Posted on 08/13/2012 12:47:11 PM PDT by jazusamo
Governor Mitt Romney's choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate is one of those decisions that seem obvious if not inevitable in retrospect, even though it was by no means obvious to most of us beforehand.
Anyone who wants to get a quick sense of who Paul Ryan is should watch a short video of a February 2010 meeting in which Congressman Ryan politely, but devastatingly, "schools" Barack Obama on the utter fraudulence of the statistics that the Obama administration was using to claim that ObamaCare would reduce the deficit. That video is available on the Drudge Report.
As a long-time member, and now chairman, of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan is thoroughly familiar with both the facts and the fictions in the federal government's budget. In recent years, the fictions have grown much bigger than the facts. But, as Congressman Ryan reminded the president, hiding spending is not the same as reducing spending.
If this year's election is going to be decided on the basis of hard facts, the Obama administration is doomed. But the Obama campaign is well aware of that, which is why we are hearing so many distracting innuendoes and outright lies about such peripheral issues as what Mitt Romney is supposed to have done while running Bain Capital or even what is supposed to have happened at Bain Capital, years after Mitt Romney was long gone.
The Obama campaign's big smear, about how Romney is supposed to have caused a woman to die of cancer, has been exposed as a lie by CNN, hardly a Republican network. What smears like this show is that the Obama administration cannot run on its track record, so it has to run on distractions from country's real problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...

Good stuff! I wish he would have been the first black president. He would have set that bar very high indeed.
One has to wonder ... Did the elites in the gop-e pull an end run, and make Ryan useless? Most VP's are placed into the useless statistics or a statistic of history.
“One has to wonder ... Did the elites in the gop-e pull an end run, and make Ryan useless? Most VP’s are placed into the useless statistics or a statistic of history.”
Where in the world does this kind of stuff come from? SOME Vice Presidents later become president also. Sheesh
Is there a link to that video? I don't see it on Drudge.
Back a decade ago, I was rather sure the first black president would be a conservative. Of course, that was before I realized how much the GOPe really hates conservatives.
Best lines:
This election is a test, not just of the opposing candidates but of the voting public. If what they want are the hard facts about where the country is, and where it is heading, they cannot vote for more of the same for the next four years.
But, if what they want is emotionally satisfying rhetoric and a promise to give them something for nothing, to be paid for by taxing somebody else, then Obama is their man.
The Benedict Arnold wing of the Conservative movement bitch and whine about the GOP-e when they DON'T pick a Conservative, then they bitch and whine when they do!
Seems to me their goal is not to advance the Conservative agenda but to just mindlessly bitch about the GOP.
Funny thing, that is exactly the same thing the Democrat Party propaganda bots in the media do.
These self styled “conservatives in the whiners choir are the useful idiots of the Democrat Party propaganda machine.
Cripes. It sounds like Sowell is endorsing this team. I thought he was a Conservative? He better not show up around here talking like that...is he a liberal in disguise?
I do not operate for either side looking to destroy our nation. Some do, I do not.
Completely agree ....he has a brilliant mind and a practical way to explain economics.
Flashback: Paul Ryan vs. Barack Obama, February 2010 "
Thanks so much. I'm sending it to my email list.
It is a factor. It is more a test of the ability of the MSM to obfuscate, hide the truth, and control the debate. If the new media can get the facts out to enough people, President Obama loses.
People can only act on the information that they have. Far too many voters still get their information from the MSM.
Freerepublic is a big voice in the new media.
Paul Ryan will be reelected to the House this November. Should he also be elected VP, he would have to resign from the House prior to January 20, 2013. Governor Walker would have to call a special election for early in 2013 so that WI-01 voters can elect Ryan’s successor.
Here’s one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKfbO_PvkI
You have to watch an AARP commercial first with this one, and C-SPAN has messed with the part that says SS is being used as a piggy bank, but it is pretty good aside from that.
I haven't a clue as to what the future will hold yet have learned ... cannot trust either the gop-e or the RATs.
Democrat VP's are ceremonial figureheads. Republican VP's such as Cheney are very involved.
There have been 47 Vice Presidents of these United States. Fourteen of them have gone on to become President. This is hardly irrelevant.
Wild eyed conspiracy theorists will find a wild wacky conspiracy under every rock - no matter how far fetched.
yep a little greater than 1 in 4, yet less than 1 in 3.
What has been striking to me is how lame the administrations attacks have been lately — like they are desperately low on muck to sling. The more outrageous their claims the better. Makes them look cartoonish.
And President Sowell appoint Treasury Sec. Walter Williams... that would have been a good combo.
A great start ... though was not to be. Fate is fickle.
Although there are currently six people still alive who are or were Vice President - I think we can safely rule out any of them succesfully seeking the office - they are Mondale, George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle, Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Joe Biden.
Currently the position is usually seen as the ‘heir apparent’ to the President - except in the case of Cheney the self-selected - who was seen as a mentor to the President rather than a successor.
The outcome of the election hinges on how many of these types will manage to find their way out of their paper bags and ambulate to the polls.
Unfortunately, the number of this type of voter (susceptible to the "Obama cares" bs and oblivious to the fiscal cliff they are perching on) populating America has multiplied exponentially since Reagan's time, and they are masterfully manipulated via social media and sound bites. Combined with the something-for-nothing crowd, they comprise a formidable (though idiotic) political force to be reckoned with.
Instead of falling into the so-called "progressive" tactic of dividing people by ethnic background, level of income, etc., Paul Ryan enables Romney's campaign to articulate the singularly American idea that Creator-endowed life, rights and liberties belong to every individual, and that those ideas are, therefore, unalienable and are not grants from government, nor are they available for proscription by government.
That idea, if articulated clearly (and Ryan can do it), will be understood by each citizen who catches the Founders' meaning, to be applicable to that citizen, and to work to that citizen's benefit to provide opportunity and freedom.
For decades, the "progressive movement" has sought to eradicate that idea from textbooks and public discourse, because the power of that idea ennobles, dignifies, and causes individuals to resist the appeal of those who wish to enslave them.

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Just asking some questions, FRiend. The elites allow Mr. Ryan the time to impale zer0 (accurately), remove Mr. Ryan from Congress, if the ticket is elected, and then what do the elites do with Mr. Ryan? I’m not certain they would not move to shut Mr. Ryan up should the ticket win. The future is as cloudy as the present, when politics are in play and the players play, in my humble opinion.
“2012: It’s not an election, its a RESTRAINING ORDER”
That there is a yard sign fitting for my yard!
Seems to me their goal is not to advance the Conservative agenda but to just mindlessly bitch about the GOP.
Hard to argue with that!

LOL!
The look on Zer0 puppets face is perfect.
Well, 13 of the 47 Vice Presidents have become President. However, nine of them ascended to the office due to the death (8) or resignation (1) of the President.
Of the four who were elected President, only two did so within the last 200 years, and only one of those was elected immediately following his term as VP.
I agree that many people think of the VP as an "heir apparent" to the office of POTUS, but it really hasn't happened all that much.
yep, one has to believe the gop-e and the democRATs never work together for the same end or legislation.
“The political mirage of something for nothing, from leaders who “care,” has ruined many a nation.”
Amen!
Thanks for the ping jaz.

While success is certainly not guaranteed - it is almost certain that if Romney is elected Ryan will have his chance to seek the GOP nomination - will have a leg up on his competitors - and if he wins the nomination he may or may not prevail against the Democrap nominee.
The fact is that he will hardly be inconsequential IF Romney wins election. He will have a rather good chance to seek and possibly win (or ascend to) the most powerful elected position in the World.
okay ... was necessary point to make. Observations ... observations ... observations. That point is a fact, and was not an opinion. I'll digress.
A “Mourning in America” ad would be BRILLIANT - where things like the debt, the loss of the Middle East, the continued rise of Iran, etc. would be discussed - not to mention the unemployment rate. Thank you Dr. Sowell.
Oops...forgot Martin Van Buren...Make that 14, with five elected.
My only point was that VPs are very rarely elected while serving, and even more rarely elected after some intervening period of time (Nixon is the only one.)
The first two sitting VPs to be elected President (Adams and Jefferson) had only been Vice President because at the time, the runner-up in the Presidential election held the office. They are really not comparable to modern VPs.
Ryan might well be elected president one day, but history suggests that, at a minimum, he will need Romney to be a very successful and popular President.
And if you want to talk about losing VP candidates who later become president - let’s just say that list is considerably shorter...
Thomas Sowell is such a sterling gentleman in addition to being so wise and learned. One of my favorite moments of guest hosts on El Rushbo’s program is when Dr. Walter E. Williams subs for Rush and gets Dr. Sowell on the line, and they discuss current events in the world of economics.
Sowell nails it. Obama will run a very ugly campaign, because his record is an abject failure.
My apologies. I should have read down and seen if the video had already been posted.
So working the odds and assuming a 50% chance of each; that is still only a 12.5% chance of Ryan ever being elected President.
So while this is certainly NOT a surefire path to the Presidency - it is almost certainly going to raise his prominence within the party and lead to bigger and better things for both him AND the party than being one vote in Congress.
So if this is some vast (pseudo) right wing conspiracy to remove Ryan from prominence and/or power - it doesn't seem to be a very intelligent one.
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