Paul D. Ryan dialed up the Republican rhetoric against President Obama a few degrees hotter than it has been, caustically accusing the president of only being able “to talk a good game†and of using “straw-man arguments†because he has no record to run on.
“No politician is more skilled at striking heroic poses against imaginary adversaries,'' Mr. Ryan said on Friday. “Nobody is better at rebuking nonexistent opinions. Barack Obama does this all the time, and in this campaign we are calling him on it.''
Mr. Ryan spoke at the Values Voter Summit, a gathering of social conservatives sponsored by the Family Research Council in Washington. He embraced the group's top issue, opposition to ab ortion, but did not mention another topic, outlawing same-sex marriage.
Mostly Mr. Ryan castigated Mr. Obama in language more personal and biting than has been his custom in the five weeks since Mitt Romney named him his running mate. If the intent was to sharpen the contrast between the two presidential contenders and motivate an element of the conservative base at a time when new polls show Mr. Obama gaining a slight advantage nationally and in some key swing states, Mr. Ryan succeeded. He was frequently cheered.
A more modulated broadside was aimed at the administration's response to anti-American violence in the Mideast. Mr. Ryan echoed Mr. Romney's criticism of what Mr. Romney labeled an American apology to rioters.
“The least equivocation or mixed signal only makes them bolder,'' Mr. Ryan said, referring to extremists.
For the most part, though, Mr. Ryan delivered a full-throated attack. He cited prolonged jobless ness and a 15 percent poverty rate under Mr. Obama, and he said that the president created straw-man issues to distract voters.
“Lately he's been trying out a new tactic,'' Mr. Ryan said. “It's a classic Barack Obama straw man: If anyone dares to point out the facts of his record, why then, they're just being negative and pessimistic about the country. The new straw man is people hoping for the decline of America.''
“It's pretty sad, but this is the closest President Obama can come these days to sounding positive himself,'' he added.
Although Mr. Ryan's speech used well worn arguments Republicans have used against Mr. Obama - saying that he foments class warfare and opposes private enterprise - the tone was notably aggressive.
“The President is given to lectures on all that we owe to government, as if anyone who opposes his reckless expansion of federal power is guilty of ingratitude and rank individualism,'' he said.
“He treats privat e enterprise as little more than a revenue source for government. He views government as the redistributor and allocator of opportunity.''
In a response, the Obama campaign cited the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which said Mr. Ryan's austere House budget failed a “basic moral test.''
“Today, speaking at a values summit, he unleashed a series of over-the-top, dishonest attacks against the President that once again reminded voters that he's just not ready for prime time,'' said Danny Kanner, an Obama campaign spokesman.
On abortion, Mr. Ryan quoted Mr. Obama's frequent declaration that “we're all in this together,'' and turned it against the president. “It has a nice ring,'' he said. “Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born.''
