I don’t like Romney on so many levels it’s hard to begin...I think he’s basically a statist, he’s a liberal, he’s a member of a nutty cult, and I don’t find him a very attractive person. I couldn’t even bring myself to vote for him, and I was thinking about voting R down ticket but not voting for Romney, because I honestly didn’t think he had any chance of winning and I didn’t want to cast my vote for somebody I really didn’t like or respect (once again).
However, the choice of Ryan has made all the difference. Ryan actually has a program, he’s not a statist, he’s not liberal either socially or economically, and he’s well spoken and principled.
Looking back, I think Romney’s main thing is that he wants to be President, and he’s been spending a fortune and every waking moment for the last 8 years setting up his run. However, the problem is that he has no ideas and principles, and he goes with whatever is the dominant ethos (for example, he was very liberal in very liberal MA) and whatever he thinks would help him get elected.
I think he was urged to pick Ryan because it was clear that conservatives were not going to vote for him unless he did what would have been mentally impossible for him, which was develop a conservative program and adopt a principled stand. By picking Ryan, he got not only a nice, likeable VP candidate, but an entire program and something that he can use to win. And to his credit, he has been vigorously supporting it.
So to get Ryan in, I’ll vote for Romney.