Originally Posted By ecdc BTW, since Romney accidentally introduced Ryan as the "next President of the United States," can I talk for the next four years about how Romney was so dumb he thought Ryan was running for President? Since I keep having to hear about how Obama thought there were 58 states, it only seems fair.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Look at Ryan's bio. Has HE ever held a "real" job? Maybe that one can be put to rest as well.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox I heard something about this on a progressive talk radio show yesterday when the speculation about Paul Ryan was hitting the rumor mill. He said that Paul Ryan has never held a job post-college that either wasn't connected to his family or part of government. The vast overwhelming majority of Ryan's professional life has been working in government, mostly inside the beltway. Just like Romney, he cannot directly relate to what 98% of American citizens go through on a daily basis, with regard to earning a living.
Originally Posted By ecdc Yet another guy who collects a paycheck from government by badmouthing...government. Will someone hire me so I can talk about how stupid they are? Please?
Originally Posted By 182 "BTW, since Romney accidentally introduced Ryan as the "next President of the United States," can I talk for the next four years about how Romney was so dumb he thought Ryan was running for President? " Hmmmmmmmm I wonder if President Obama has ever done that ? Answer: Yes he has <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/flashback-barack-obama-also-introduced-joe-biden-as-the-next-president/" target="_blank">http://www.mediaite.com/online...esident/</a>
Originally Posted By Dabob2 When Romney did that, it was a bit of a chuckle. I don't think it was anything more than that. And so I don't expect it to be showing up in any Obama campaign ads. Yet, Romney taking Obama quotes dishonestly out of context have already shown up in at least 2 official Romney campaign ads I know about. And Ryan even parroted one of the dishonest attacks in his rollout speech.
Originally Posted By fkurucz "Yet, Romney taking Obama quotes dishonestly out of context have already shown up in at least 2 official Romney campaign ads I know about." Oh yes, especially the despicable and dishonest "you didn't build it" commercials. Hmmm ... isn't one of the 10 Commandments to not bear false witness?
Originally Posted By ecdc <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/mitt-romney-would-pay-082-percent-in-taxes-under-paul-ryans-plan/261027/" target="_blank">http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.../261027/</a> That's a short article well worth your time. Guess how much Mitt Romney would pay in taxes under the Paul Ryan plan? 0.82%. Yeah, that's not a typo. Because the Ryan plan offers exemptions on all sorts of things that only the rich typically enjoy, Romney ends up paying less than 1% in taxes. How on earth do you fund the government when the rich are paying less than 1%? This should be a joke, a satire of a satire. But in Republican Land, this is the real deal.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>And so I don't expect it to be showing up in any Obama campaign ads.<< I'm guessing Romney's subsequent ad lib, "sometimes I make mistakes", might pop up again sooner or later.
Originally Posted By tiggertoo It was a lose-lose proposition for Romney from the getgo. He was trapped between an uncompromising far-right base, and a public majority scared who thinks the far-right is psychologically unhinged.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 "I'm guessing Romney's subsequent ad lib, "sometimes I make mistakes", might pop up again sooner or later." From moveon or a superpac, yeah. From Obama, maybe, but I doubt it.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.../261027/" target="_blank">http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.../261027/</a> That's a short article well worth your time.> Wow. Thanks for that, ecdc. That should be required reading for the whole electorate. And it only takes about a minute, literally. When I read ecdc's post, I thought perhaps the Atlantic was speculating or using assumptions that a right-winger would instantly discount. Nope. If you haven't clicked on that link yet (and you should), they base that 0.82% figure on Romney's actual 2010 tax return, i.e. the only one he's deigned to release. It shows that with Ryan's tax plan in place Romney doesn't pay the already ridiculously low 13.9% he paid, but 0.82%. Here's another article well worth reading that I found in a link from that article: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/the-worst-part-of-paul-ryans-budget/254845/" target="_blank">http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.../254845/</a> Please read it. It's a perfect antidote to all those right-wingers who insist (and I just endured two hours of them on the Sunday talk shows) that Ryan is a "serious thinker" with "serious proposals" and even if you don't like his prescriptions, he's at least proposing things that are "important." As this article shows, his numbers don't even come close to adding up. His proposals and his thinking can't be considered "serious" when they produce the results they do, as you'll see. For starters, they would reduce non-defense discretionary spending to .75% of GDP, which is simply not doable in the real world and which no one - not even Ryan himself - would seriously advocate. His so-called "serious plan" is ridiculously flawed... and yet the narrative they're going to try to paint is that he's this "serious thinker." Do yourself a favor and read that (also short) article.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Personally it wouldn't matter to me if Romney picked the worlds smartest person as a running mate. Romney would still be an idiot and I wouldn't vote for him at gunpoint. If Ryan had the greatest plan ever, he would still be VP and as such would have no real singular power to make it happen. Just a whole lot more smoke and mirrors.
Originally Posted By Big Ragu I mean what if I said "one mulato black guy who wants to make us do things with our money that is bad for america" that would be uncallfor. we dont like Romey anymore because he is flipfopping like a live fish in a frying pan not because he is white. please lets leave race out of these arguments. peace be with you and me and a computer hug all around
Originally Posted By mawnck >>and one racial bigot to point that out<< Huh? No one even MENTIONED Rush.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <If Ryan had the greatest plan ever, he would still be VP and as such would have no real singular power to make it happen.> Two words: Dick Cheney.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper The real question Republicans have to answer is, does the Ryan pick mean additional votes? No. They might have cemented votes they already had but he isn't going to move anyone from "Undecided" to "Romney". So, I have to ask what was the point of that pick? It was a better pick than Palin, I'll give them that. But, I don't think it moves the needle at all.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 < So, I have to ask what was the point of that pick?> The point was that the far right let Mitt know (it was all over far-right media, websites, radio shows etc. in the previous two weeks that Pawlenty or Portman would be "unacceptable" to them) that he needed to "jump" by picking one of the far-right's darlings. And Mitt jumped. He's still scared of them and has yet to show the backbone to stand up to them, long after the primaries have ended. <It was a better pick than Palin, I'll give them that. But, I don't think it moves the needle at all.> I agree. And I don't think Ryan will alienate as many moderates as Palin did, just because he's more glib and less obviously unqualified (if Katie Couric asks him what newspapers he reads, or some similar softball, there's no way he'd blurt out "oh, all of them," for instance). But I do think his selection a) will be a tipoff to moderates that Romney will cave in to the far right every time, and would continue to do so if elected; b). hands the Medicare issue to Obama on a silver platter. So I'm guessing that it ultimately moves the needle against Romney, but we'll see.
Originally Posted By ecdc Does the media even do their job? They keep calling Ryan "serious," as if the fact that he's not Sarah Palin makes it so. He's not serious—he released a budget that slashes programs but offers very little math. He includes a three trillion (not a typo) tax cut for the wealthy then labels it "budget neutral." Huh? The country will be taking in three trillion less but that's magically neutral by closing unnamed loopholes? He's the most extreme VP pick in...forever. He's not a serious pick.
