Liberals are in attack mode regarding the Ryan pick, as was to be expected of ANY pick Romney chose. Some are doing their best to pin Republican against Republican:
Ryan is the way Romney and his aides escape blame for their now-likely defeat—blame which would have vicious and unrelenting—and pin it in on conservatives instead. With only minor historical revisions, they will be able to tell a story about how Romney was keeping the race close through early August, at which point the party’s conservative darling joined the ticket and sent the poll numbers into steady decline.
“Now likely defeat”
Give me a break.
But John Fund gives five reasons why Democrats should be worried:
First, if Ryan is an extremist and his proposals are so unpopular, how has he won election seven times in a Democratic district? His lowest share of the vote was 57 percent — in his first race. He routinely wins over two-thirds of the vote. When Obama swept the nation in 2008, he carried Ryan’s district by four points. But at the same time, Ryan won reelection with 65 percent of the vote, meaning that a fifth of Obama voters also voted for him.
Ryan has pointed out to me that no Republican has carried his district for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. “I have held hundreds of town-hall meetings in my district explaining why we have to take bold reform steps, and I’ve found treating people like adults works,” he told me. “All those ads pushing elderly woman off the cliffs don’t work anymore if you lay out the problem.”
Second, Democrats know that Ryan has Reaganesque qualities that make him appealing to independent, middle-class voters. Take the cover story on Ryan that the Isthmus, a radically left-wing Madison, Wis. newspaper, ran on him in 2009. “Ryan, with his sunny disposition and choirboy looks, projects compassion and forcefully proclaims dedication to his district,” the story reported. “And he’s proved he is not unyieldingly pro-corporate, as when he recently joined in condemnation of AIG ‘retention’ bonuses.”
Third, Ryan’s ideas aren’t that novel or scary. The idea of “premium support” for Medicare, which would change the program’s one-size-fits-all policy to a private-insurance model with public options, was endorsed by a bipartisan commission appointed by Bill Clinton back in the 1990s. Late last year, Ryan announced a new version of his proposal with a new partner signing on: Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who first achieved political prominence as an advocate for seniors.
Four, Ryan puts Wisconsin and its ten electoral votes in play. Polls have shown that President Obama holds a five to seven point lead in Wisconsin — significant, but much less than Obama’s 14-point margin in 2008. With Ryan on the ticket, polls show the race is dead even.
Five, if Republicans were looking for a superior candidate, they’ve found it in Ryan. His maiden speech as the GOP vice-presidential candidate was perfectly pitched:
We won’t duck the tough issues . . . we will lead!
We won’t blame others…we will take responsibility!
We won’t replace our founding principles . . . we will reapply them!
Echoes of Ronald Reagan at his best.
Echoes of Reagan indeed:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs[/youtube]
Romney could have chosen a safer pick, that’s for sure. But he had the courage to pick someone who has a vision to fix our failed economy. Not only a vision but a plan. Imagine that, someone with an actual plan to get our country’s entitlement problems fixed and prevent the collapse of our republic.
Democrats will pull out the Ryan is the devil type ad’s…with grandmothers being pushed off a cliff, but everyone understands the economy we are in, and it doesn’t look like it will be getting any better. Ryan has a vision to fix this country’s economy. Romney has the experience of turning failed businesses and failed states into successes.
Everyone on this blog knows I was not a huge Romney supporter. But with this Ryan pick, he has won me over. My vote will now not be just about “anybody but Obama” but will be FOR Romney/Ryan.
Already sent my donation, more to come.
Exit video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPENdwNzbfA[/youtube]
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