Earlier today, Governor Romney declared his selection of a running mate. It's <trumpet fanfare, please> none other than Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the principal architects of and chief spokesman for the Republicans' budget, the (so-called) Path to Prosperity.
Frankly I was gobsmacked! I was sure that he'd choose former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, owing to his blue-collar background, just-a-regular-guy affability, and seeming lack of any significant political baggage.
Supposedly, many on the political right didn't consider Romney sufficiently conservative; therefore he needed to butress his credentials as such. I dunno; like many others, I figured that Romney had the folks on the right in his hip pocket by default, owing to their dislike for Obama.
In any event, Romney's done the deed. The Democratic campaigns at all levels now have some ripe issues. Trashing Medicare and privatizing Social Security are not exactly sure-fire ways to romance the workaday folks out there, just trying to survive and stay healthy.
Let's face it; one mainline poll after another leaves no doubt that the vast majority of Americans treasure those programs enough so that they don't want anyone to mess with them.
Now maybe if Romney, Ryan, and their Tea Party buddies start screaming "SOCIALISM, SOCIALISM, SOCIALISM!!!" as blood-curdlingly loud as they can ....
C'mon, all together now!
They haven't hollered the word, but certainly it's been used by plenty of right-wing nuthatches.
ReplyDeleteStridency will elevate in the coming days, bet on it.
Rahm E. had some comments about Ryan, as they served in the U.S. House at the same time.
(R.E. wasn't very flattering.)
Best Wishes!