Charlie Rose surprised Rep. Paul Ryan on Tuesday's CBS This Morning by
promoting the latest smear from the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee. Rose displayed their fake horror-movie poster with Ryan's
face beside House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner.
It included the caption, "Just when you thought Medicare was safe, THEY'RE BACK. This time, they want to finish it for good."
Rose told the Wisconsin Republican, "Democrats have tried...to
portray you as someone who wants to destroy Medicare, and they have a
poster in which you are, in a sense, the poster boy of that. And their
argument is that you will, in fact, by a voluntary system, lead to the
destruction of something that seniors have come to depend on" [audio available here [1] ].
The CBS anchor raised the left-leaning attack during the second half of
the interview. Just before turning to the poster, Rose stated that "it
is still a controversial [budget] proposal, even though you have changed
it a little bit. Tell me what you think the country has to do, with
respect to Medicare, and how you have changed it from your previous
proposal."
Ryan went on the attack against President Obama, noting, in part, that "the President's health care law...raids a half a billion dollars from Medicare to spend on his new health care law, and puts a new board of 15 bureaucrats in charge of price controlling and rationing Medicare for current seniors." The GOP congressman repeated this talking point and expanded on it after the journalist turned to the DCCC graphic:
ROSE:
As you know, Democrats have tried to- and have attempted to- portray
you as someone who wants to destroy Medicare, and they have a poster in
which you are, in a sense, the poster boy of that. And their argument is
that you will, in fact, by a voluntary system, lead to the destruction
of something that seniors have come to depend on.
RYAN: The President's health care law does that already. The
President's health care law puts 15 bureaucrats in charge of rationing
the program, and he raids over half a trillion dollars from the program
to spend on other government programs. We preserve the benefit
for people in or near retirement- the President doesn't do that- but, in
order to do that, you have to reform the program to save the program,
and prevent it from going bankrupt. That's what we do. Scare
tactics, I don't think, are going to work. The country wants to be
spoken to like adults, not pandered to like children. We owe the country
a choice; we owe them leadership, we think; and if you want to save Medicare and prevent it from going bankrupt, you must reform the program, and that's what we're doing.
Near the end of the segment, Rose asked about Ryan's income tax reform proposal:
ROSE: I have to get this in. There is also tax reform in this budget
proposal. You want to reduce the rates to two rates- 10 percent and 25
percent.
RYAN: That's right. We think we need pro-growth economic policy. One of
the key ingredients to economic growth is a tax system that works,
that's competitive, that's fair. Take away the tax shelters that high
income earners use, in order to lower everybody's tax rates- but you do
this without hurting the deficit-
ROSE: But no alternative minimum- but no alternative minimum anymore.
RYAN: That's right. Yeah, nobody wants to have the alternative minimum.
I don't know a Democrat that wants the alternative minimum tax to
continue. So we say, get rid of the alternative minimum tax, because the
alternative minimum tax was because people were using tax shelters-
therefore, they had the alternative minimum tax. We're saying get rid of
all the tax shelters, so you can lower everybody's tax rates. It's more
competitive, it's fair, and it helps us grow our economy and make sure
that we don't tax our successful small businesses at much higher rates
than large corporations, and that's what this tax reform does.
Just over two weeks earlier, on the February 28, 2012 edition of CBS This Morning, the anchor directed a series of questions from the left [2] at the congressman, and wondered if the recent trend towards social issues in the Republican presidential race was "troubling." Ryan replied by attacking his counterparts across the aisle and their liberal allies in the media: "It's not troubling for me, and...I think that's more about the media, and maybe the Democrats, who are trying to move it in that direction."
The full trancript of Charlie Rose's interview of Rep. Paul Ryan from Tuesday's CBS This Morning, which began five minutes into the 7 am Eastern hour:
CHARLIE ROSE: Republican Congressman Paul Ryan is set to unveil a major
deficit-cutting budget proposal today. Congressman Ryan is with us on
Capitol Hill. Good morning.
REP. PAUL RYAN, (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: Hey, good morning, Charlie. How are you doing this morning?
[CBS News Graphic: "Eye On The Budget: Rep. Ryan Unveils New GOP Plan"]
ROSE: Good morning- again. Tell us what the core idea of this budget proposal is.
RYAN: Well, the core idea is, we want to get ahead of a debt crisis. We
want to take all of the empty promises that our government is making,
and make sure that they're not broken promises. We want to save Medicare
from bankruptcy; we want to put our debt on a pathway to balance and
pay off the debt; and we want to get our economy growing again-
fundamental tax reform-
ROSE: Are you-
RYAN: Go ahead.
ROSE: No- are you surprised there has not been much conversation about
deficit reduction on the Republican- in the Republican primary debate,
and that there- is it your intent to reignite this debate about the
deficit?
RYAN: Well, I think there's been plenty of talk about deficit
reduction. I think they talk quite a bit about the features of deficit
reduction- how to deal with these entitlement programs that are going
bankrupt- how to deal with overspending by government. So I think
there's been a lot of talk about it, but I think we also need to see the
forest through the trees, which is, I think, the point you're getting
at, Charlie, which is, we have a debt crisis coming.
[CBS News Graphic: "Paul Ryan's Budget Plan: Two individual tax
brackets: 10% & 25%; Cut corporate tax rate to 25%; End Alternative
Minimum Tax"]
We're borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend. We can't keep
spending money we don't have. And we owe the country a choice of two
futures, and that's what we're showing them today, which is, how we
would get the finances of the country straight; how we would get the
economy growing; how we would get this debt under control and paid off,
ultimately; and how we'll take on these drivers of our debt, which- yes,
those things can become political issues, but we think we owe it to the
country to show them how to fix these problems.
ROSE: Allow me to go to Medicare- it is still a controversial proposal,
even though you have changed it a little bit. Tell me what you think
the country has to do, with respect to Medicare, and how you have
changed it from your previous proposal.
RYAN: Well, I think they have to make a choice, which is, do they want
to stick with the President's health care law, which raids a half a
billion dollars from Medicare to spend on his new health care law, and
puts a new board of 15 bureaucrats in charge of price controlling and
rationing Medicare for current seniors. We get rid of that, and we say,
don't change Medicare for people in or near retirement- they already
retired; they're about to retire- so don't change their benefits, but,
in order to cash-flow their benefits- in order to make good on those
promises- you must change it for the next generation, and the system we
propose is not different than the system we, as member of Congress,
have. It's very similar to the system we have, where you have guaranteed
choices.
What's different this year, Charlie, is like our new bipartisan plan,
which is, if you want to have the traditional Medicare choice, along
with private plans- just like Medicare Advantage- you can choose that-
more support for the poor and sick, less for the wealthy, is how we
propose to do this.
ROSE: As you know, Democrats have tried to- and have attempted to-
portray you as someone who wants to destroy Medicare, and they have a
poster in which you are, in a sense, the poster boy of that. And their
argument is that you will, in fact, by a voluntary system, lead to the
destruction of something that seniors have come to depend on.
RYAN: The President's health care law does that already. The
President's health care law puts 15 bureaucrats in charge of rationing
the program, and he raids over half a trillion dollars from the program
to spend on other government programs. We preserve the benefit for
people in or near retirement- the President doesn't do that- but, in
order to do that, you have to reform the program to save the program,
and prevent it from going bankrupt. That's what we do. Scare tactics, I
don't think, are going to work. The country wants to be spoken to like
adults, not pandered to like children. We owe the country a choice; we
owe them leadership, we think; and if you want to save Medicare and
prevent it from going bankrupt, you must reform the program, and that's
what we're doing.
ROSE: I have to get this in. There is also tax reform in this budget
proposal. You want to reduce the rates to two rates- 10 percent and 25
percent.
RYAN: That's right. We think we need pro-growth economic policy. One of
the key ingredients to economic growth is a tax system that works,
that's competitive, that's fair. Take away the tax shelters that high
income earners use, in order to lower everybody's tax rates- but you do
this without hurting the deficit-
ROSE: But no alternative minimum- but no alternative minimum anymore.
RYAN: That's right. Yeah, nobody wants to have the alternative minimum.
I don't know a Democrat that wants the alternative minimum tax to
continue. So we say, get rid of the alternative minimum tax, because the
alternative minimum tax was because people were using tax shelters-
therefore, they had the alternative minimum tax. We're saying get rid of
all the tax shelters, so you can lower everybody's tax rates. It's more
competitive, it's fair, and it helps us grow our economy and make sure
that we don't tax our successful small businesses at much higher rates
than large corporations, and that's what this tax reform does.
ROSE: Congressman Ryan, thank you again.
RYAN: Thank you, Charlie.