Progressive Breakfast

MORNING MESSAGE: Joe Shows Up

OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "Ryan summoned the 'confidence fairy' – the belief that election of Romney would lift the economy by giving new confidence to business – to work in foreign policy. Just elect Mitt and Paul, and the Iranian Ayatollahs will retreat in fear. One look at Mitt’s CEO glare and they’ll start dismantling their nuclear program. On domestic policy, Ryan continued Romney’s effort to soften their posture. Their plan to lower tax rates won’t help the affluent or hurt the middle class. Their plan to end Medicare will give young people more choices and the same guarantee and save money. Their plan to cut spending won’t hurt anyone ... But with Biden pressing him, the pose got tiresome – and less and less credible. 'Trust your gut on this, folks,' Biden said. And those listening knew exactly what he meant. Ryan was cute but too cute."

Biden Defends Middle Class From Romney-Ryan

And rips Romney on "47%." Politico: "These people are my mom and dad,' Biden said. 'They pay more effective tax than Gov. Romney pays with his federal income tax.' Accusing Romney of criticizing the non-tax-paying soldiers 'who are fighting in Afghanistan right now,' Biden continued: 'It’s about time they take some responsibility here and instead of signing pledges to Grover Norquist … they should be signing a pledge to the middle class saying they’re going to level the playing field.'"

Biden nails Ryan on stimulus hypocrisy. HuffPost: "...Biden said during the debate in Danville, Ky. 'I'm not allowed to show letters here, but go on our website. He sent me two letters saying, by the way, can you send me some stimulus money for companies here in the state of Wisconsin?' ... Ryan acknowledged at the debate that he asked for funding ... adding it's something members of congress do for the people in their district ... 'I love that, I love that,' Biden said, laughing. 'This is such a bad program and he writes ... the Department of Energy a letter saying the reason we need this stimulus, it will create growth and jobs. His words."

Ryan Sticks To Lying

Ryan misleads on ObamaCare yet again. WSJ: "Paul Ryan‘s closing statement included a claim that 20 million people are projected to lose their health insurance once the Obama health law takes effect. That figure likely comes from a possible scenario mentioned deep into this March 2012 set of estimates by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office that contemplates what employers might do after 2014 when many will be penalized for not providing insurance but can also look to new options ... 20 million fewer people in employer-sponsored insurance is the most extreme number considered by CBO in its study. More likely, it thought, was that three to five million fewer people might get insurance through their employer each year from 2019 to 2022, and would instead get their insurance through exchanges, with the subsidies, or Medicaid."

"Paul Ryan Attacks Same Medicare Cuts In His Own Budget" reports TPM.

And the attack itself has been "repeatedly debunked", reminds NYT.

"No, six studies did not debunk the Tax Policy Center’s finding on the Romney tax plan" notes W. Post's Dylan Matthews.

"Ryan, Unprompted, Makes Contraception an Issue in VP Debate" notes Slate's Amanda Marcotte: "...contraception is now such an important target for the anti-choicers that Ryan brought the subject up, even though Raddatz didn't ask about it, pivoting quickly from abortion to talk about the Catholic Church's issue with contraception ..."

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