Posted on 08/08/2011 7:02:27 PM PDT by dragnet2
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., both blasted Tea Party critics on Monday for suggesting that the conservative movement with which they're both linked may have had something to do with America's recent credit downgrade by the ratings agency Standard & Poor's.
The elder Paul, a longtime lawmaker, staunch libertarian, and presidential candidate, decried the allegations as an "attempt to scapegoat" Tea Party lawmakers. He pinned the downgrade on the Washington establishment.
"This attempt to scapegoat folks who recognize that our debt is out of control and that we must change course should not be tolerated," he said in a Monday statement. "They are simply demanding that Washington do its job."
He continued: "We were downgraded because of years of reckless spending, not because concerned Americans demanded we get our finances in order.
The Washington establishment has spent us into near default and now a downgrade, and here they are again trying to escape responsibility for their negligence in handling the economy."
In a Sunday appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod pinned responsibility for America's recent downgrade - arguing that the group's political "brinksmanship" during debt ceiling negotiations "brought us to the brink of a default."
"The fact of the matter is that this is essentially a Tea Party downgrade," Axelrod declared.
Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, also speaking on "Face the Nation," argued that the "radical right" had essentially scared mainstream Republicans off of voting for a debt limit package that could have included tax increases - and staved off the ratings dip.
Dean said the American people are there, the Democrats are there, a lot of reasonable Republicans are there, but they are terrified of these right wing splinter groups, the radical right, because they are so powerful in the primaries."
Rand Paul, the first-term Kentucky Senator who was elected in 2010 with the support of the Tea Party, argued that blaming the movement for America's economic woes was like "blaming the fireman for fires "he said in a statement. "The Tea Party has been fighting for a serious solution that would rescue our finances through immediate spending cuts, spending caps and most importantly, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution."
"While Democrats would like to lay blame on the Tea Party for the current economic failure, it is their President who has failed in leadership, failed to lower unemployment, failed to rescue our economy, failed to prevent a downgrade of our debt, and failed to control spending," he added.
The Dow Jones industrial fell 634.76 points on Monday, as anxiety plagued Wall Street on the first trading day since Standard & Poor's downgraded American debt. The drop is the sixth worst point decline for the Dow in the last 112 years. Every stock in the S&P's 500 index declined Monday.
Why are you attempting to make this about me?
Maybe you should ask the moderator to delete this thread, as it's clearly angered you.
Well?
What is it with you Paulbots? Always overreacting and *no* sense of humor.
Lighten up, Francis. :)
Allegra, why are you attempting to make this article about me?
Yeah, sure. I must be angry. That’s why I posted the “LOL”. I wasn’t the one with an issue. My initial post of “Duh” set you off on me. I responded to your posts to me, nothing more. R-U-N Paul and Rand Paul made a statement that was obvious to people who are capable of rational thought, and some on FR think these two people made statements of a Herculean nature. The reality is that all they did was to have won the Captain Obvious award, nothing more.
“Why is everybody always picking on me???”
You have spent your entire time here attempting to make this article about me, while making wild baseless allegations.
What’s up with that?
LOL - that tired old tactic again?
Read posts 32 and 36 and then maybe try something that doesn't look so silly. :-D
I didn't see anyone imply or suggest that here. Why all the wild baseless accusations?
LOL - they take themselves so seriously.
I feel kind of sorry for 'em, really...
You seem like a nutcase.
that tired old tactic again?
No tactic, just a simple question.
You and and the other poster have done nothing but attempt to make this article about me.
Now you deny this?
LOL!
I wasn’t going to say that, but it’s what I was thinking.
I didn't see anyone imply or suggest that here.
Why all the wild baseless accusations?
I’m going to attempt to help you out here, but I have little expectation this will breach that brick in your head. I, again, commented about R-U-N Paul and Rand Paul, not about you. You set upon me for my post. I responded to your attacks against me. YOU made this all about you. The unfortunate aspect of this is that you’re demonstrating similarities with Obozo in how me attempts to make everything about him. You may wish to rethink your approach.
Na! They made their own bed. Let them lie in it.
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