And that's not all, folks. This one little answer is just packed with juicy nuggets of Romney/Ryan damaging goodness. Check it out.
Video:
Transcript via RCP
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."
Let's take it a little at a time. Right off the bat, Ryan not only admits that President Obama hasn't proposed more gun laws (unlike his running mate, who as governor signed an assault weapons ban), but that enforcement of existing gun laws is woefully inadequate. That may give some of those "I'm the NRA and I vote" members a moment's pause. Okay, maybe not, but let's look at where Ryan goes from there.
He says that
the best thing to help prevent violent crime in the inner cities [remember, he was asked if this country had a gun problem] 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.
For those of you who find yourselves without their White Guy Politician Decoder Ring, Inner Cities = Black People. So Paul Ryan is asked a question about guns, turns it into a question about crime, then answers a question specifically about the crimes of black people, excuse me, inner cities people,
and blames it on their general lack of discipline and character. Yowza!
But wait, there's more:
After saying all this the reporter asked what Paul Ryan apparently thought was a strange question that put words in Paul Ryan's mouth.
And you can do all that by cutting taxes? With a big tax cut?
Why on Earth, Paul Ryan may have thought, would this reporter be asking me about cutting taxes after what I just said? Maybe, NMDad answers, it had something to do with what you said here:
to bring opportunity to the inner cities,
Hasn't the Romney/Ryan campaign been saying all along that opportunity and prosperity comes from cutting those darned tax rates? Isn't a tax cut question really just a natural follow up to the idea that creating opportunity in the inner cities is part of an answer to gun crime, given the campaign the Romney/Ryan team has mounted?
Okay, okay, maybe the way the question was worded was a little too strong for Paul Ryan. The reporter said "You can do all that by cutting taxes" and Paul Ryan doesn't believe that you can encourage discipline and character of inner cities people through tax cuts alone. But maybe he could have just said that. Maybe he could have explained exactly how tax cuts help provide economic opportunity to blah inner cities people. Instead of taking this opportunity, he made the choice not only to demur, but to become noticeably irritated and cancel the rest of the interview.
So while Paul Ryan pouts over an unfair question that he should have been able to easily answer, even with ready-made campaign talking points, we're left to wonder: Why the hissy fit?
And we're left to speculate: Maybe the Romney/Ryan campaign just doesn't want to talk about their tax plan. Maybe the Romney/Ryan campaign can't defend their tax plan. Maybe the Romney/Ryan campaign knows that any questions about their tax plan pose a problem because the campaign can't defend, and can't offer specifics about it because it's a terrible plan that doesn't add up, that will add to the deficit and/or hurt the middle class, and that disproportionately benefits the super wealthy, like Mr. Romney himself.
One more observation in the Tip Jar.