MEMO
FROM: RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer @SeanSpicer
TO: Interested Parties
RE: Weekend Messaging Memo – Why Ryan Won
Once again, a debate has made the choice in this election crystal clear. Last night, Congressman Paul Ryan won by presenting a positive vision and a substantive plan. Vice President Biden, laughing and smirking, only called for more of the same.
There was a reason the vice president gave an unhinged performance. NBC’s David Gregory may have said it best: “If you’ve got the facts on your side, you don’t lose your cool.” The facts were on Congressman Ryan’s side, so the vice president lost his cool–and lost the debate.
FACT: Vice President Biden offered no plan to create jobs in a second term.
Just like President Obama, the vice president could not outline a new agenda to fix the economy in a second term. But more of the same would be disastrous. Americans cannot afford four more years like the last four. The same vice president who admitted the middle class “has been buried the last four years” has no plan to save them the next four years.
In fact, the only agenda item they have identified–a massive tax hike–will make things worse for the middle class: The Obama-Biden two trillion dollar tax increase will cost America 710,000 jobs and $200 billion of economic output. That’s the wrong direction and proof the Obama-Biden administration will not be able to solve the problems they have thus far failed to address.
FACT: Vice President Biden could not answer for the last four years.
Vice President Biden tried to save the Obama campaign with an overwrought performance. But he still could not defend the Obama record.
In early 2009, President Obama vowed that if his administration didn’t have the economy fixed in “three years,” then he would face “a one-term proposition.” Even with that pledge surely in his mind, he came nowhere close to solving our problems.
He did not even meet his own standards for success:
He promised he would cut the deficit in half. But he produced four trillion-dollar deficits, adding over $5.6 trillion to the national debt.
He promised to lower the cost of healthcare for the average family by $2,500, but instead insurance premiums continue to skyrocket under Obamacare.
He promised never to raise taxes on the middle class, yet with Obamacare, he did exactly that.
He promised his massive stimulus bill would create millions of jobs and reduce unemployment to below 5.5 percent by now. Today, we’re nowhere close.
Last night Vice President Biden promised, “We can and will get [unemployment] under six percent.” But that’s exactly what they promised would happen in their first term and couldn’t achieve. How can they guarantee different results in a second term by offering only more of the same?
When President Obama stands before the American people and asks for a second term, voters will have to decide if they are satisfied with the results of the first term. And the results are a record of disappointments.
FACT: Vice President Biden contradicted the evidence on Benghazi security requests.
In dismissing Americans’ concerns about Libya, the vice president insisted the administration did not know of any pleas for more security in Benghazi before the attack that killed four Americans. But just this week, State Department officials admitted to Congress that they rejected requests for increased security personnel.
Prior to that he tried to throw the intelligence community under the bus, saying the administration gave information as they received it. But numerous independent reports by news outlets have indicated that is not the case at all.
Once again, the administration is not being straightforward and honest with the American people. They deserve answers, and the vice president only created more questions. Here are the facts on Libya of which he claimed to be unaware.
FACT: Vice President Biden resorted to misleading rhetoric and gross exaggerations.
Read our full fact check. From denying stimulus waste to distorting Gov. Romney’s record, Vice President Biden struggled with the truth on at least 17 different issues.
FACT: Only Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan have a record of success and a plan for the economy.
In stark contrast to the Obama-Biden ticket, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have records of problem solving. Gov. Romney worked with an 87 percent Democrat legislature in Massachusetts and was able to cut spending, cut taxes, balance the budget every year, and preside over lower unemployment and a growing economy.
In Congress, Paul Ryan has worked across the aisle with the likes of Democrat Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon to craft a plan to save Medicare. Again, it’s a contrast with President Obama, who took $716 billion from Medicare to pay for Obamacare, something the American people neither wanted nor can afford.
Americans can have confidence that a Romney-Ryan administration will have the ability to get the job done. They also know their priorities are right: the Romney-Ryan Plan for a Stronger Middle Class will create 12 million new jobs.
They will cut taxes for the middle class, reduce the deficit, pursue North American energy independence, make trade work for America, ensure Americans have the education and skills to succeed, and champion small business. All of this is with one chief goal in mind: creating jobs to provide Americans the real recovery they deserve.
Last week’s debate offered some much-needed clarity for voters. This week’s debate did as well. In the next 25 days, the contrast and the choice can only grow clearer.
Finally, a word on the state of the race. The vice president’s goal last night was to win back the base. No matter what they thought of his performance, that’s not a good place to be 26 days from an election.
After last night, Romney-Ryan is 2 for 2. The pressure is now on President Obama heading into the debate Tuesday. He has to hit a homerun, but coming out swinging for the Green Monster is always a daunting task.
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