I find Ryan to be insane. That being said, insanity is in. Romney wins.

I haz a sad.

Monkeyboy wrote:

MoBettle wrote:why did they announce this on a saturday morning of all times? wouldn't it have made more sense to wait until monday when the olympics are over?

They do everything in secret, from Mitt's returns to Ryan's plan to end all entitlements. They don't want to talk about anything and they don't even care if you know who's running on their ticket. They just want us to give them the keys to the mansion and leave them alone.

Well, sort of. Picking Ryan certainly doesn't bring over any wavering independents, so there must be some internal polling in the Romney camp that shows that unless they shore up their base, they don't have a chance. Remember, in the main, independents are not paying much attention now, and a pick like Ryan probably runs the risk of alienating those independents, so you don't want casual voters to pay much attention.

I think it's a mistake to see this along the same lines as the Palin pick. Palin was specifically designed to appeal to a segment of those ill-informed independent voters.

The more I think and read about this, the more excited and optimistic I'm getting. Ryan's budget and his whole approach to policymaking is an almost ridiculously large and vulnerable target for the Democrats. It amounts to a doubling or tripling down on every bad, unpopular and proven-unsuccessful idea they've had since 1994. Newt Gingrich himself called Ryan's plan "irresponsible right-wing social engineering"... the guy who basically wants to indenture little black kids as janitors said that.

The NYT has an item about polling on Ryan's plan that found 50 percent of REPUBLICANS disapprove of it. (48 percent approve.) This could be the great example of what happens when the right-wing echo chamber, convinced as always that more tax cuts for the richest and plain cuts for everyone else is both good policy and good politics, meets the reality of the full electorate.

I suspect the odds of the Democrats taking back the House probably increase by more than the odds of Romney taking the oath of office in January.

dajafi wrote:The more I think and read about this, the more excited and optimistic I'm getting. Ryan's budget and his whole approach to policymaking is an almost ridiculously large and vulnerable target for the Democrats. It amounts to a doubling or tripling down on every bad, unpopular and proven-unsuccessful idea they've had since 1994. Newt Gingrich himself called Ryan's plan "irresponsible right-wing social engineering"... the guy who basically wants to indenture little black kids as janitors said that.

The NYT has an item about polling on Ryan's plan that found 50 percent of REPUBLICANS disapprove of it. (48 percent approve.) This could be the great example of what happens when the right-wing echo chamber, convinced as always that more tax cuts for the richest and plain cuts for everyone else is both good policy and good politics, meets the reality of the full electorate.

I suspect the odds of the Democrats taking back the House probably increase by more than the odds of Romney taking the oath of office in January.

Donald Trump called Ryan's budget a catastrophe for Republicans. I have a feeling he'll love it now.

If Obama wins this election it's probably Ryan v Clinton in 2016 right?

A Conservative, a Moderate, and a Liberal walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hi Mitt."

The Nightman Cometh wrote:If Obama wins this election it's probably Ryan v Clinton in 2016 right?

Almost certainly not.

He could fuck it up in a million different ways, but I think Andrew Cuomo is going to be very formidable for the Ds in 2016.

dajafi wrote:He could fuck it up in a million different ways, but I think Andrew Cuomo is going to be very formidable for the Ds in 2016.

He and Martin O'Malley of Maryland.

Clinton has to be the early front runner for the Dems if she chooses to run. Her favorables have become ridiculous in this political climate where the public basically hates everyone.

she'll be 70 though, don't think the dems will want that

To be clear, I think if Clinton wants it, and especially if Obama endorses her, which I think he would unless Biden also runs in which case he'd have to stay neutral, she'll have it. But I kind of believe her when she says she's done.

It would be sweet if third parties could get their shit together and become a viable alternative for once.

Another election between the lesser of two evils. What's happened to the quality of leadership in this country?

Roger Dorn wrote:It would be sweet if third parties could get their shit together and become a viable alternative for once.

Another election between the lesser of two evils. What's happened to the quality of leadership in this country?

The parties aren't the problem. The overwhelming influence of interest groups is. If somehow we could diminish the influence of interest groups and strengthen parties, we'd probably get a more responsive political system.

TenuredVulture wrote:

Roger Dorn wrote:It would be sweet if third parties could get their #$!&@ together and become a viable alternative for once.

Another election between the lesser of two evils. What's happened to the quality of leadership in this country?

The parties aren't the problem. The overwhelming influence of interest groups is. If somehow we could diminish the influence of interest groups and strengthen parties, we'd probably get a more responsive political system.

Fair point. Tough problem to fix.

Bucky wrote:A Conservative, a Moderate, and a Liberal walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hi Mitt."

Iirc, this joke was made by an extremely conservative, super rich donor to the santorum campaign.

TenuredVulture wrote:I think it's a mistake to see this along the same lines as the Palin pick. Palin was specifically designed to appeal to a segment of those ill-informed independent voters.

I was hoping Romney would've tried to outdo the Palin pick by selecting...



...I'D VOTE FOR THAT TICKET!!!

MOST AWESOMEST TICKET EVER!

I'm still really excited

I don't think Ryan gets Romney many votes, but the fact that so many Democrat liberal types are happy about this pick make me very nervous. Those people thought Dukakis was a good idea.