Ryan preaches austerity for poor, paranoia for GOP

>>> hurricane sandy smashed into the new jersey coastline on october the 29th. today, the 28th of january, the senate is finally expected to pass a $50 billion emergency aid bill to provide desperately needed relief. but we can only assume that this will upset paul ryan and the 179 house republicans who voted against the bill. their reason? well, vague claims of unnecessary spending, the usual republican approach to most budget battles. but whatever you do, don't you dare call that austerity.

>> we're not preaching austerity. we're preaching growth and opportunity. what we are saying is if you get our fiscal ship fixed, you preempt austerity.

>> joining us now is congressman joe crawly of new york. welcome, sir. ryan's budget would not allow tax hikes, it would cut nonentitlement and discretionary spending by as much as 37%, okay? every single exist in the world says that if this country did that, it would be tipped straight back into recession. he says that's not austerity.

>> well, i guess it's a new definition for austerity then. the reality is, martin, they have continued and continue to try to balance the books of america on the backs of the middle class and the poorest amongst us. and they can change their rhetoric, but they have yet to change their policies. the rhetoric seems to change over and over . they want to work to better america but offer no new ideas.

>> he's rewritten his takers and makers line and now he says he's not into austerity.

>> he's preaching.

>> is he lying to america ?

>> he's saying one thing and doing another. what's remarkable is he continues to espouse these beliefs with a nuance. he's on television. he ran for vice president. now he's a member of the house again so he's going back to his constituency or the house republican caucus where a lot of what he says is really not only accepted, they love. it's like giving meat to a lion. they love everything he says.

>> even though his 2010 and 2011 budgets were so severe and brutal that they literally would have ruined the lives of the poor, the disabled, working poor , and yet he says that actually he's not into austerity. he wants to grow the economy. he keeps saying this.

>> he also doesn't want a culture of dependency. i think if you ask the average kindergarten child whether or not he or she should help his or her friend in any way, shape, or form, they get how we help each other. this one particular case of sandy, i thought americans helped each other during time of need. you ask a kindergartner, they know how to act. why can't members of congress do the same?

>> that was incredible. let me play you another clip from his "meet the press" interview where he was asked what he learned from losing in 2012 . listen to this.

>> what do you think the party should learn from the loss?

>> well, we obviously have to expand our appeal. we have to expand our appeal to more people and show how we'll take the country's founding principles and apply them to the problems of the day to offer solutions to fix our problems.

>> that's just complete gibberi gibberish, isn't it? what is he talking about?

>> i don't know. i think what he's really trying to do is appeal to common sense americans, but, again, as i said before, it's rhetoric. it's not backed up by any policy changes whatsoever.

>> congressman, the american people tossed him and his budget out. they said we do not want this style of economic strategy for this nation. and yet he hasn't learned that at all.

>> and clearly paul's profile has risen. he ran for vice president. he's now looked upon as a major leader in the house of representatives . i would expect if we're actually going down this path of trying to work with the president, their main goal, the sole goal was to unseat the president. that has failed. maybe now, maybe you should shift but not only your rhetoric but your policy to work with the president, to do things that benefit this country and not simply go back to your talking points about dependency cultures. it's not going to work and the american people don't buy it.

>> we've done the politics. very quickly if i can, there's a sense of psychological paranoia about this man. he talks about the fact that he thinks the president is interested in political conquest. we've had speaker boehner talking about the president wanting to annihilate republicans. can you explain this paranoia?

>> in some rmenespects it's pot calling the kettle black . their efforts was to unseat the man, to destroy him politically. i don't believe that's what the president is looking to do right now. i think what the president laid out in his inaugural address was his vision for more a more perfect union. they were attacking it left and right and trying to minutce it out. at the end of the day they have failed the american people and that's why they're struggling, not because of the president.

>> congressman joe crowley , thank you, and thank you for standing up for the victims of this storm in the way you have in the house. i'm sure they appreciate it. we'll be right back. [