Yes, you read that right. In an older video someone just linked me to and I had never seen before (and seems rather obscure due to the low amount of views it has on YouTube), Paul Ryan made the following statement:
Look, if we had a Clinton presidency, if we had Erskine Bowles as Chief of Staff of the White House or President of the United States, I think we would have fixed this fiscal mess by now. That’s not the kind of presidency we’re dealing with right now.”
Video and more below the fold.
I suspect he might regret making that statement in a year or two.
However at the risk of starting a pie fight between the pro-Hillary folks and those that aren't really huge fans of Hillary - such as myself:
What, exactly, does this say about Hillary and the economic policies she might bring with her to the Oval Office if someone like Paul Ryan can throw her "credit" like this on what he believes she'd bring to the nation for economic policy? Shouldn't it give us at least a small cause for concern that Paul Ryan - Paul Ryan of all people - seemed to be crediting what he perceives will be her chosen economic policies?
Bottom line: she has yet to actually win the primary yet. We can still have such a discussion without tearing each other to pieces and handing the White House to the GOP in 2016. If she wins the primary, fine, let's go ahead and chastise everybody who isn't a fan to get in line. But until that day - we can still question what kind of policies she might bring as President, and question if someone else might make a more well-rounded candidate.
We have this same "go with the sure thing" problem in New York, right now, with Andrew Cuomo. His economic policies are crap. Many New York liberals knew his economic policies would be crap before he was even elected to office, because he posted volumes on what his policy would be. No one paid attention to us - and now, we're stuck with him. Sure, he's brought some great socially liberal policy to New York - but at what cost?
None of this means we think Hillary is a bad person. None of this means we think Hillary is a "DINO", or a Republican, or whatever. It simply means we question actual policy, and advocate for policy which we feel will best move the nation (and its working and middle classes) forward.
Bottom line: we need to focus not just on simply "winning" with whoever carries our overall "brand", but the quality of that candidate as well. And right now, it's OK to question the qualities Hillary brings as a candidate. We don't all have to be in agreement on her at this time, and I think a video like this reflects why some of us are quite uneasy about her.