I believe Ryan understand middle America better than Romney does and through that understanding sees how those comments can sound shrewd.
Romney’s formulation was terrible - both substantively and politically.
Blame Obama and the Dems for inflicting a cycle of dependency, not the person struggling to find a job in this rotten economy.
1. I am glad the “crisis” happened because it will bring the infighting in Boston to a head quickly. Reagan had a similar campaign meltdown in September 1980. Remember the Klu Klux Klan error?
2. Romney has got to get away from the pabulum, “Obama’s a nice guy and I’m a nice guy, too” – gets him zero, nothing, nada. Whoever is advocating this caution in Boston (Stu Stevens) needs to be thrown under the bus; it is not working.
3. I had thought with the Paul Ryan pick that they understood they needed to go bold. And they did over the “Mediscare,” essentially drawing even with the Dems over this issue, which is a huge win.
4. Romney needs to focus on jobs, growth, tax cuts, tax reform – the entire supply side agenda. Let Ryan loose to attack Obama.
5. My greatest disappointment is that I thought Romney was sufficiently disciplined to not make such stupid remarks in a public setting. It also means he learned nothing from the flare-up during the FL primary when he got into real trouble with, “I’m not worried about the poor.” I am not impressed with people who don’t learn from their mistakes.
6. Here is how Reagan would have answered the question: “our success will depend upon our ability to convince people who are trapped into government dependency under the failed Obama economy that my economic policies will lift all Americans.” In other words, blame the Obama administration and the poverty warriors, not the dependent class. Romney got it exactly backwards. This is what hurt.