Alan Simpson: Paul Ryan speaks 'hard truth'
By TOMER OVADIA | 8/17/12 5:50 PM EDT
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Former Sen. Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the Simpson-Bowles commision on debt and deficit reduction, on Friday called Paul Ryan “a spokesman of hard truth against fakery.”
“He encourages me. Erskine [Bowles] and I felt he was one of the sharpest guys we dealt with,” Simpson said on Fox News. “He doesn’t have to have a staff member there feeding him stuff and little memos. He can go a half an hour without a note. He knows the issues.”
“He also said to us — I think a year and a half ago — you know, ‘If we can’t get something done in America, there’s no need for me to smash my head into the wall around here, I have things to do back in Wisconsin,’” Simpson recalled. “And now, this thing [the GOP vice presidential nomination] comes to him, I don’t think he was seeking it, but let me tell you, he becomes a spokesman of hard truth against fakery.
When asked if he was offended that the Simpson-Bowles plan “is collecting dust on a shelf,” Simpson predicted its return.
“No, because it’s maybe on the shelf, but it’s like Dr. Frankenstein is about to come by and inject some electrodes into the corpse and it’s going to rise from the shelf,” Simpson replied. “Let me tell you, everyone is saying — or a lot of people with the, you know, with clarity — are saying this baby has not gone away.”
Simpson also said he wasn’t optimistic that Congress would make progress on addressing the fiscal cliff before the November election.
“These guys will do nothing, either party, nothing, just B.S. and mush, the whole way through,” he said. “Then, between the Nov. 6 and Dec. 31, they’re going to be really mucking around in 5 to 7 trillion bucks of quicksand. And it will have to be discussed.”
He later added: “I didn’t think that Erskine would ever say that we would go over the fiscal cliff, but Erskine says we will go over that cliff now.”
Read more: politico.com |
