With Ryan pick, Romney is no longer playing it safe
Mitt Romney, right and vice presidential running mate Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., greet supporters as they arrive at a rally at the Randolph Macon college, Saturday, Aug. 11, in Ashland, Va.
/ AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
This article originally appeared on RealClearPolitics.He's no longer playing it safe.
With his selection of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney changed the course of a candidacy that had been defined by its cautious approach, bringing to it an immediate surge of excitement while simultaneously opening the floodgates to significant political hazards.
By shunning supposedly "safe" picks such as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, Romney also took a significant step toward defining the approach to governing he would take in the White House.
In choosing Ryan, a seven-term congressman who has spent almost his entire adult life working in the nation's capital, the presumptive nominee declined to bolster his image as an outsider at a time when Congress' popularity has reached new lows.
"I believe my record of getting things done in Congress will be a very helpful complement to Governor Romney's executive and private sector success outside Washington," Ryan said upon being unveiled as the VP pick Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va. "I have worked closely with Republicans as well as Democrats to advance an agenda of economic growth, fiscal discipline, and job creation."
More than anything, the choice of the 42-year-old Wisconsin congressman brought to center stage Ryan's plan to address the nation's fiscal woes head-on, in part by overhauling Medicare and Medicaid.
Soon after the pick was announced, CNN published internal talking points that Romney aides had distributed to campaign surrogates.
Those points included suggestions that Romney would not adopt the Ryan budget plan and would instead continue to offer a distinct proposal of his own.
A senior Romney aide told RCP that the candidate's decision not to fully embrace the Ryan plan was "not news," referring to an interview that the former Massachusetts governor conducted with ABC News early last year. "His plan is not the plan I'll put forward. I have my own plan," Romney said in the interview. "I'll be putting that out before I debate President Obama."
Thus, the already fine line that Romney had been walking on this issue has now become even more delicate.
But no matter how Romney answers the inevitable questions about how much he agrees with his running mate's proposals, the placement of Ryan on the GOP ticket is delighting the party's right flank.
For the past week, a rising chorus of conservative opinion-makers has publicly urged the candidate to make Ryan his choice, a sentiment reflecting a broader concern that following a safe playbook would not be enough to defeat Obama in November.
According to campaign aides, Romney settled on Ryan on Aug. 1, days before The Weekly Standard opened the pro-Ryan salvo by urging him to "go for the gold" and pick either the Wisconsin lawmaker or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.
Regardless of timing, the decision brought a collective sense of glee among conservatives, whose support for Romney has wavered throughout his two runs for the presidency.
The Ryan pick appeared to equally delight Democrats.
"In naming Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has chosen a leader of the House Republicans who shares his commitment to the flawed theory that new budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, while placing greater burdens on the middle class and seniors, will somehow deliver a stronger economy," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement.
Within hours of the announcement, the president's campaign website had added a section on Ryan, calling his budget plan a "sham" and dubbing the Republican ticket the "go back team."
The most immediate effect of the Ryan selection in swing states is that it leaves no doubt as to whether Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes will be in play for the Republican ticket. They are now.
Ryan is widely known and popular in his home state and district, and the Romney campaign was already firming up plans on Saturday to have Ryan make campaign appearances there, possibly on Sunday.
But nowhere is the Ryan selection more fraught with political risk than Florida -- a state whose much larger prize of 29 electoral votes Romney likely must win in order to be elected president.
Florida's huge population of older voters could be particularly susceptible to charges that Ryan's plan to restructure Medicare and potentially allow some privatization of Social Security would jeopardize those popular government programs.
The venue for Romney and Ryan's highly anticipated speeches at the Republican National Convention -- Tampa -- further elucidates the stakes attached to the data-loving former businessman's daring move to shake up the race.
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You got that right.
He has just shot himself in the foot.
Congressman Ryan is a member of a group with the lowest poll rating ever given to them; one they richly deserve.
The US is no longer a government "of the people, by the people, for the people".!
It has become a government "of poliicians, for politicans".!!
The word constituents is no longer in their vocabulary.
If you think about it, these people stole our country and our future a long time ago when they decide to raid the Social Security trust fund.
During Obama's campign, Moochelle said "For the first time in my life; I'm proud to be an American".
I'm ashamed of the fact that we allowed these politicians to ruin our country and it's way of life.!
It's just too bad that we will have to live with either one of the people and Congress for four more years.!
Only GOD knows how deplorable life here in the US will be by then; thanks to the politicians.
No matter who gets elected; Americans no longer have anything to look forward to except more of the same or worse.
SAD that we have come to this pass.!!
will get the scrutiny it deserves !
The Voters have a crystal clear choice,
even the politically low informed will see the stark contrast.
Do we still blame Hitler for invading Poland? Yes. Do we still blame Pol Pot for the killing fields? Yes. Did Bush sign those huge tax cuts that Obama inherited? Yes. Did Bush start two wars and not find a way to pay for them? Yes. Did Bush sign Medicare Part D. without a way to pay for it? Yes. Did Bush sign the TARP bill without a way to pay for it? Yes. Obama inherited it. Tell us just how any other President could have avoided a huge increase in the deficit with what Obama inherited. You don't lower taxes during war time. You don't lower taxes without finding spending cuts first. You don't add a new entitlement without a plan for finding the revenues to pay for the. The borrow and spend Bush dropped a huge load on the next President. You have to blame the person who was captain of the ship when the iceberg gets hit. The increase in spending under Obama is pretty low in comparison to other modern Presidents. If you take the Bush tax cuts, the two unpaid for wars, and Medicare Part D. out of the picture, we're doing fine. You can't blame Obama for those things.
Remember, Jeff Sessions, a Republican from Mississippi, dropped a amendment into that budget bill that acted as a shell for the actual budget and allowed the budget to be carved and whittled away until it wouldn't even resemble Obama's budget. It was a simple trick that no one would vote for. Once that amendment was dropped in, the Obama budget essentially wasn't the Obama budget anymore. Look this stuff up and quit lying about the real truth.
! The deceptive twists to the truths, and the Threats and intimidation tatctics of the GOP & Tea-Party Terrorists. The fear & Intimidation tactics of Political terrorists like those who attacked America on 911. They too had an ideology of their political & religious agenda, just as Ryan and Romney have. Do not be fooled, because they are Hell bent on destroying what "We" the American people have built. Their Agenda is to destroy from within, conquer & divide.
Yes They are TERRORISTS, (Political Terrorists) in every sense of the words. Last Year Ryan called for a War on the Middle Class, and poor! That is a fact! His party Held America Hostage for political gain, and imposing penalties on those less fortunate. Holding Seniors, our Government, and our troops Hostage to bolster his agenda. He & the tea-Party Terrorists will continue to rape & pillage the financial coffers and pensions as they have used their Mafioso tactics to rob Americans of their savings. Imposing penalties and even death to those who cannot afford to fight the injustices. Before the American Health Care ACT, 45,000 children die as a direct result of having no health insurance, and one to two million Americans went homeless because of their Agenda! Facts!
If you believe for one minute they care about anything but lining their pockets, you are another fool just born. Their Hypocrisy and Agenda is too destroy American way of life and values this country was formed on. Those are the truths, and yet so many will not believe, and will buy their false agenda. Blinded by false sense of faith and words. They (the political Right Wind Hypocrites & Liars) believe that only the strong survive, Dog Eat dog. So Dog, What are you going to do about this fact. Pollution, Raping and killing the innocent and sending your children, Your Sons & Daughters to war to grab the oil rich foreign countries. Making even more homeless, and destitute. Famine, Corruption, LIARS = Political Terrorists. That is who they really are. So will you be another fool, or will you stand up like the people on flight 92 did, and Say "Let's Roll"? Will you stand up and vote out these Radicals, or stick your head in the sand, and start digging your grave site? The choice is yours America. Use it wisely! The choice you make will affect your future & your children's future. Get involved, register to vote & Vote out these radical Political Terrorists once and for all. Educate yourself on the Candidates & Get & Keep informed and get involved.