Back on the stump, Ryan focuses on 'different direction'
October 31st, 2012
12:17 PM ET
10 years ago

Back on the stump, Ryan focuses on 'different direction'

Eau Claire, Wisconsin (CNN) – In the wake of Superstorm Sandy devastating the northeast Paul Ryan toned down his criticism of President Barack Obama when Mitt Romney's running mate resumed campaigning on Wednesday.

When the Wisconsin lawmaker and vice presidential nominee kicked off the first of three rallies in his home state he focused less on their Democratic opponent – who will spend the day surveying Sandy-ravaged areas of New Jersey with Republican Gov. Chris Christie – and more on what the Republican ticket would do if they were elected in six days.

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"I tell you what, Wisconsinites we're problem solvers. We don't care who gets credit, we just want to fix things," he said before an audience of 1,000 people in Eau Claire. "And so when you take a look at the challenges on our horizon one of the reasons why our businesses aren't hiring, one of the reasons why we have 23 million people struggling for work, one of the biggest reasons we have 15 percent of Americans in poverty today is because our economy is not growing, because there's a massive amount of government-imposed uncertainty plaguing our economy. On day one we're going to fix that. On day one we're going to go in a different direction."

Ryan, who has served in Congress 14 years and is chairman of the House Budget Committee, faulted both political parties for making "lots of empty promises for years to get re-elected," resulting in an increasing federal debt that is hurting the nation's economy.

He said, "Problems have been building and mounting in Congress and in Washington and they need to be solved. What we need is somebody who gets out of bed every morning thinking about how do I solve these problems, who do I talk to, how do I bring people together. How do I break the Gordian knot of gridlock in Washington, how do I run at our country's problems instead of running away from them?"

On Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominee and his running mate set aside their usual stump speeches and instead welcomed donations of storm-relief supplies from supporters. In Wisconsin, Ryan thanked volunteers at victory centers in La Crosse and Hudson who collected supplies that were headed to a Red Cross center in New Jersey.

Ryan held one rally in Florida instead of three that were scheduled on Monday before the storm made landfall.

With less than a week to go until Election Day, Ryan encouraged voters in his native Wisconsin to take advantage of early voting and absentee in person so they can "spend the weekend talking to friends, talking to relatives, talking to neighbors, making sure people go to the polls."

"But being that we're here near the banks of the Mississippi, not too far from there, we've had our share of natural disasters, but we don't have hurricanes. We've turned on the TV and we've seen the devastation. Let's keep the people of the Northeast in our prayers today," he said.

Ryan will hold rallies in Green Bay and Racine before he goes home to go trick-or-treating with his three kids in Janesville.


Filed under: 2012 • Paul Ryan • Wisconsin
soundoff (38 Responses)
  1. 1twinsfan

    Sooo...the new campaign slogan is Backwards?

    October 31, 2012 01:15 pm at 1:15 pm |
  2. Dan5404

    Ryan and Romney are "pretenders". They are pretending that they have suddenly become moderates and abandoned their ultra-right party. But, when pinned down, they can't answer key questions such as: How will you pay for a 7 trillion dollar addition to debt with your so-called plan? Will you cut loopholes that now favor billionaire corporations? Do you realize that, if you cut every loophole that exists, you couldn't pay that 7 trillon? Will you cut FEMA out or defund it to a point that it can't do its' job? What health care plan do you have that is better for people than Obomacare (after all, you loved it in Massachussetts)? Will you admit you were wrong in your recent comments about GM and Jeep, since both companies called you on it? Why are you hiding the rest of your tax returns? Why should anyone elect a person with no set policy or plan that you can give detasils on, and who has been on both sides of many issues?

    October 31, 2012 01:19 pm at 1:19 pm |
  3. Marty, FL

    Romney is sadly all over the place with flip-flopping and dishonesty. His inconsistency does not instill confidence.

    Would rather stay with Pres. Obama in the right direction and his steady, positive leadership.

    October 31, 2012 01:22 pm at 1:22 pm |
  4. Four and The Door

    The direction giving us 2% annual GDP growth will increase poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Paul Ryan is absolutely correct that out-of-control government spending and rising national debt is fixable while at the same time growing our economy, reducing tax rates and improving the entitlements our citizens need. Mitt Romney's economic plan does this. Of course Obama/ Biden 2012 will throw a fit and say bad things about it. But they will not come up with their own plan. It would require admitting that what they have been doing does not work. And even though we see this fact month after month, some people still hang on. But it is not working for America. Get over it. Do better. Romney/ Ryan 2012.

    October 31, 2012 01:24 pm at 1:24 pm |
  5. g

    just having this guy in #2 spot gives me the shivers

    October 31, 2012 01:28 pm at 1:28 pm |
  6. Observer

    Rather then attacking, how about suggesting ways out of this economic mess. If half the kids leaving high school are going to college, that means half of them are leaving high school and entering the workforce and becoming part of the economy. Perhaps a few of the dollars being thrown around at education could actually be put into revitalizing secondary schools. More than a million young people begin working full time, right out the gate, if the jobs are there.

    Start changing this system from what it was initially intended to do, which was provide basic education, to a society that was agriculturally based.

    Young people provided with enough mental stimulus have a good idea of what they would like to do once they leave high school, but schools don't provide them with the tools to achive their goals.

    Schools have to be restructured to help meet the demands of the 21st century, grade 8 should be a year of education that focuses kids on where they see themselves after highschool, multiple opportuntities should be presented to them during this formative time, this will help them choose a career in an educated fashion, understanding that when entering the secondary systems the education will be formatted to help them achive those goals. We can set up a computer program to safely land an science platform on mars, but we don't think we can re-jig the education system. Its a big undertaking and educators should be part of it, but so should industry, business,
    construction,and yes even government, all of these organizations have jobs that need to be filled that don't require college. Now training and skills development, these are some of the tools they will need to be of use. After all that's where these kids will be going once their four years are up. The better prepared they are the quicker they can be intergrated into the workforce with real careers. These are the people that will provide America with a strong educated foundation for the coming century.

    Just a thought

    Lucid One

    October 31, 2012 01:30 pm at 1:30 pm |
  7. norma jean

    We have a national tragedy with millions of people needing what ever help they can get and this jerk is out campaining. He has always come across to me as a basically cold calculating person with little honest concern for the people.........just their votes......He has not been seen nor heard from since this disaster started until now we hear he's back pushing the partyt!.....JERK IS TOO POLITE A WORD !!!.
    .........

    October 31, 2012 01:31 pm at 1:31 pm |
  8. luke,az

    Why are Romney and Ryan campaigning at this time. These guys are clueless.

    October 31, 2012 01:34 pm at 1:34 pm |
  9. Buckeye

    Democrat now Ind.

    FORWARD off the cliff isn't an option at all.
    -------------------–
    You're not fooling anybody. Your use of lingo gives you away as the tightie rightie wingnut you are and always have been. Too bad you lose in 6 days.

    October 31, 2012 01:35 pm at 1:35 pm |
  10. rs

    Four and The Door-
    Yeah and continuing the redistribution of money from the poor and middle class to the rich won't help either. Face it Four, Romney is a failure. He is morally bankrupt and offers only a return to 2000 for fiscal ideas. Socially- he's more focused on the 1900s.

    October 31, 2012 01:40 pm at 1:40 pm |
  11. Democrat now Ind.

    DaveC

    Democrat now Ind.:

    If you want to find who is at fault for that just look at the picture above. He is one of them.

    ----
    Look no further than the one in the White House.

    October 31, 2012 01:43 pm at 1:43 pm |
  12. Paganini

    Right, Paul. You guys are going to fix a 30 year old problem right away.

    The height of hypocrisy is a “job creator” firing his neighbor and sending that job overseas, tens of thousands at a time, over the course of thirty years, and then at the end standing back and saying “this economy/president sucks – where are all the jobs!!??”.

    ps. Tax rates are the lowest they have been in 50 years.

    October 31, 2012 01:48 pm at 1:48 pm |
  13. WhereIsPalin

    Obama wins........and Ryan loses his seat in congress. What a great day that would be.

    October 31, 2012 01:49 pm at 1:49 pm |
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