Why I like the Ryan pick
I was out of the house all morning and didn’t have a chance until now to blog about Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as a running mate. But now I have time, and I must say: Ryan is an excellent pick.
I have made a few mentions during the past couple of months about my enthusiasm for putting Bobby Jindal on the ticket, and I still think he would have made a good choice. But he and Ryan, who for a long time didn’t appear to be on Romney’s short list, are like a No. 1 and No. 1a for me.
Some people will say Ryan is a risky pick because he has laid out the most detailed plan of just about any elected official — from either of the two major parties — about how to put Washington’s fiscal house in order. That means he brings a lot of targets with him onto the ticket, about Medicare in particular. To those people I say: You are crazy if you think the Obama campaign wasn’t going to make Romney answer for Ryan’s plan anyway.
For one thing, Romney already had endorsed the biggest aspects of the Ryan road map. For another, it’s already abundantly clear that the Obama campaign, which has already suggested Romney is a felon and tried to pin a woman’s death on him, considers nothing off-limits in this race. Romney could have disavowed Ryan’s plan altogether, and there still would have been a TV ad at some point showing Romney helping Ryan push Granny off a cliff.
So, I don’t think the risk is as great as you might be led to believe. But the potential reward is all there.
Paul Ryan has been the face of the GOP on these issues for more than two years now, and he has proven unafraid of taking arguments about taxes, spending, deficits, debt and entitlements straight to President Obama. He will boost tea-party enthusiasm about the GOP ticket, and he might be just the edge Romney needs to win in key Midwestern swing states: not just his home state of Wisconsin, but also Ohio, Michigan and perhaps Minnesota and even Pennsylvania. Giving him a national platform to talk about these issues and his plans to address them, and putting the Romney stamp of approval on those plans, means Obama won’t have to answer only about his mediocre record in office. He’ll also, finally, have to tell us exactly how he would tackle these problems.
Sorry, Mr. President, but the Buffett Rule won’t be enough.
It’s incredible, really, that the man who has presided over three straight trillion-dollar budget deficits, and whose proposed budgets make no attempt to rein them in, has been allowed to skate by as easily as he has on this topic. Even Obama’s own party, which still controls the Senate, makes no attempt to work with his budget proposals, much less approve them. He is very vulnerable on this issue.
Mitt Romney is not going to win a popularity contest, and he’s not going to win a small-issues election. Michael Dukakis tried to win on “competence” and couldn’t even beat George “The Vision Thing” Bush. Even the stagnant economy is not enough to put Romney in the White House — although he must still keep hammering at that issue. Incumbent presidents lose when the public thinks the challenger has a better idea of where to take us, and how to get there. Putting Ryan on the ticket means Romney intends to fight a big-issues election, and that he has the running mate to help him lay out that vision.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
468 comments Add your comment
JDW
August 13th, 2012
7:56 am
@Streetracer…”Seems to me that no one should talk about other folk’s taxes until after they have released their own.”
The President has released his returns since 2000. When Romney/Ryan does the same the conversation regarding the release of the returns shall end.
Skip
August 13th, 2012
8:05 am
Ryan, the go to guy when you want a post office named after you.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
8:05 am
JDW continues his Peeping Tom mode of operation.
Do you like to look in your neighbors windows, too?
JDW
August 13th, 2012
8:17 am
@Tiberius…”Do you like to look in your neighbors windows, too?”
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
8:27 am
Let’s see, JDW, what “accountability do you want? He’s rich. I know it. You know it. You just want more chow to feed you and the rest of the trolls out there. Let’s face it most everybody (if not everybody) claiming to want to see more tax returns aren’t going to vote for Romney anyway, so why should he dance to your tune?
And pardon me if I don’t believe anything that the “other” columnist writes about. I’ll do my own thinking once I get all the facts, not the cherry-picked ones he provides on a daily basis.
gm
August 13th, 2012
8:36 am
Kyle Wingfield is the perfect example out of touch nut winger, of course the budget increase under Obama never mind the money he spend bailing out auto, banks to help Americans get back on their feet.
Amazing the right nut wings dont like bailing out Americans who needed help but was ok when W sent billions to Iraq, I guess people like Kyle dont mind rich brinks like Ryan want to gut SSI and Medicaide when people have paid in to it all there life, nobody can possible vote for these two out of touch people.
Ken
August 13th, 2012
8:40 am
It’s weak to say Romney and Ryan have no foreign experience- as opposed to Obama and Biden’s foreign legacy. But that aside, the election will be won by whoever can make the voters feel more secure about the future, can convince grammaw and pawpaw that they are going to continue to eat at the trough of entitlements and can come up with an easily explained way of handling the growing deficit.
Thus far, the current regime has shown very little ability to create a job-growth in any sector other than the “you want fries with that” service sector. Well, at least he has chased away a ton of Mexicanos, here for the housing boom that collapsed.
The ACA will obviously backfire on Obama- typical politicians’ reaction to an issue- throw a ton of regulations at it with little thought- remember this is a guy that was gonna kill Medicare Advantage programs. Businesses of all sizes are already looking at ways of cutting costs to address this new headache- read- layoffs.
Ryan, for all the arguments is probably the best one to be tackling financial issues- he at least has enough sense to come in outta the rain. I like this selection- young, smart as a whip, financially and economically capable of doing what needs to be done. Darn sight better than McCain’s Alaskan rogue diva.
As a business owner, I want someone who is going to give me credit for creating my biz, rather than someone telling me I didn’t do it- guvment did. Let’s give these guys a chance- this is one of those cases where the devil you know versus the devil you don’t doesn’t apply- we already have had 4 years of the devil we know and it ain’t flying too well.
And, oh yeah- those libs that keep pointing at military spending- be darn glad we do spend that money- Putin just mentioned upgrading Russia’s Air Force- if you think he wouldn’t start the cold war again, you have kept your head in the sand for too long- come up for air…and China is just one step away from expansionism- you gotta read history- they see themselves as a culture much superior to ours due to their being a 3,000 year entity while we are just children.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
8:47 am
“Ryan has…a remarkable ability to tap into the economic anxiety of working class whites and steer it toward paranoia that their troubles are the fault of other people — the slackers and the moochers, Ayn Rand;’s famous ‘parasites’”
Joan Walsh
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
8:48 am
Ryan has passed 2 bills in 10 years?
gm
August 13th, 2012
8:52 am
Ken
Another hypocrite bible thumping idiot, lets see who is the devil? Mitt and satan little helper wants to gut old people medicaide, against healthcare for sick children, slash education programs, give tax breaks to the rich.
I think God would smile down on Obama who has compasion for the middle class, you right sickos really need help”””’
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
8:56 am
Paul Ryan’s hero: Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand Railed Against Government Benefits, But Grabbed Social Security and Medicare When She Needed Them
AlterNet’s Joshua Holland has the goods: “Her books provided wide-ranging parables of ‘parasites,’ ‘looters’ and ‘moochers’ using the levers of government to steal the fruits of her heroes’ labor. In the real world, however, Rand herself received Social Security payments and Medicare benefits under the name of Ann O’Connor (her husband was Frank O’Connor).
http://www.alternet.org/story/149721/ayn_rand_railed_against_government_benefits%2C_but_grabbed_social_security_and_medicare_when_she_needed_them
gm
August 13th, 2012
9:01 am
Thank you Willard for chosing Paul”’
Now Obama has support of Seniors, Blacks, Gays, Asians, 50% women, Latinos, Muslims, Students, just about every body who is not a tea party idiot or millionare, bigots who dont care about their SSI Medicare.
The campign ads of Medicaide by Obama will come out in full force in Florida so thank you for giving the left Florida””””
splavistic
August 13th, 2012
9:02 am
Bwahaha. Romney is the GW to Ryan’s his Palin. Dumb and dumber.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:09 am
On nooos. Dems might lose Wisconsin!
The horror!!!!!
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:10 am
You know, the idiocy of thinking that people who were forced to pay into Social Security aren’t entitled to their benefits is simply laughable.
If we were that stupid as to give up that which we paid for, we’d be liberals.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:17 am
Well, I’m glad I married upward.
After you Cons get rid of the safety net of SS and Medicare and all your savings vanishes in the stock market like it did in 2008, let me know which park or wooded lot you set up your retirement tent or cardboard box and I’ll do my best to drop by and share some of what I have.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:18 am
“After you Cons get rid of the safety net of SS and Medicare ”
And yet, not a single proposal is out there trying to do either of these things.
Go figure.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:21 am
Tiberius – living the life with blinders on!!
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:24 am
First, and perhaps most important, the budget would drastically change social safety net entitlement programs, shifting them away from the guaranteed benefit programs we know today to voucherized plans. The idea is to give people more flexibility on healthcare and retirement savings, but the effect could be far more severe. For Medicare, Ryan’s plan phases out the single-payer system that currently exists and replaces it with a “premium support system,” which essentially provides seniors with subsidies to purchase their own healthcare. But the vouchers are indexed to the growth of the economy, plus a little bit, while the cost of medical care has historically grown at much faster rates, meaning that over time, the vouchers will fall increasingly short of meeting the medical cost needs of seniors. This will save the government money, but shift costs back to seniors and undermine the original goals of Medicare.
http://www.salon.com/2012/08/11/what_you_need_to_know_about_ryans_budget/
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:26 am
“It’s a matter of simple math. Any tax plan that purports to hold revenues steady while massively cutting taxes for the rich must make up the lost revenue by raising taxes on people who are not rich.” Ryan calls for cutting taxes on the wealthy and others, but doesn’t explain how to make up the difference.
same link
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:27 am
“I think God would smile down on Obama who has compasion for the middle class”
Of course He would. Obama’s your Messiah, after all . . .
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:29 am
My 9:24 is what we are going to hammer on for the next 3 months.
incessantly!
JDW
August 13th, 2012
9:32 am
@Tiberius…”what “accountability do you want? He’s rich.”
There are a lot of inconsistencies in his taxes that I want to understand. For example:
-Just how does one legally amass a $100 million 401K…the math doesn’t work?
-Did Romney properly report his offshore holdings or did he take advantage of the 2009 amnistiy program?
-Has he attempted to dodge gift taxes through his use of complex trust instruments?
-Just how does he manage to qualify for the carried interest loophole via offshore Bain accounts?
Frankly I think that he has crossed the line and may have even already be caught and fined by the IRS.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:32 am
“My 9:24 is what we are going to hammer on for the next 3 months.
incessantly!”
And I’m sure we’ll all appreciate the ridiculousness of those repetitive posts each and every time, Finn.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:36 am
ridiculousness of those repetitive posts
Yes, for the few Americans who refuse to face facts and, well, probably wouldn’t know a fact if it bit em on the bum, yes, they will be ridiculous.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:41 am
“Frankly I think that he has crossed the line and may have even already be caught and fined by the IRS.”
And yet, we have heard nothing like this, even in the harsh light of the Obamamedia.
Peeping Tom. He’s not running to feed you trolls any more chow than you already have.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:47 am
If we don’t agree with everything the Cons put out – lies, truth, whatever – we aren’t interested/concerned voters?
We are TROLLS?
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:48 am
Finn, there is a difference between an objective and accurate assessment of Ryan’s Plan, and a op-ed piece in Salon.com, a site populated with fawning sycophants of this administration.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:49 am
If we can be called trolls can we come up with a word for those calling us trolls?
Maybe “toe jam intelligentsia”?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
9:51 am
Ok, tell us which part of that post is completely false and an utter lie?
I’ll give you until September 1. Is that long enough? You can’t do it.
Yeah, Salon is evil cause they don’t buy the Ryan crapola? Maybe they are just intelligent?? I know Cons don’t like intelligent humans either – they confuse their base with facts.
mwuahahahahahaha
Robert
August 13th, 2012
9:51 am
The American People (elderly, minorities, gays & lesbians, Muslims & Jews, etc.) are sick and tired of homegrown terrorisim displayed by the “tea party” (klanmen, skinheads, militia’s, birthers, etc.). Mr. Romney conceded defeat in 2012 when he choose Ryan as his running mate. Mr. Romney is gambling if he thinks the American People will embrace the entire right wing platform which is ridiculous and absurd. Hopefully the GOP will re-focus their strategy by recruiting moderate republicans willing to comprimise for the best interest of the USA. The best thing to happen to the GOP is getting rid of all the extremist in the GOP in 2012 with hope of winning the White House in 2016..
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
9:59 am
“Ok, tell us which part of that post is completely false and an utter lie?”
Too easy, Finn. As with most things political, people use those facts which support their view, while conveniently omitting those that don’t. (See: Bookman, Jay)
With the salon.com piece, one significant item they omit are reforms in health care insurance built into the plan which would reduce the cost of purchasing health insurance for everyone, including seniors.
You see, things don’t happen in a vacuum, except in the mind of a liberal.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
10:01 am
“The American People (elderly, minorities, gays & lesbians, Muslims & Jews, etc.) are sick and tired of homegrown terrorisim displayed by the “tea party”
I don’t believe you are qualified or have been given permission to speak for “The American People”, Robert.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
10:03 am
Tiberius, there is nothing concrete about this:
reforms in health care insurance built into the plan which would reduce the cost of purchasing health insurance for everyone, including seniors
Pure speculation.
Ayn Rand was right
August 13th, 2012
10:14 am
If you go back to 2007, even the most liberal on this blog can see that O is not a fortune teller. He completely miss-read the future that he was about to “inherit”. What now makes you believe that he can tell what the next 4 years will bring? He had 3 years, by his own words, to get it right, he hasn’t. Maybe it is his policy, his processes or just bad luck, but either way, he claimed the buck stopped with him, and he failed to right the ship. Time to give someone else a chance.
Robert
August 13th, 2012
10:14 am
@Tiberius – Only in the deep, deep, south do you hear support for extremist such as the “tea party” whose weapons of choice are hatred, fear and rage/mob mentality against the American People. What side are you on? The American People? or the homegrown terrorist group(s) known as the “tea party”? It is time to choose sides.
Ayn Rand was right
August 13th, 2012
10:16 am
@ Robert – November is going to be a very sad month for you.
Ayn Rand was right
August 13th, 2012
10:19 am
The Tea Party is filled with people who believe the rights granted to Americans in the constitution are the sum and whole of the country. Maybe they are not 100% correct, but at least they can articulate their objectives. Lumping every narrow special interest group into the Tea Party is a juvenile way to argue your point, if you have one. If you would like to talk about home grown terrorists, let’s take a look at the Occupy Movement, shall we?
iggy
August 13th, 2012
10:20 am
Ryan is a very good man and will be a great asset to America. The best part is he will help in ridding the presidency of the incompetents, Biden/Obama.
JDW
August 13th, 2012
10:21 am
@Tiberius…”And yet, we have heard nothing like this, even in the harsh light of the Obamamedia.”
And you wouldn’t…IRS fines etc… are not public information.
“Peeping Tom. He’s not running to feed you trolls any more chow than you already have”
Robert
August 13th, 2012
10:21 am
@Ayan Rand – I am already celebrating President Obama’s landslide victory 2012. . When Romney picked Ryan he conceded defeat. That is a fact.
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
10:23 am
Why I like that Kyle likes the Ryan pick: because Kyle woulda picked Newt. Go Newt! Go Kyle! Go Ryan!
Four more years? I think so. Me likey likey likey the hopey changy stuff.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
10:24 am
Once the “Romneyhood/Ryan will end medicare as we know it” ads start hitting the airwaves Obama will have the swing states as well.
mwuahahahahahahahahahahahaaha
Fred ™
August 13th, 2012
10:25 am
Is Kyle on vacation of have his right wing talk show host puppet masters just not given him his copy since Saturday?
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
10:26 am
Romney lied; people died. Ryan lied; people cried.
Obama/Biden 2012
Fred ™
August 13th, 2012
10:27 am
Ayn Rand was right: Gotta love that name. Any Rand was right? I never knew that amped up meth ho said Crank kills.
Gotta love folks who name themselves after life long drug addicts. It gives them SO MUCH credibility……….
iggy
August 13th, 2012
10:27 am
The State of IA tilts Red.
The State of CO will be next.
One by one the “light blue” States will begin leaning Romneys way.
HA HA!
SlickRick
August 13th, 2012
10:27 am
Robme and lyin = McCain and Palin redux (without the lipstick)
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
August 13th, 2012
10:31 am
Palin vs Ryan = same pig, new lipstick
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
August 13th, 2012
10:31 am
“What side are you on?”
The Constitution. Follow that and the American people can take care of themselves.