The Republican presidential ticket is now set.
Mitt Romney has bet the farm that Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan is the man who can get him to the White House. Adding Ryan to the ticket is an incredibly bold choice — but it’s also an incredibly risky choice. Here’s why:
Paul Ryan is about as conservative as anyone can get. As a policy wonk, he is the congressional architect who proposed the highly criticized budget that would slash Medicare and cut aid to the disabled, the elderly, veterans and students, while giving a tax cut to the wealthy. Ryan was able to get the bill passed in the Republican controlled House of Representatives, but the Democratically controlled Senate and the White House both shot his proposals down, pointing out how devastating it would be to the elderly and working families.
Romney’s selection of Ryan says 2 things: that the previously moderate Romney is now fully in bed with the conservatives; and that Romney had to make this move just to shore up his base.
Republicans don’t trust Mitt Romney — some don’t even like Mitt Romney. So his selection of Ryan is a clear message to conservatives that he (Romney) is their guy. But Romney himself should be the candidate his party loves, not just his running mate. Romney should be the party favorite, while his running mate should be the person who fills in the blanks, appealing to Independents, Hispanics, blue-collar voters and the so-called “Reagan Democrats.” He should also be able to deliver his own state — something that is very unlikely to happen with both members of the ticket — with Romney (Massachusetts) and Ryan (Wisconsin) both hailing from traditionally Democratic states. But if Ryan is the Republican favorite, then what is Romney?
Mitt Romney is in trouble and Democrats are salivating. Putting Ryan on the ticket just to appease the Republican base at this late date is a desperation move, since Romney himself should have been enough to convince his own party. But Democrats will now use Paul Ryan as a bulls eye, convincing Senior Citizens in Florida, working families throughout the industrial states, Hispanics embroiled in the immigration debate, Gays and Lesbians, African-Americans and other minorities that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are NOT on their side.
Another factor in the Ryan selection is that neither Romney nor Ryan have any foreign policy knowledge or experience. Nada! Zero! Zilch! So, the man who Mitt Romney has chosen to be a heartbeat away from the presidency (should he win) might be able to slash a budget, but can he negotiate a military treaty? Can he sit in the White House Situation Room and control a military raid such as the one that captured and killed Osama Bin Laden? Can he command international respect as the leader of the free world?
Mitt Romney may think so. But will voters?
`
TDB: "Paul Ryan’s Extreme Abortion Views"Indeed, on abortion and women’s health care, there isn’t much daylight between Ryan and, say, Michele Bachmann. Any Republican vice-presidential candidate is going to be broadly anti-abortion, but Ryan goes much further. He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman’s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization. The National Right to Life Committee has scored his voting record 100 percent every year since he entered the House in 1999. “I’m as pro-life as a person gets,” he told The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack in 2010. “You’re not going to have a truce.”Indeed, Ryan exemplifies a strange sort of ideological hybrid that now dominates the GOP.… Read more »