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Ron and Rand Paul say downgrade is fault of Washington, not Tea Party
CBS ^ | Lucy Madison

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.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: downgrade; obamadowngrade; randpaul; ronpaul; teaparty; teapartydowngrade
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1 posted on 08/08/2011 7:02:31 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: dragnet2
Ron and Rand Paul say downgrade is fault of Washington, not Tea Party

Duh!!

2 posted on 08/08/2011 7:04:20 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: dragnet2

Exactly what this guy has been saying:

Http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com

It’s more than just being able to cover interest. They have to cover principal as well.


3 posted on 08/08/2011 7:06:18 PM PDT by whitedog57
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To: dragnet2

So the couch potatoes who sit around all day watching “The View” and eating bons bons are wrong when they tell the “pollsters” that it’s the Tea Party’s fault?


4 posted on 08/08/2011 7:08:47 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Americans need to wean their government off of its dependence on foreign money.)
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To: SoldierDad
Duh!!

What did the Republican House Speaker John Boehner say about these allegations?

Was it something "Get your ass in line" wasn't it?

5 posted on 08/08/2011 7:15:20 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: SoldierDad; dragnet2

Paging Captain Obvious!


6 posted on 08/08/2011 7:20:59 PM PDT by edge10 (Obama lied, babies died!)
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To: edge10

They’re kooks!


7 posted on 08/08/2011 7:23:45 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2
Simply amazing how we Tea Party patriots have gone from fringe, minority, unrepresentative, astroturf, insurance-company mercenaries to THE MOST POWERFUL political force in the country in such a very short time.
8 posted on 08/08/2011 7:26:14 PM PDT by kevao
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To: dragnet2

i was wondering why meet the depressed had mclamme on sunday morning to debate that POS kerry- i wonder if they thought about rand paul or if he would even go on based on the BS msnbc tried to pull on him...


9 posted on 08/08/2011 7:26:25 PM PDT by God luvs America (63.5million pay no federal income tax then vote demoKrat)
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To: dragnet2

Who was calling the Republican Party the party of “No” not too long ago? It really didn’t matter then because the Dimocrats could just run right over them like a steamroller to spend hand over fist, and they did. Quite a stretch to say the Tea Party is to blame for exploding debt, not having a budget for two and a half years, and not wanting to spend even more.

This whole thing is in the laps of Obama/Pelosi/Reid for thinking they could just spend, spend, spend, with no budget and no consequences when they should have been putting things in order. Really, what ever happened to Obama’s scalpel, consolidation and elimination of ineffective programs anyway?


10 posted on 08/08/2011 7:27:49 PM PDT by dajeeps
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To: God luvs America

I don’t know, I gave up watching political Television shows years ago. Too much propaganda to deal with. They became a joke IMO.


11 posted on 08/08/2011 7:30:28 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2

No they are not. Ron and Rand Paul are Patriots and tea Party soldiers!


12 posted on 08/08/2011 7:30:32 PM PDT by GlockThe Vote (The Obama Adminstration: The flash mob who wonÂ’t leave.)
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To: dragnet2

Um, the “Get your ass in line” comment, if it was an actual quote, was all about the budget debt deal. It had nothing to do with the accusations coming from the WH and other liberal idiots who are now trying to blame the Tea Party for the credit downgrade. Seriously, you need to reassess your love affair with R-U-N Paul.


13 posted on 08/08/2011 7:32:36 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: GlockThe Vote

I was being facetious.


14 posted on 08/08/2011 7:33:31 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2

Okay, my bad. I mistook you for someone else with respect to RP. I apologize. However, you’re still incorrect on what Boehner said.


15 posted on 08/08/2011 7:34:05 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: SoldierDad
Seriously, you need to reassess your love affair with R-U-N Paul.

My love affair?

What do you bass this on?

16 posted on 08/08/2011 7:35:07 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2

Damn it. Now I have to retract my retraction.


17 posted on 08/08/2011 7:35:18 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: SoldierDad

The question to you was: What did the Republican House Speaker John Boehner say about these allegations?


18 posted on 08/08/2011 7:36:17 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: GlockThe Vote

R-U-N Paul is a 9/11 truther and a nutjob who advocates for isolationism, anarchy, and chaos. I don’t know enough about his son, as yet, to form an opinion about him.


19 posted on 08/08/2011 7:38:04 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud dad of an Army Soldier currently deployed in the Valley of Death, Afghanistan)
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To: SoldierDad
Seriously, you need to reassess your love affair with R-U-N Paul.

My love affair?

What do you bass this on?

20 posted on 08/08/2011 7:39:12 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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