Romney to Reveal VP Choice Tomorrow (Saturday, August 11)

Proof positive that Romney has no core beliefs of his own; he has to borrow some.

This cypher will do anything to be president. He doesn't care what he's able to do once he gets there. He just wants the title.

So now we have a rich guy with a tax problem and a guy that wants to wipe out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

That's cool. I'll take that bet.

 

I think this is a great pick, not just for Dems but the entire country. Now there is something substantial to debate. Our future as a nation economically.'

Will we go with cutting taxes and cutting spending to draconian levels which will result is massive poverty and a very different looking nation. Prosperity no, it could put us in a depression for many years - perhaps a decade or more, after which there might be growth but at a huge price.

Or will we find another way. Democrats / Obama haven't really addressed the issue of medicare and entitlement programs to find a way to balance the budget. It's not paying off the debt, it is controlling its growth.

This is what people have to make a choice on. I think it is a good debate if it isn't filled with a bunch of lies.

 

FANTASTIC CHOICE. Those of us who are fiscal conservatives (65% of the country?) are on cloud nine this morning. Ryan is the nation's leader -- the nation's leader -- on fiscal policy. He was bold enough to put out a plan, and no one has a better plan than Paul Ryan. He is also young, Catholic, strong ties to Ohio, and is the GOLDEN BOY in Wisconsin. Oh by the way, he's a genius.

This gives us a window into Romney's electoral strategy, and it tells me that the Great Lakes Strategy will be pursued. Win Wisconsin, Indiana and one of either Michigan or Pennsylvania, and Romney is President. As I said yesterday, Obama has an emerging white people problem. Wisconsin is 80% white, as an example. Wisconsin has a Republican governor and just batted bad a frothing-at-the-mouth pro-union orgy of spending and kept Walker in office. Priebus-Walker-Ryan can deliver Wisconsin, which opens up so many paths to victory.

But the pick is also brilliant because it draws such a sharp contrast against Obama's lack of economic leadership. Ryan has a plan -- it passed the House. Obama has no plan. Obama hired a bipartisan commission to put together a plan (Simpson Bowles) and then promptly rejected and ignored their results. Obama didn't lead on the fiscal cliff. Obama has never passed a budget. NEVER PASSED A BUDGET. When you quadruple -- QUADRUPLE -- the deficit, you darn well ought to have the decency to put forth a budget in front of the American people. Obama didn't even bother. Shame. SHAME.

 

Ryan with Tony Horton

 

Im officially done with Mitt Romney I cant believe im saying this but GO OBAMA!!!

 

The math only really becomes relevant if you get into the weeds and start doing deeper analysis - that doesn't really happen in our soundbite world elections. The big things he can claim are that the GOP has a very specific budget plan (Dems don't), it lowers the deficit (regardless if true), and that the architect of it is now on the GOP ticket so they are serious about it. In campaign world, that can be a pretty powerful thing.

Whether he's ready for primetime, I'm not really sure - that's a good point and it will be interesting to see how he embraces the spotlight. I do agree that the Obama team is excited too - this is one of the few picks that I think both sides really see big openings with. Their goal has been to tie Romney to the Ryan budget, so this takes care of that for them. But in doing so, it does force the campaign back towards the budget and the deficit, which is an area that I think Obama would be content to simply not focus on.

 

Delusional Daryl

http://memegenerator.net/Delusional-Daryl?browsingOrder=New&browsingTimeSpan=AllTime

 

brilliant choice, a campaign not about empty rhetoric, but about real, practical solutions. by all means, if you're happy with the potemkin slogan of hope and change, vote Obama.

if you're not, watch this:

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zPxMZ1WdINs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

The high-ground of having a plan will only last so long. The Dems have 2 1/2 months to tie Ryan's budget around Mitt's neck with specifics in the plan.

It's a good thing if the selection elevates both sides to focus more on issues that will affect the country.

Ryan is an intelligent guy, but is he ready for the 2-month tornado that will hit his world?

 

Agreed - and that's going to be the big tug of war. The Dems are going to point the (many, many) problems with the Ryan plan. The GOP is going to fight back saying "you have no plan". In general, I think this favors Dems because attack ads against specifics tend to work. But it does leave the GOP an opening to paint Obama as being unserious about the deficit problem. We're in new territory there because this is really the first Presidential election in our history where the deficit is not just an issue to talk about, but one that actually can drive people's votes.

Really, it will be in each team's execution of their strategies. I think Obama's campaign team runs circles around Mitt's current team, but that could change over time.

 

I like Paul Ryan a lot, but I think this pick will sink Romney.

 

I think medicare and taxes are the bigger issues. The deficit is something that sits in the back of people's minds.

No one has any idea on reforming entitlement programs. But vouchers scare people like crazy. And that is what Dems are going to say Romney is going to do. It will cost Romney Florida for sure. Hard to see him winning without that state.

 

The latest polls show Obama pulling ahead. Romney needed to try something.

 

Other impacts on the race, I think:

Wisconsin: I think the role of Wisconsin is overplayed here. First, Ryan has a neutral approval rating there, so the impact is likely to be minimal. And while Wisconsin is a swing state, it's not a tipping point state, to use 538 terminology. If Romney wins Wisconsin, it will just pad his electoral vote count in a win, because he'll likely have won a bunch of other swing states already in that case (FL, OH, CO, VA, etc).

The Base: This helps solidify Romney with the base, as Palin did for McCain without the stupid. It will be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out. On one hand, it lets Romney move to the middle on some issues without the base freaking out all the time. On the other, it allows the Dems to tie Romney to the Tea Party. People say this is an indication that Romney is running a base campaign, but my suspicion is that he uses Ryan as cover to move himself to the middle.

Elderly Voters: As much as Ryan solidifies & excites the base, I think it provides an opening for Obama with the elderly voters, which is a current significant weakness. Younger voters already don't trust that SS, Medicare, etc will survive for them, but older voters do vote on that. So, even though the Ryan plan's changes actually don't take effect for a while, tying the GOP to the privatization and destruction of Medicare will likely narrow that weakness some for the Obama team.

* Note, all of these are small impacts because VPs just don't have a huge effect for the most part, unless the VP pick is a disaster.

 

Sort of a big weakness.

This self professed Ayn Rand follower is a heartless guy who is out to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Food Stamps, public schools and redistribute money even faster to the 1%.

He is a total believer in all the myths that are destroying the middle class: suply side economics; the myth that you balance budgets by the magic that tax cuts provide more revenue; trickle down; more deregulation of banking; unregulated free foreign trade with China and others.

 

"we look at each other's accomplishments with pride, not resentment...the commitment Mitt Romney and I make to you is this: We won't duck the tough issues...we will lead! We won't blame others...we will take responsibility!" -- Paul Ryan, 8-11-2012

 

Right now, yes. But it's sort of like Obamacare - most of the public view of it has been defined by the opposition. The pro-side has been very ineffective in its messaging, just as the Obama team was terrible with health care. I'm convinced that having Obama on the national stage arguing for the HCR has the potential to turn it from a weakness to at least a neutral campaign issue. The question is whether the GOP can do the same with the Ryan budget. I have my doubts, but it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

That's the view of a hardcore Democrat, but he's not winning your vote anyway. The real question is how the independent will view him and his budget.

 

this may be the CSPAN election, great for those of us who care about actual policy, not empty showmanship.

<object id="flashObj" width="480" height="270" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=1520852648001&playerID=684720698001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAnrehDVE~,w91IT6IapG54cV-cir05eT1Zcztug5b0&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=1520852648001&playerID=684720698001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAnrehDVE~,w91IT6IapG54cV-cir05eT1Zcztug5b0&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="480" height="270" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>

 

http://heygirlitspaulryan.tumblr.com/

 

This is going to be so easy!

Oops: Romney Introduces Ryan As ‘The Next President Of The United States’