I think this is Romney's "Palin" choice.
First, it looks like he was bullied into it by the right-wing
extremists in his party. That, by itself, makes Romney look weak. If
Romney can't stand up to his own party, what will happen when a Putin
or a Hu Jintao start pushing him around?
Second, what does it say when you think you don't even have your own
base locked up?
Third, it pushes Romney further to the right and leaves the middle
wide open to Obama. In presidential elections, that is critical (along
with likeability which Obama wins hands down).
Fourth, Romney NEEDS states like Ohio, Virginia and Florida. Wisconsin
isn't that critical. Plus Ryan has never even run a state-wide
election in Wisconsin. From an electoral college perspective, it was a
dumb move.
Fifth, Obama has been trying to figure out how to tie the Ryan budget
plan to Romney. Bingo. Thank you Romney. By the way, Romney probably
just lost Florida because of this. Not only is Romney tied to the Ryan
budget, he is anchored to it.
Sixth, the Ryan budget will become a major focus of the campaign. This
has two downsides for Romney. It takes the focus away from talking
about the economy and it allows Obama to focus on things like the
Republicans ending Medicare (bye-bye Florida) and raising taxes on the
middle-class to pay for tax cuts to guys like Romney (who wouldn't own
ANY taxes under the Ryan plan).
Seventh, it opens up attacks on the Republicans for some of the
extreme positions that Ryan has taken like supporting a bill that
would prevent a woman from having an abortion even if her life was
threatened AND supporting Ayn Rand (for her politics) but who hated
Christianity and supported abortion rights. And many more to come.
Eighth, it makes Ryan the focus of the ticket. A definite no-no for a
vice-presidential choice.
Ninth, the current Congress is THE most unpopular ever since they
starting measuring these things. I mean, they have a 12% approval
rating and a 79% unfavorable rating! I have an idea, let's choose
someone from the most hated institution in America to join our ticket.
Smart. Not.
Tenth, not an iota of foreign experience between the two candidates.
Eleventh, the first rule in picking a running mate is do no harm
(think Portman). But, as we already know, Romney doesn't think that
the rules were made for him.
But other than that, Ryan was a great choice.
AW
- 86 47 -
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