Ryan Speech Equal Parts Biography, Policy and Contrast

August 29, 2012, 11:03 pm

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

Paul D. Ryan offered a mix of folksy charm, family biography and biting criticism of President Obama's administration, earning huge applause from the delegates gathered in the convention hall on Wednesday.

He did not shy away from his proposals on Medicare, accusing Mr. Obama's administration of taking $700 billion away from the program to finance the president's health care reforms.

“An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for,” he said as the crowd booed. “The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it.”

In the face of attacks by Mr. Obama and Democrats to paint Republi cans as foes of Medicare, Mr. Ryan said, essentially: Bring it on.

“Our opponents can consider themselves on notice,” he said. “In this election, on this issue, the usual posturing on the Left isn't going to work. Mitt Romney and I know the difference between protecting a program, and raiding it. Ladies and gentlemen, our nation needs this debate. We want this debate. We will win this debate.”

Earlier in the speech, Mr. Ryan talked about his father, “a small-town lawyer” and “a gentle presence” in his life, until he died when Mr. Ryan was 16.

“I live on the same block where I grew up,” he told a hushed crowd. “We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place.”

But he quickly shifted to an effort to take apart Mr. Obama's policies, including the stimulus spending, health care reform and tax policy.

“What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus?” Mr. Ryan asked. “More debt. T hat money wasn't just spent and wasted, it was borrowed, spent, and wasted.”

He was interrupted briefly by a protester who yelled “health care, not warfare” as Mr. Ryan started to talk about Mr. Obama's health care plan.

He paused as the crowd chanted “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Then he proceeded to describe the health care plan as “more than 2,000 pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees and fines that have no place in a free country.”

Follow Michael D. Shear on Twitter at @shearm.