YES! YES! YES! Oh thank you God! YES!!!!!
Mitt Romney’s campaign is the gift that keeps on giving and he has truly given us a wonderful one with his VP selection. In placing Paul Ryan, the author of the plan to totally destroy Medicare and Social Security as we know them, Mitt Romney has done in one instant what Democrats have been working to do since last year-make every race in the country a referendum on the disastrous Ryan Budget Plan.
How bad this is going to be for Republicans can’t be understated. First, one of the few reliable demographics they have had left is the over 55 crowd. They just kicked hurt themselves big time with that age group. Second, Congress’s approval ratings are the worst in history. Now one of the members of this do nothing Congress is on the ticket, and it happens to be one of the people who’s contributed most to bringing those approval ratings crashing down. Third, Romney just made sure that every day going to the GOP convention will be spent on defense over Medicare and Social Security. Fourth, they’ve just made the fight over the Ryan Budget plan even more high profile in every House and Senate race in the country. This is going to go to hell in a handbasket real fast, and what was looking like a winning campaign for Democrats already is looking, almost impossibly, even better. Fifth, I wouldn’t doubt that there’s more stuff about Paul Ryan that is going to come out and be damaging to the campaign, like some of this stuff for example.
This also comes in the wake of the dust up over a Mitt Romney spokesperson sending the right wing into a tizzy by bringing up Romneycare in a positive light. I would bet good money that in a couple of years when all the campaign sagas are being written that it comes out that that incident was crucial in leading to the Ryan selection. It’s part of a pattern with Mitt Romney-he absolutely will not stand up to his base and he is determined to do whatever it takes to please them even if it alienates everyone else in the country. And yeah, Ryan may have conservatives excited-until the next Romney campaign screw up at least. But you know what, it’s got those of us on the left super excited too. That ought to tell them something.
The Romney campaign set out to not make the same mistake John McCain did with Sarah Palin. Thing is, for a couple of weeks Palin was actually new and interesting, so for awhile there she gave McCain a bounce before becoming a drag on the ticket. Ryan though is already set up to be a disaster. Palin, for a short time, also seemed a bit sympathetic when things got hard for her. I don’t see Ryan having that kind of shield. Romney and his campaign wanted to avoid a disaster like Sarah Palin with this choice. They did that by making what looks like it could be an even bigger one.
And yes, my record on predicting this stuff remains mixed at best, though now that may be putting it charitably. My prediction of Rob Portman fell through, but I don’t care. I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for this!!!
