image courtesy The Paul Ryan Watch
As Jay has already noted, Rep. Ryan has not held a job that didn’t involve drawing a paycheck from taxpayers, so no doubt we can expect conservatives to decry the choice of a career public employee who has no experience in the private sector.
In addition to being a career politician (and not a good one, if his constituents are to be believed), Ryan is also a terrible Catholic, a hypocrite, a generally not nice guy, and an elitist (at least he’ll fit in with the moneyed Romney crowd), not to mention a heartless S.O.B.
While Paul Ryan may not be as boring a choice as former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty or Ohio Senator Rob Portman, he certainly can’t solve what’s wrong with Romney’s campaign – notably Romney’s lack of a soul, his propensity for lying, and his unwillingness to be the least bit transparent about his financial dealings. Sure, Paul Ryan may excite the conservative base, but it’s never a good thing to have the VP candidate be more charismatic and exciting than the presidential candidate – just ask John McCain.
Here’s their campaign slogan, from Monologues of Dissent:
“RMONEY/RAYN 2012: Throwing granny under the bus and tying the dog to the top.”
Here’s another:
“Romney/Ryan 2012: Representing the imported French wine and dressage horses crowd.”
Romney selected Ryan in large part for his fiscal savvy, the latter being the architect of the GOP’s master budget plan. So let’s take a look at their shared economic philosophy:
Fiscal conservatives such as Romney and Ryan are primarily interested in two outcomes:
1) Increasing the income divide between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of society
2) Increasing profit margins for corporations via lowered taxes and minimized environmental and workplace regulations
Reducing unemployment is a secondary issue — if said corporations opt to use their increased profits to hire additional employees, that’s their prerogative.
Alas, historical evidence overwhelming demonstrates that increased corporate profits do not translate into increased hiring — increased demand for goods and services does.
And, of course, increased demand requires increased purchasing power by that subset of society which does the majority of the purchasing, i.e., the middle class.
And yet the budget plan championed by Romney and Ryan is designed to shift the federal tax burden further away from the ultra-wealthy toward the middle class. Go figure.
Furthermore, virtually every nonpartisan economist has confirmed that the Romney/Ryan budget plan contains impossible to attain, mutually-exclusive goals — cutting taxes on corporations and upper class Americans while simultaneously reducing the federal deficit. Must be the new math!
In addition, Ryan and his fellow health insurance lobby lackeys in the Republican Party have taken a “General MacArthur” approach to destroying our nation’s Medicare system. His plan will not make it immediately die — he simply wants it to slowly fade away.
… and with it the ability of future senior citizens to obtain affordable chronic condition treatment and preventative health care.
Once again, the tea party tail wags the GOP dog … and the middle class gets stuck with cleaning up the lawn.
Zach you calling someone a terrible Catholic, wow pot calling the kettle black there.
You’re a wingnut, so I’m unconcerned with what you have to say.
PERFECT!
I COULDN’T HAVE PICKED A BETTER CANDIDATE FOR ROMNEY MYSELF.
MUSICALLY, HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN.
Like him or not it’s wonderful for Wisconsin.
Let the sprint begin!!
How is it wonderful for Wisconsin?
Well it’s obviously good for our state to get the kind of exposure and the kind of focus that this brings. Agree or disagree, win or lose, it will be great to have the focus be on our fine state.
No Duane, you couldn’t have. But that’s also because you had nothing to do with it. And was the use of all caps for your benefit or ours? You seem to be trying hard to convince yourself. Or did I fall for a Poe?
Look, it’s hard to see how this is inspired in any sense. They’re both toadies to the same constituency. Romney has gained no new votes, and there’s no guarantee that he would even carry Wisconsin. Joe Biden will have all kinds of fun with Ryan in debates (of which I predict there will be exactly ONE).
It was impossible for Romney to move farther to the right because he was already there. What he needed to do was pick a moderate. But the GOP is so beholden to the radical right that he had nowhere else to go.
Excuse me, Rich, I forgot to add “wink, wink,”
The caps were a leftover from another site which also has font size hard on my eyes.
Other than that, I’m with you all the way.
I fell for a Poe. Well played.
The question is: What have we done to deserve another McCarthy demagogue? How have we failed so badly in that we allow this disastrous takeover by the coal and oil industries of our minds and hearts?
I think it is the polarization of the religious and anti-religious as much as it is of any other elements of our society. As the left lead the revolt against the religious right, they have left themselves open to a rejection by people of faith of all important progressive thought and movement. To simply reject people of faith as behind the times or merely stupid is itself very stupid. Some of the best thinkers in human history have been and still are people of faith. I’m afraid that until the left learns to appreciate this intelligence and belief we will continue to be losers in the struggle for a better future for mankind.
Thankfully all Democrats are not as cold-hearted and bitter over the pick as most of the people on this blog – especially a guy who knows him well:
“My immediate reaction is that governor Romney picked a terrific individual,” Sen. Tim Cullen, a Democrat from Ryan’s hometown of Janesville.
Cold-hearted is a guy who wants to turn Medicaid into a coupon system, forcing seniors to find their own health care.
And Cullen’s not much of a Democrat; he’s certainly not a liberal.
Interesting facts: Romney’s father was born in Mexico. His Grandfather fled the USA to Mexico to join a Polygamy Commune after a crackdown in the USA on having multiple wives, and the Mormon Church refused to allow Blacks to become Priests until 1978, because they considered them to be “inferior people”. It’s all true! Google it!
In 1988, Paul Ryan’s senior year, his classmates chose him as “Biggest ‘Brown-Noser’,” overlooking the VP-to-be in other categories like “best looking,” “biggest flirt,” and “most likely to succeed.” Scroll down to the third photo.
LINK: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/paul-ryan-s-high-school-yearbook-pictures.html
We better wake up an understand that this election is not about Ryan, Romney, Biden, or OBAMA. It is about America and The Contitution. Harry Read, The Leader in the Senate is the one that has failed in his duties. He has kissed OBAMA’s back side and failed the American people by allowing and turning a blind eye. OBAMA’s own words “I will transform America.” We, the American people will not allow it. Mr. Harry Reid you are fired. We need check and balances in place. The people run this country and the president is our EMPLOYEE. It is our money, our sweat and tears, our CONSTITUTION. Not only did WE built our business, WE built AMERICA.
Sherry, you keep referencing the Constitution, but you failed to mention what that has to do with President Obama or Harry Reid.