During a campaign stop at the United Auto Workers Local Union Hall, Vice President, Joe BidenJoe Biden slammed Vice Presidential hopeful, Paul Ryan, on his speech during the Republican National Convention for fudging details of a closed auto plant.
Referring to Paul Ryan’s story of a shut down Wisconsin GM plant after being under close scrutiny by fact checker, the vice president presented his own narrative of the events while addressing a rally in Ohio. “What he didn't tell you was that plant in Janesville actually closed while President Bush was still in office,” Biden said according to a report by NBC. “And what they didn't say is, but for the sacrifices you all made, and the courage of the President of the U.S., all those GM plants would be closed, here all across the company.”
During his Wednesday speech in Tampa, Florida, Ryan had told his fellow Republicans that a GM plant in Janesville closed after Mr. Obama pledged to keep it open. "A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant," Ryan said. Quoting the President, Ryan said that Obama had claimed during a 2008 campaign appearance at the facility, that if he got elected, "this plant will be here for another 100 years."
"That's what he said in 2008," Ryan said. "Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year."
Biden reminded the rally that if it had not been for Obama administration, the auto industry would have never recovered after it nearly got bankrupt following the 2008 recession. However, at that time the Republican Presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, had accused Obama of unnecessary government intervention.
"What they didn't say is because of the auto rescue, there are 4,500 of you working here today. And GM is adding two shifts," Biden said, adding, in a reference to a now famous headline on an op-ed written by Romney, "And what they didn't acknowledge is Governor Romney's position was, 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.'"
Ryan spokesman, Brendan Buck was quick to return Biden’s attack claiming that no matter how the vice president chooses to defend Obama, he cannot answer the administration’s unfulfilled promises and failed record.
Biden said that who ever says that things have not gotten better since Obama took the office, might not have happened to visit Lordstown and meet the people there.
