Posted on 08/11/2012 6:42:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Mitt Romney, the human weather vane who always know which way the wind is blowing (from the right), had been looking for a boring white guy to be his running mate.
The right wing mounted a very public campaign to pressure him to choose Rep. Paul Ryan, author of the GOP budget plan that Democrats have successfully used as a truncheon. And Romney did what he does best: he caved.
Or, perhaps more charitably, Romney realized that he was playing a losing hand and needed a joker.
You’d be forgiven if you think you’ve heard this all before: John McCain couldn’t choose whom he wanted in 2008 (Joe Lieberman), because the right wing would never forgive him. Instead, he went for, yes, a game changer in Sarah Palin. And it did change the game—for the worse: After a brief flurry of enthusiasm from the base, it became clear that the main effect of the choice of Palin was to ensure full employment for Tina Fey.
Romney’s choice was meant to signal that he truly believes in Ryan’s budget plan, which would effectively eliminate federal spending on everything from the FBI to Smokey the Bear—except, of course, for the Defense Department.
What it really signaled was that Romney is still desperate to prove his conservative credentials to the GOP base, which has never really trusted him. He hasn’t the confidence—or perhaps the core–to run as his own candidate. Instead, he chose to run as Paul Ryan’s candidate. You have to wonder how President Romney would govern, given his willingness to bend in any direction if it suits his immediate purposes. One thing would be certain: he wouldn’t do anything to anger the party’s right wing. (You also have to wonder how Vice President Ryan would put up with the invisibility that is the officeholder’s lot.)
As for Rep. Ryan, he’s garnered a reputation as a serious thinker, largely from journalists who seem to believe that anyone who understands the budget must be, even if his proposal would account for the largest redistribution of wealth upwards in U.S. history.
Journalists who understand Ryan know that he’s reshaped the Republican party in his own image, forcing the GOP to play a losing game on topics like privatizing Social Security and the debt-ceiling debacle.
Ryan’s own belief system is based on that of Ayn Rand, the crackpot philosopher of unbridled capitalism who believed that the rich are morally superior beings whom the government (and the poor) are trying to destroy. If you take that as your starting point, it’s not hard to get to the Ryan budget plan. In fact, even Catholic bishops, who are essentially Republicans in clerical garb, felt the need to criticize Ryan’s plan as an attack on the poor. As a Catholic, Ryan seemed stung by the criticism, even though Objectivism is as anti-religion as Marxism.
Ryan has built his career on numbers, so he hasn’t been so visible on social issues. Still, he’s a reliable anti-gay vote. He supported a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to opposite sex couples, as well as a ban on gay adoptions in Washington, DC. He also opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Ryan’s enough of a fellow traveler that the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the Faith and Freedom Coalition all issued statements of praise.
So what does Romney get by choosing Ryan? An ecstatic right wing—and an ecstatic Democratic party. In choosing Ryan, Romney has given the Democrats a gift of immense proportion: The chance to make the campaign a referendum on Ryan’s budget proposal instead of Obama’s economic performance. Combined with the existing meme about Romney’s wealth and taxes (or relative absence thereof), this is a potent theme for Democrats.
For hardcore fans of Ryan, this is exactly the debate that they want to have. For GOP strategists who would prefer to win, this is exactly the debate they don’t want to have, because Ryan’s plan polls dismally with the public.
Now the election is no longer about President Obama’s economic plan, but about what the alternative might look like. If you like the alternative, you’re thrilled—but not many people do.
Plus, we have yet to have the discussion about whether a Congressman from Wisconsin with limited foreign-policy credentials is really qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. The last member of the House to be elected vice president was John Nance Garner, who was on the ticket with FDR. Usually, the choice smacks of desperation. The number of House members who lost their VP bid include Geraldine Ferraro and Bill Miller.
It’s hard to imagine that Romney wants to follow in the electoral footsteps of Walter Mondale and Barry Goldwater. But he’s just taken a giant leap in that direction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs
Here’s one making the rounds
What I want to know is what you are doing trolling a site called “queerty”?
The socialists worst nightmare is someone who understands Rand's defense of true capitalism.
Atlas Shrugged, published over 50 years ago and outsold every other book besides the Bible - has, like guns and ammo, had a resurgence since 2009 - with sales skyrocketing again.
as a young Russian, caught in the Bolshevik Revolution years, she knew the signs of encroaching Communism. Everything she warned about has now come to pass in this country.
With them screaming about Paul Ryan's espousing of Rand's political philosophy, more people will read “Atlas” and not be able to miss the total correlation with the corrupt,, Socialist crowd that are destroying our country.
That said, her readers are able to separate her political beliefs from her private life, the same as one can appreciate daVinci’s masterful work without agreeing with his private life.
the demRAts may be doing us a favor - as most people will understand that Ryan is a Catholic, a religious man - which means the ‘bumbles camp and media sychophants are lying - again.
It will be interesting to see if book sales for Atlas Shrugged has another uptick.
here's a clip from the movie - part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRZWuz4t5ng
the movie is now on Netflix -
BTW, Ayn Rand's first writing jobs, after escaping Bolshevik Russia, was as a screen writer in Hollywood - at the same time Ronald Reagan was Screen Actor's Guild president. They went after the encroaching communism in films - and held them back for some years - Reagan learned how to recognize the signs of creeping Socialism - and we know his success in later years: “...Tear down this wall!”
Now, the only thing better -or to add to - having someone like Rand who knows WHY we must bring this country back to it's Constitutional roots - is to have Romney appoint Col. WEst as Def SEc - who knows Islam backwards and forewords. For both enemies must be brought down.
November can’t get here soon enough for me, either, Victoria.
Ryan is a GREAT pick for VP.
I’m Ready For R and R
Obama Must Go
you post “LOL @ the right wing wanted Paul Ryan. Who writes this crap?
“
ask and ye shall recieve
I do Google News searches for certain keywords. This came up. Try it sometime.
are you stupid? - not that there’s anything wrong with that...
oops - I forgot in ‘buzz’ you in my answer to kabar ;o) - my post #44
From QUEERTY “ no agenda except that gay one”
Why are you posting this trash on FR?
Heh, as a comedian, John Gallagher gives the watermelon-smashing guy a run for his money.
As a political pundit, LOL. Ryan is a solid pick for Romney. No, he might not be as interesting as Rubio. But he’s experienced, tough, and conservative. Mitt “caving” would have been to go with someone from outside the conservative wing, like Pawlenty (a good man, IMHO, but a bit too liberal and not enough of a fighter).
Yes, it is true Ryan is going to be a bit of a lightning rod for the Obamanomics crowd. So be it. They were going to trash any VP pick Romney took, anyway, so why not take a guy who will present the clearest distinction from Team Obama’s “You didn’t build that!” policies? Ryan isn’t a doormat, either. You can bet he will give back as good as he gets.
So, yeah, I’m pretty danged happy with the pick. :-)
Do you own FR?
I remember that. IT was CLASSIC!
Wasn't that at one of bumbles phony meetings he called to show that HE was willing to negotiate with republicans - a total set up to try to paint the republicans as obstructionists.
It backfired and, as I remember, it failed largely due to Ryan's telling him off.
I think this was the same meeting the obumbles picked his nose and flipped the bird. Such class.
WTF is “Queerty”?? Wait...
2ndDivisionVet,
Why would you publish crap like this? From the Gay Publication, QUEERty, for goodness sake.
The line was from one of those posters you see everyone posting on Facebook, and when I think of Romney, principle wise, that’s what he reminds me of.
Well, glad to see you've finally comprehended that "redistributing" money from the goobermint to the freakin people WHO EARNED IT is "upwards"....oh wait....that's not what you meant?....Oh, then you're a filthy statist and a liar, well that's sort of the same thing, isn't it?
If I only posted threads from “friendly” sites (i.e, Hot Air, Newsmax, Daily Caller, WSJ, Blaze, Fox News, New York Post, Washington Times, WND, etc.) we wouldn’t learn very much about what the rest of the world was up to. We’d be in an echo chamber. And I sure wouldn’t have well over 15,000 threads to my name. In the Army one of my many tasks was teaching the “Know Your Enemy” classes to soldiers. That’s what I intend with an article like this one. Go back through my posting history and I think you’ll see what I mean.
Engaging in a little miss-analysis here? I mean, I know you always wanted a "miss" in front of your name, but God works in mysterious ways, what can I tell ya? Now on the merits of what you wrote: These are only losing issues for Republicans cause they can't remember they're not Democrats (and you guys are mostly the reason for that). They ARE on the right side of these issues, all they have to do is play like it and these won't be "losing issues" any more.
Sounds good but I'm not sure I'm sold. I imagine anyone with the attention span to read that massive tome, especially by election day, is probably already conservative. Is it available in Cliff Notes? Maybe we should stage showings of the movie they made of it a couple years ago.
I see this as Romney trying to get the focus off of his Tax Returns and onto his VP’s Medicare vulture Plan.
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