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It was probably one of his better picks. It will shut up the crazies and let Romney get back towards the middle on some issues to get some of those independent voters back.

Uhhh.... Paul Ryan is not an attempt to appeal to the moderates. The reason why they are announcing this now instead of waiting for the convention is actually because the Romney camp has desperately been trying to find a way to stop the national discussion from being about Romney's damn taxes, and shift it to policy issues. They are getting beat, bad, and Romney is being successfully framed as this wacko-rich person who finds loopholes in taxes and panders only to the ultra rich.

Paul Ryan is a far right "young gun" conservative who is as "insider Washington" as insider can possibly be. His first jobs were working on campaigns in Washington, then he got into Washington, and has been in Washington since. His budget proposes cuts in coverage for the elderly, the poor, and many other important constituencies. In fact, selecting Paul Ryan was in part done because of these flaws... simply because they need to get Democrats to start talking about Republican Fiscal policy, and stop successfully turning this campaign into a battle between the 1% and the 99%.

First reaction was, "A tea-partier!? olol."

However it's probably one of the best choices the Romney campaign could have made. Ryan at least has ideas about tackling the national debt, albeit extreme ideas.. That said, increasing defense spending while cutting everything else, cutting the top tax rate by 30% and instead increasing taxes on the poor is hilarious.

Its a terrible choice, on many levels.

better than Palin.

Dome wrote:QUOTE (Dome @ Aug 11 2012, 12:12 PM) better than Palin.

It isnt, though. Palin made sense compared to this, even after the (somewhat unfair) trashing she got. All Ryan will do is remind people on the right how rubbish Romney is by comparison, and demonstrate to everyone else that the Republicans are exactly the type of lower taxes for the rich / cut services for everyone else politicians that the democrats will be trying to paint them as.

tsubaki_sanjuro wrote:QUOTE (tsubaki_sanjuro @ Aug 11 2012, 05:06 AM) It isnt, though. Palin made sense compared to this, even after the (somewhat unfair) trashing she got. All Ryan will do is remind people on the right how rubbish Romney is by comparison, and demonstrate to everyone else that the Republicans are exactly the type of lower taxes for the rich / cut services for everyone else politicians that the democrats will be trying to paint them as.

I agree with you. Romney is rubbish and he has no chance to win (god willing). As a registered democrat I herald the fact that the Romney campaign has chosen such a polarizing vice presidential candidate as Ryan as a running mate. He could have chosen Tim Pawlenty or Marco Rubio but instead he chose a radical tea partier... just like McCain chose a radical crazy ass rogue when he gave it a shot. The trashing Palin got was not unfair in my opinion. It was the same trashing any other vice presidential candidate would have received. She just made too many gaffes and couldn't handle the pressure... not to mention she is severely uneducated.

I wonder your motives in defending the republican party Tsubaki. If merely out of sense of competition to the incumbent I can respect that. My personal bias is revealed when I support equal rights for all, a fair (fair-ish relative to alternative) tax and medical structure, and responsible energy and conservation policy.

QUOTE even after the (somewhat unfair) trashing she got[/quote]

Oh no, you didn't!

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/sarahpa...alin-top-10.htm

Now, you could call it unfair in that a smart republican is very hard to find these days... Santorum? Bachmann? Lolz aplenty!

Dome wrote:QUOTE (Dome @ Aug 11 2012, 01:36 PM) I agree with you. Romney is rubbish and he has no chance to win (god willing). As a registered democrat I herald the fact that the Romney campaign has chosen such a polarizing vice presidential candidate as Ryan as a running mate. He could have chosen Tim Pawlenty or Marco Rubio but instead he chose a radical tea partier... just like McCain chose a radical crazy ass rogue when he gave it a shot. The trashing Palin got was not unfair in my opinion. It was the same trashing any other vice presidential candidate would have received. She just made too many gaffes and couldn't handle the pressure... not to mention she is severely uneducated.

I wonder your motives in defending the republican party Tsubaki. If merely out of sense of competition to the incumbent I can respect that. My personal bias is revealed when I support equal rights for all, a fair (fair-ish relative to alternative) tax and medical structure, and responsible energy and conservation policy.

No, quite a bit of it was unfair and there was more than a hint of sexism to it. Some of the stuff that got thrown at Palin - the claim that she wasnt the mother of her youngest, for instance - was really way beyond the pale and the people who shouted it really should be ashamed of themselves. As for "she made too many gaffes" - maybe, but Obama and especially Biden made at least as many. Can you imagine what would have happened if Palin or McCain said this:

QUOTE "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."[/quote]

or this

QUOTE "Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya." –-Joe Biden, to Missouri state Sen. Chuck Graham, who is in a wheelchair[/quote]

or this

QUOTE "Look, John's last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs."[/quote]

or this

QUOTE "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened." –Joe Biden, apparently unaware that FDR wasn't president when the stock market crashed in 1929 and that only experimental TV sets were in use at that time, interview with Katie Couric[/quote]

Though of course all of the above are trumped by that Palin gaffe which she didnt actually say.

As for "your motives in defending the republican party" - how on earth you worked that out from the two posts of mine on this thread only god knows. As it happens, agri holds your entire political system in contempt.

It is an interesting pick, but the VP is almost an anti-Romney is some respects.

Romney hasn't really said anything about his plans for the country, he just complains that Obama is doing it wrong. This is classic populist strategy, a lot of noise and complaints, without offering any solutions. Ryan is a bird of a different (if a little crazy) feather. He has published a plan about what he would like to do with the national budget and government programs. It's not something that democrats and many independents would like, but at least he actually has a plan.

So yeah, the VP is more interesting than the main ticket.

Still.... they can't possibly win.