Posted on 05/14/2008 4:04:43 PM PDT by SJackson
Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan continues to attract serious attention as a prospective Republican nominee for vice president. And rightly so.
One need not agree with Ryan's sincere-if-frequently-myopic conservatism to recognize the strengths he would bring to John McCain's ticket.
Where McCain is ancient -- older than Ronald Reagan or Dwight Eisenhower when they attained the presidency -- and looks it, Ryan is so fresh-faced, upbeat and energetic that he sometimes seems a good deal younger than his 38 years.
At that age, the Wisconsin Republican is almost young enough to be not McCain's son but the Arizona senator's grandson.
Yet Ryan is, by most reasonable measures, more experienced than McCain when it comes to dealing with domestic economic, tax and budget issues.
While the presumptive presidential nominee has freely admitted that he has little knowledge of -- or interest in -- fiscal affairs, Ryan knows his way around the balance sheets better than just about any Republican in the Capitol. As a key player for the better part of a decade in budget debates, he was a heavy-lifting member of the House Ways and Means Committee when Republicans were in charge of the chamber. And the congressman is still taken seriously now that the Democrats are in charge.
Ryan is not bragging when he explains that "where my aptitude is is in the area of economics."
The Wisconsinite's serious focus on budget fundamentals is not the only thing that inspires confidence among his fellow Republicans.
Where McCain is a maverick who conservatives suspect of being soft, Ryan's hard to the right on every issue -- so steady in his social and economic conservatism that he makes Ronald Reagan look like a wavering ideologue.
Yet, while McCain's got a mean streak that even his carefully choreographed campaign cannot hide, Ryan is a charmer. Raised Wisconsin-nice, he does not allow partisan or ideological differences to turn personal -- so much so that he once showed up at a Madison fundraising event for his former colleague and friend Tom Barrett, who was running for the Democratic nomination for governor at the time and eventually became mayor of Milwaukee.
That's not the end of what makes Ryan an attractive ticket mate for McCain. As U.S. Rep. Phil Ensign, who serves with the Wisconsin congressman on the Ways and Means Committee, says, "Paul is Catholic, from the Rust Belt, and has the economic credentials Sen. McCain needs."
As John Gizzi, the authoritative political writer for the conservative publication Human Events -- Reagan's favorite ideological journal -- notes, Ensign's sentiments are not isolated. "Other Republican back benchers agree, and talk of Ryan-for-veep mushrooms in the House GOP conference," argues Gizzi.
Does this mean that Ryan's likely to end up as McCain's running mate?
The Wisconsinite remains a long shot.
Despite his freewheeling reputation, McCain is actually an exceptionally cautious, old-school player -- more a Bob Dole than a Newt Gingrich. He's not inclined toward out-of-the-box thinking. And Ryan -- an unknown outside Wisconsin and a few blocks from Capitol Hill in Washington -- would require the sort of leap that might be beyond McCain's skill set.
Yet the prospect of balancing a 2008 GOP ticket led by one of the oldest and crankiest presidential contenders in the history of the republic with an attractive and experienced 30-something congressman from a swing state is hardly a radical one. In fact, it makes sufficient sense that wise Democrats will be hoping that this whole notion of forging a McCain-Ryan ticket remains a conservative pipe dream.
Its not important for him to get the racist vote in any party or race. it’s important that conservatives support this conservative!
‘Better than Obama’ is not necessarily good enough. Like I said, if you vote for McCain and feel good about it, more power to ya. I am a conservative and I will vote for conservatives. If you have a problem with that, too bad.
The only Ryan that would interest me would be Jack Ryan.
Why would a conservative Republican vote for him?”
McCain is for tax cuts, Obama wants to increase my taxes. AND YOURS.
Mccain is for victory in Iraq, Obama is for retreat and defeat.
McCain is for Alito/Roberts judges, Obama is for liberal activists.
McCain is for a free-market healthcare approach, Obama is for socialized healthcare.
McCain got a 80% lifetime ACU rating, Obama in single digits, and 1% out of 100% from Club for Growth, while CfG gave McCain 94%.
McCain is prolife with near 100% RTL ratings, while Obama is an extremist pro-abort.
Obama is a radical extremist who had communist mentors, a racist anti-american pastor, terrorist political friends and supporters, and has the most liberal voting record of any senator in the senate.
Even on immigration, McCain’s worst issue for me, he is for the fence that Obama filibustered against, and obama is for drivers license for illegal aliens besides.
One has to be a very *uninformed* conservative Republican to fail to see the stark differences between the two.
Sanford might be the best choice.
He’s got a good, conservative yet maverick image that wouldn’t be too jarring with McCain.
Whoever he picks, it needs to be a smart and *articulate* conservative. Maybe Romney.
This is not a small “just a little bit better” difference. We are talking major differences where Obama is just godawful wrong and McCain is rock-solid.
McCain is for tax cuts, Obama wants to increase my taxes. AND YOURS.
Mccain is for victory in Iraq, Obama is for retreat and defeat.
McCain is for stopping growth in spending, zero earmarks and transparent govt. Obama is for re-funding leftwing special interests, has promised $1 trillion in giveaways and more and more spending.
McCain is for Alito/Roberts judges, Obama is for liberal activists.
McCain is for a free-market healthcare approach, Obama is for socialized healthcare.
McCain got a 80% lifetime ACU rating, Obama in single digits, and 1% out of 100% from Club for Growth, while CfG gave McCain 94%.
McCain is prolife with near 100% RTL ratings, while Obama is an extremist pro-abort.
Obama is a radical extremist who had communist mentors, a racist anti-american pastor, terrorist political friends and supporters, and has the most liberal voting record of any senator in the senate.
“I am a conservative and I will vote for conservatives. “
Vote for mccain and you will get conservatives ... on SCOTUS. Ted Olsen and Fred Thompson (the guy who shephered Roberts before his prez run) were right behind McCain when he gave his May 6th Wake Forest speech.
Very nice post.
Huckabee is a much better choice. He's a great guy, with a wonderful sense of humor, an ability to listen, and a real humanity.
So what if his religious views seem cracked to a guy like me? He's so much better than everyone else on offer that I'd be willing to overlook them.
How are conservatives truly supposed to successfully “get around” both the eventual creation of legislation which will allow illegal immigrants to legally vote in all future U.S. elections as well as the eventual creation of legislation which will fully enact the Fairness Doctrine, which will shut up U.S. conservatism forever? Our present situation is different from 1976.
Leaving that house seat open is a bad idea.
OTOH, being a mutt
As the parents of four mutts I can only say that Hussian’s appeal is his leftist politics.
Hussian is married to the right color to please the minorities.
A black man married to a white women is verboton in the black community. It is a huge issue.
I don’t disagree with your views, but we up to our a** in alligators wrt Democr*ppy policies and staying home because we disagree with McCain on a few things wont save America.
Here’s another example of the Worst Congress Ever at work:
It looks like the Democrats slipped the AG Jobs bill into the Senate emergency supplemental appropriations bill during committee markup today.
This means that the Democrats have put an immigration amnesty provision for illegal aliens in a war funding bill while no one was really looking. The GOP is preparing to fight it.
Early intelligence reports that it probably has provisions similar to the last AG Jobs bill that was considered – including amnesty provisions. It was supposedly a Feinstein/ Craig amendment and was accepted with a vote of 17 – 12.
If Harry Reid offers this version of the supplemental as a substitute to the House version, he will block out all other senators from any opportunity to strip this Ag Jobs provision, which will ultimately keep potential amnesty provisions in the war funding bill.
Your Senator’s number is (202) 224-3121. Let your Senator know how you feel about Senator Reid secretly inserting amnesty provisions into a war funding bill.
We will keep subscribers of our action alert emails up to date on what our Senate sources are saying. If you received this email directly from RedState, you are on the action alerts email list. If this was forwarded to you, you can subscribe to the alerts here.
All the best,
Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com
“Which is precisely why the VP choice carries such import: how many of us will be motivated to go out and help the likes of VP Charlie Crist advance? Arguably it would be better to endure four years of darkness and await a new dawn in the GOP than to reward the party for shifting to the left.”
I agree.
A conservative VP gives hope that McCain will be a stepping stone to conservative future. A RINO VIP gives the fear that he’s sending the party over the RINO cliff. It colors the motivation for conservative voters.
“Campaign consideration: Given present realities, which number do you think would be larger?: moderate votes lost by choosing a conservative VP, or conservatives lost by choosing a liberal/moderate?”
Taking off the conservative hat for a second, ‘ticket-balance’ considerations *alone* are enough to tell you that you dont need a moderate VP. You need a conservative VP to balance the ticket.
I attended a seminar on SS reform and was very impressed with Ryan. He is smart, eloquent, and knowledgeable. He would be an inspired choice. Ryan is a strong conservative with a lifetime rating of 93, which is why I doubt McCain would choose him.
The whole strawman aspect to the argument is that we do NOT move the party right or left in general elections.
We move the party right or left in PRIMARIES.
We move the COUNTRY right or left in general elections.
And an Obama win MOVES THE COUNTRY TO THE LEFT.
Club for growth is very good at trying to move the
They are focussed on *PRIMARIES* right now - Gilchrest was one, there was another in Pennsylvania; a third example is CfG working against Ose and for McClintock in California.
Letting the leftist Obama win in November to cure a RINO candidate is a bit like shooting yourself in the head to cure a headache.
Surely there are better ways.
“Just who is this superman with no electoral support within the GOP you expect to emerge?”
Take a few more hits from that bong he’s serving and it will come to you, I’m sure. :-0
And yes, your are correct that Reagan could have won in 1980 after 4 years of Ford. he would be the natural next President, although Dole might have gone for it and won.
We’ll never know.
“Letting the leftist Obama win in November to cure a RINO candidate is a bit like shooting yourself in the head to cure a headache.
Surely there are better ways.”
It’s the RINO party. Witholding support until the new socialist party moves at least right of center.
McCain is a person I do not like. If he wants the conservative vote he knows how to get it.
Buying gifts for your child who refuses to do his math homework is no way to teach him math.
Your slogan is stupid.
And a McCain win MOVES THE COUNTRY TO THE LEFT.
We are talking about how much Left. A cap and trade system will destroy our economy and an amnesty will destroy the country. And this is what will happen if McCain or an Obama gets elected.
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