with Women. He is behind by about 45 to 60% with them and they make up about half of the country. So he is already around 20 to 35% low on votes nationally if those values hold through election day.
Mitt can do nothing to sway Black voters to his side and he will not be able to do much with Latinos. His only hope is for Obama to alienate the other voting demographics and try to pick them up. But that could require some divine intervention.
IF THE SHOE FITS....
From AdLib On May - 21 - 2012
New Orleans, AARP Convention, didn't like ryan to much, voted with their voices and feet.
Obama 2012
Not surprising from the group that loved Obama care.
jstdafacts - "the"
OMG Ryan used something as a complicated as a tool. Being able to use a tool would eliminate half the libs.
Say what you will, but this guy beats the crap out of Biden.
Viewer,
I'll say what I will, then. Your guys suck.
Gee, somebody in the Ryan campaign can make a Power Point presentation. How special is that?
Having made dozens of PPPs I know how it is done and generally more than 4 pages are needed for a worthwhile presentation. I wonder if they used fly-ins and sound.
So the Romney tool uses a commont presentation tool in one of his lieathons.
WOW, I am impressed, only dozens?
You must still be going through the tutorials.
AND if you want to see a "lieathon" regress back to your buddy Obama's promises.
Nope, I am actually being modest about dozens and most have over 30 pages. But it is so easy that the tutorials aren't necessary.
Good for you.
Now all you need to do is learn who the liars are in government.
To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan's speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.
Read more: @ fox news
Mat, ALL politicians are required to be well versed at lying.
What you have to do is choose between the two evils.
Lying is a job requirement for all politicians.
And, you really don't think they do it for the pay of office, do you?
Biden would be hard pressed to use a crayon and some construction paper.
Why couldn't Ryan's "tool from his past" have been the Wienermobile ? Heck....a lot of us (democrats) would attend his rallies if he arrived piloting the sausage.
Come on Paul......you are bound to lose.....so why not have some fun ?
The weiner is in/out (on Air Force One most of the time) office now.
His time is short.
Oh, just like the biggest weiner: 77 trips to Crawford Ranch, weed whacker-a-thon, to the tune of $20,000,000 on the tax payer dime, not to mention renovations for the western white house, site of the hand holding cheek smooching Saudi Prince-a-thon.
Obama 2012
ALL of those cost you speak of will not cover TWO trips on AIR FORCE ONE.
Have you any idea how much it cost to operate, maintain and fly those planes?
AND there are two AF-1 and AF-2.
AF-2 two is a spare that has to have full crew, food etc. in case AF-1 has mechanical problems.
Oh, and we don't even need to go into how much security costs.
If Obama had cleaned out the cobwebs in the oval office and used a phone or computer he might have gotten re-elected.
AND most of the "OFFICIAL TRIPS" he took, he took the wife and kids along.
didn't factor the escorts, try another ten million or so, all for 77 weed whacking expeditions. The President a piker compared to w and his ranch-a-thons, and if w wasn't biking and exercising Katrina might have been flown over earlier, heck of a job there brownie. Pick up a phone or use a computer, w could barely read he said so himself.
Obama 2012
I was IN Katrina.
The president had nothing to do with the delays, FEMA did.
NOW after Issac, FEMA is beating my door down to help.
Obama did not do this, the media did.
President Bush, who visited storm-damaged areas Friday, acknowledged that the initial federal response was unacceptable and pledged to do more.
Some 7,000 soldiers from the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard are stationed in Iraq. They include more than 3,000 members of the 256th Brigade Combat Team, a unit based in and around New Orleans.
Those soldiers, who represent 40% of Mississippi's and 35% ofLouisiana's regular Guard strength, were forced to watch helplessly from their barracks in Iraq the past few days as the hurricane swept through their neighborhoods and threatened their families.
Quite simply, the two states hardest hit by this storm were handicapped from the start by not having enough Guard units and military equipment like trucks, Humvees and helicopters on the ground to handle the crisis.
Let's get this straight Viewer_Ready.......
Are you defending Bush's (lack of) response to the Katrina disaster? Seriously?
Don't you know the evidence of Bush's incompetence (via FEMA & etc.) and lack of concern are indelibly recorded in YouTube and elsewhere?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LsuOyMCPZ4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf1D0A4JZNU&feature=related
There is no question you folks are wrong on virtually everything. The only question is whether you are wrong due to ignorance or callousness. Perhaps it is both.
But, just for the record: We don't blame Bush for all the screw-ups in the 2001 - 2009 period......We blame YOU.
"Heck of a job....Brownie."
Otay buttwheat, I am a retired Hurricane Hunter.
My home went under 32' of water (and, it was on stilts).
New Orleans ALWAYS gets the sob story from the media (for several obvious reasons).
Mississippi got the heaviest damage from Katrina.
Bush did nothing wrong, he was under the impression that his delegation would take care of the issue.
It did not.
FEMA dropped the ball and the head of FEMA was replaced.
All too little too late.
And yes I am defending him.
Even though my home looked like a bombed out war zone, he did do what he could.
AND, I cannot thank the American Red Cross enough for all the help we received.
As republicans always say, you cant blame the president for their cabinets mistakes. Oh wait....
The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers, guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
Funding Sources
Charitable donations from the American public
Participation in the United Way and Combined Federal Campaigns
Reimbursements and grants from local, state and federal government agencies for specific projects
the same red cross that exposed bush on detainees
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) prepared a report based on interviews with black site detainees, conducted between October 6 and 11 and December 4 and 14, 2006, after their transfer to Guantanamo Bay.[10] The report was submitted to Bush administration officials.
FEMA dropped the Hurricane Katrina ball for two primary reasons: 1) it had been gutted (both budget and staff) when it was folded into DHS (remember that it lost its cabinet status and that the political priorities were terrorism, 9/11) and so had insifficient capacity ; 2) the FEMA Administrator (Brown) was a Presidential political appointee, Arabian Horse club person with NO emergency experience and no clue as to how to identify needs or define priorities (to include staging known needed resources in advance of the event). He was a "chair filler" and not a true emergency services administrator who allowed the circumstances to control him instead of trying to control the circumstances.
Viewer_Ready.......you said (in this thread):
you said in January, 2011:
Apparently, you (say you) worked in whatever occupation benefits your current needs.....Your sort is not rare here.....or, hard to discredit.
Here's what you actually are (judging by a VERY brief perusal of your comments): a homophobic creationist.
Bush's response to Katrina was insensitive and amateurish......watch the referred YouTube videos.
Ian, I am glad you keep up with my various careers.
Very few people can say that they have done as much in a lifetime as I have.
I can send you a resume.
One thing I learned in life though, NEVER trust a liberal with government money.
OH, and EVERTHING I say that I have done, I HAVE DONE.
You have to learn to count years Ian.
And SOME of us worked in various occupations to make do.
Something liberals cannot understand.
Viewer_Ready.......you said:
This should be amended to: "Very few people say that they have done as much in a lifetime as I do."
You are a garden-variety internet pretender. In any case, why would it matter (in a discussion of who was at fault for Bush's POST-disaster (lack of) response to Katrina) whether you were a hurricane hunter, a soda jerk, or both?
It's okay, Ian, I deal with the ignorant all the time.
Maybe this is a critism of me, but was there a link to these charts? I didn't see it, and why if it is neworthy to report the power-point charts, they don't display it.
Even if they did, one would need the data or source of data behind the charts.
People are amazed he can use one. That's the story. If they showed the charts they'd get in trouble for lying on live television.
A tool bring a tool to help being a tool of the international elites, his gods of the business world.
I thought lying was ryan's best tool until he got caught, power point, show the charts and get caught again. Smart guy our Paulie.
Obama 2012
obama is pretty good at lying...
...and biden does not care if he is lying or not...he just says it.
bush, keck is more like George C. Scott riding the bomb, just like bebe wants romney to do.
Obama 2012
bush democrat........
Don't sell keck so short. He is far more than your average Tea Party misanthrope. He's a "militia man".
You know Dr. Strangelove was a defeated NAZI....right? How many others here are so bold as to choose one of those as their avatar?
ACHTUNG keck !!
What a misleading headline. I fully expected that the "tool" from his past would be Todd Akin.
Interesting that Ryan uses power point. When Congressmen were running into protests Ryan was the artful dodger. He scheduled his district "town meetings" speaking at places like a Rotary Club lunch with only certain people admitted; Ryan insulated himhimself. There were some occasions when protesters did pay for lunch to get in to the meeting and raise their objections. Not exactly what most people think of for town meetings. However, a power point presentation would not be surprising on those occasions since Ryan's idea would have been to avoid concerns of some constituents .
Scott Walker?
;-)
Based on his fractured notion of economics, rather than PowerPoint maybe Mr. Ryan should learn about Excel.