Ryan: Obama running on division, distraction and distortion 
 
 By Vicki Needham - 
 
 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will argue in the first debate that President Obama has taken the nation in the wrong direction and the GOP is offering the best choice for voters, Paul Ryan said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. 
 
 This election is about "stagnation versus growth, dependency versus opportunity and upward mobility. That's the classic choice, the difference we're offering and we hope what people get out of that debate is that choice," Ryan said. 
 
 The Wednesday debate will showcase "who is Mitt Romney, what kind of president will he be and what choice do I have," he said. 
 
 "Then the country understands the choice they have to make." 
 
 With only 37 days to the election, polls are leaning in President Obama's favor, especially in key battleground states such as Ohio and Florida, meaning Romney will need a dynamic performance to swing the momentum to his campaign. 
 
 "First of all, the polls are close, this is going to be a close race," Ryan said. 
 
 "Second we're running against an incumbent president with incredible resources. But more importantly, I don't think one event is going to make or break this campaign." 
 
 Ryan called Obama a "very gifted speaker" who has been on the national stage for many years and who is an experienced debater, while "this is Mitt's first time on this kind of a stage." 
 
 Ryan brushed off questions that Republicans have shifted from a referendum on Obama's policies to giving voters a choice between the candidates’ policies. 
 
 "The president is trying to paper over his problems and mislead and distort the record. It's a failed record," Ryan said. 
 
 "At this phase of the campaign, we want people to know it doesn't have to be this way. We can get the country back on track," he said. 
 
 "Mitt Romney is offering leadership and policies and principles to do that." 
 
 The first debate is expected to focus on domestic policy, where Obama has battled amid an unemployment rate persistently north of 8 percent and anemic economic growth. 
 
 Obama has built the lead in the polls by distracting voters from the issues, Ryan said. 
 
 "He's very good at distracting people. He can't run on hope and change anymore, so he's running on division, distraction on distortion to try to win an election by default," Ryan said. 
 
 "What we give is a clear choice, policies that will help boost the economy and show the country here's what we need to do." 
 
 On tax policy, Ryan pushed back that the GOP plan to cut rates by 20 percent would cost $5 trillion over 10 years. 
 
 Instead, the policy would be revenue-neutral and create 7 million jobs, Ryan said. 
 
 "In the final analysis, the president will offer more of same, but with another round of stimulus and higher taxes on job creators," Ryan said. ||||| stuck in the mittle Romney Denounces ‘Selectively Edited’ Fund-raiser Video, Promotes Selectively Edited Obama Video 
 
 After saying his views on the 47 percent were not "elegantly stated" but accurate, then pretending that he was merely saying he doesn't expect to get 60 to 70 percent of the vote, Mitt Romney tried out a new defense in the ongoing leaked video controversy. On Wednesday afternoon, his campaign sent out an e-mail titled "The Obama Campaign Leveled False Attacks Against Mitt Romney Based On A Debunked And Selectively Edited Video." (Ann Romney previewed this argument on Tuesday when she suggested the tape was "misinterpreted" or "taken out of context.") It's an odd claim to make in this case, considering that Mother Jones posted the full 49-minute video along with a transcript. Now in an ironic turn, NBC News is reporting that the video Republicans seemingly circulated in response, which features Obama discussing "redistribution," was edited to make his remarks seem more inflammatory. 
 
 The Romney campaign e-mail stated, "Politico Reported That The Mother Jones Video Was Selectively Edited To Give A False Impression About Mitt Romney’s Views On The Middle East Peace Process," according to Mother Jones. The site initially posted an edited video that showed Romney saying he would "kick the ball down the field" rather than seeking a two-state solution, which contradicts remarks he's made in public. The Politico story points out that many news outlets are reporting that Romney believes there's no possibility for peace in the Middle East, though "technically" that isn't true. In the full video he goes on to say that if America waits things out, "Palestinians will some day reach the point where they want peace more than we’re trying to force peace on them." Journalist David Corn, who obtained the hidden camera footage, told Politico that he didn't include the rest of Romney's remarks on Palestinians because he's made similar comments in public and the clip was supposed to highlight the newsworthy bits before the release of the full video. 
 
 Politico's Dylan Byers responded to the Romney campaign's use of his work, saying "there is nothing in my report that 'debunks' the video." A Romney campaign spokesperson then told him that they only object to the clip about Middle East peace negotiations, not the full fund-raiser video — though that isn't clear from the e-mail's reference to a "debunked Mother Jones tape." 
 
 A few hours later Republicans were facing questions about their own editing decisions. After the release of the fund-raiser footage, Drudge posted audio of then–State Senator Obama saying "I actually believe in redistribution" at a 1998 conference, which Romney and Ryan quickly started talking up. NBC News has unearthed video of the event, which shows that the widely circulated clip cuts out after "everybody's got a shot," omitting Obama's praise for "competition" and the "marketplace." Obama said: 
 
 I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot. How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities. 
 
 Still, the revelation doesn't really change much, since Obama's meaning isn't the point. As Jonathan Chait noted, Obama wasn't even saying anything outrageous in the clip released by Drudge, and seeing the quote in context doesn't change the fact that fourteen years ago Obama uttered the sinister-sounding word "redistribution."
– Paul Ryan tried to massage his running mate's 47% faux pas yesterday in an interview with KRNV-TV in Nevada. "He was obviously inarticulate in making this point," Ryan said. "The point we're trying to make here is, under the Obama economy government dependency is up." Does Ryan think Romney regrets the comment? "I think he would have said it differently, that's for sure. But the point stands." A look around at the 47% fallout: The GOP is gently panicking over the video, and the Romney campaign's seeming inability to gain momentum, Politico reports. "The campaign is now in a spiral and no one knows how to pull out," a McCain 2008 strategist says. "Romney needs a big idea, then he needs to shift the debate to spending." Scott Brown outright distanced himself from Romney's comments. "That's not the way I view the world," he said. "As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in." Conservative stalwart Peggy Noonan savaged the campaign in a Wall Street Journal post. "It's time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one," she writes. "It's not big, it's not brave, it's not thoughtfully tackling great issues. … An intervention is in order." A new poll underscores how damaging the video could be: It shows that in swing states, somewhere between 54% and 56% believe a Romney presidency would benefit the rich, while just 10% believe it would benefit the middle class, CNN reports. And that was before the video hit. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter IV took a bit of a victory lap on Anderson Cooper's show last night. "A lot of my Twitter followers have been saying that it's poetic justice that a Carter was the one who helped get out this video," he said, according to Politico. "And I agree with that."