OK so lets take a look at this guy Paul Ryan. I keep reading how Ryan is the energizing force that will catapult the GOP to new heights of conservative glory. Paul Ryan is the cinnamon on the oatmeal that is Mitt Romney. He is the game-changer (where have I heard that before)? Ryan is the voice of fiscal responsibility. He has a plan.
Really? Well if Congressman Ryan is such a reign-in-the-budget, stop-the-spending, screw-the- poor and darling of the teabagger crowd, let's take a fast look at his voting record. Since his election in 1998, Congressman Ryan has voted with his party 93% of the time. He's a follower, hardly a leader. He voted for the Bush tax cuts and the extension of those tax cuts which, without a concomitant change in government spending, added 3 trillion to the National Debt. He voted for the bailout of General Motors and Chrylser as well as the hated TARP program. Ryan voted for the Medicare Part D drug program, a very costly increase in the social safety net. He voted to authorize the President to use military force in Afghanistan and Iraq, wars that were fought on credit. Ryan may be a nice guy with a solid moral core but there is nothing in his voting record in 15 years in the House of Representatives that would give rise to any notion that he is a fiscal conservative.
Ryan's reputation as a deficit hawk is, so far as I can tell, exclusively a product of spin. The dreaded main-stream media, reviled by all true Foxies, has created the myth of "Paul Ryan, Enemy of All Government Spending". This media creation is based almost exclusively on the "Ryan Plan" which is a budget proposal that: 1) increases defense spending, 2) lowers taxes for the very wealthy, and 3) decimates every social program from food stamps to Medicare. The cuts are so dractic even the Council of Catholic Bishops is opposed. Ryan is famous for having proposed this program chiefly because no other Republican has proposed anything more substantial than a coffee break in 3 1/2 years. With 240 GOP Congressmen sitting around picking lint from their navels, Ryan looks like the reincarnation of Adam Smith.
Still you have to give the Romney people credit for choosing in the VP candidate, a person with the perfect blend of bland but not too bland...like a Honda but with a racing stripe and extra cup holders. Romney isn't in the same boat as John McCain was in 2008. Old John was so desperate to add life to his funereal campaign, he chose someone who made everyone think "boob" but not always for the same reason. Sarah Palin's sell-by date could be measured in weeks. Romney is in a different situation.
He's a wooden Indian. If he has a plan for growing the economy or curbing illegal immigration or reducing spending or, well anything, he's kept it a pretty good secret up to now. His campaign to win the GOP nomination was, at times, eclipsed by Donald Trump, Herman Cain, and Newt Gingrich: the Groucho, Chico and Harpo of American politics. Like the Russians against Napoleon, he didn't so much win as outlast his enemies. In a field of candidates that resembled a casting call for a perverse reality show, Mitt was rarely able to garner more than 35% of the vote. His own party approached his selection the way a customer buys expensive cheese; Romney smelled the least bad.
Having managed to prevail against the lost battalion of potential candidates, Mitt needed to chose a running mate who wouldn't cast him in the shadows. No easy task that. In almost five years of campaigning, Governor Mitt has displayed all the charm and charisma of a white bread sandwich. He looked at Cris Christie but his shadow speaks for itself. Tim Paulenty and Rob Portman were possibilities but it helps if the the candidates are distinguishable by something more substantial than the color of their ties. Marco Rubio of Florida was in the mix but Marco has been tripping over his own back-story (His family fled Castro's Cuba five years before Fidel took power. oops!) Tragically, Rubio is what passed for "color" in the GOP, John Boehner notwithstanding. Mitt might have tried for a woman but Condoleezza Rice told him no and Jan Brewer was too busy ruining the State of Arizona to help out.
Ryan might actually help Romney win Wisconsin which went for Obama in '08. They're an independent bunch up there. They gave America Joe McCarthy and Bill Proxmire. Wisconsin voters defy pigeonholing. They also sometimes defy logic. They elected Scott Walker as Governor, tried to recall him then changed their minds. As long as Wiscinsin's seniors don't read too deeply about what Paul Ryan intends to do to their Medicare, Romney's VP choice should work out fine. At least Mitt won't have to worry about whether Ryan can see Russia from his back porch. He lives in Janesville.
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