Ryan Supporter Objects to Obama Campaign's Use of Her Question at Rally
Iowa voters are used to questioning presidential candidates up close during their caucus process and on Paul Ryan's bus trip in eastern Iowa on Tuesday it was no different. At a town hall in Clinton, Ryan was asked for more specifics from a voter. Friday, that voter wrote an op-ed in the Quad City Times objecting to how she feels her question was portrayed by the Obama campaign and the media.
"I am the woman in the Green Bay Packer jacket at Rep. Paul Ryan's rally in Clinton who asked him the question about specific plans to fix our economy," Linda Morrison wrote. "Needless to say, I was quite shocked to learn the Obama campaign seized my question, putting out the statement 'Even Ryan can't attend his own rally without being called out.' I was not calling Ryan out. I had the opportunity to ask a direct question to Paul Ryan and what I got was a complete direct answer with no spin."
On Tuesday, Morrison asked Ryan for specifics she didn't think she got during his appearance on Fox News Sunday just days before.
"My question is, You know, we keep talking about China and jobs and then we talk about the unemployment," Morrison told Ryan, at the event in front of the Clinton court house. "But, where are the answers? I mean, why aren't you more specific? I heard you, was it Sunday when you were on Fox, and you didn't answer his question about how we're going to … you know, what are your plans?"
Ryan told Morrison about Romney's five-point plan focusing on energy, education, trade, and their tax plan. The tax plan, which Chris Wallace asked Ryan about on "Fox News Sunday" that Morrison seemed to refer to in her question, was mentioned last, but like in the interview he did not specify what loopholes the plan would close or what deductions they would eliminate in order to get to the 20 percent tax cut his ticket has promised.
It didn't seem to matter to Morrison. While Ryan was talking, she smiled and nodded her head and in today's op-ed she writes, "Even though 600 other people were attending, I felt Mr. Ryan was talking directly to me. I thanked him after the event for answering my question. I left the event feeling satisfied and confident that the Romney/Ryan plan is what our country needs…. The question I asked is what we the citizens want to know: How is the Romney/Ryan plan going to tackle this economy? Paul Ryan answered it with precise clarity."
After the event, the Obama campaign put out a statement mentioning Morrison's question, saying Ryan "can't attend his own campaign rallies without being called out for failing to provide specifics about what Mitt Romney would do if elected."
It's standard for both the Obama and Romney campaigns to immediately respond to their opponent's events, but Morrison writes that she is "outraged that my question is being misrepresented and used as a political tool against the Romney/Ryan campaign by both media and the Obama camp."
She ended the letter with a question for the president: "My next question is to President Barack Obama. What is your specific plan to fix the economy you said you would fix 4 years ago?"
Ryan is currently in day three of intense debate preparations in Wintergreen, Va., with his sparring partner and Joe Biden stand-in, former Solicitor General Ted Olson. The vice-presidential debate is Oct. 11 and is to be moderated by ABC News' Martha Raddatz.