Only one thing on the agenda today: Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential pick, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.
Welcome to this Special Edition of The Daily Sausage.
First up, Merry Veepsmas! Mitt Romney announced last night that he would be announcing his pick for Vice President this morning. Within a few hours, anyone with access to twitter or the internet knew it was Paul Ryan, thus making everyone that downloaded Mitt Romney’s smartphone app literally the last people to know, with the exception of a number of indigenous Amazon tribes.
And now, some analysis!
And what a perfect summation of the last thirty years of “conservatism” this is: the über-rich white guy who thinks he should be President because he understands the needs of über-rich white guys, and the forty-something Randoid posterboy for mendacity. The CEO and the chief ad exec.
But that’s also what makes Ryan’s choice such a wild card for the GOP and a potential gift for President Obama and downballot Democrats. His signature legislative accomplishment, an eponymous budget proposal that was passed by the House but died in the Senate, would gut the social safety net and then some.
In a way, Paul Ryan is exactly whom President Barack Obama wanted on the Republican ticket with Mitt Romney. By selecting the Republican congressman from Wisconsin, whose name is synonymous with the GOP’s cut-taxes-for-the-rich and slash-programs-for-the-middle-class-and-the-poor, Romney has helped Obama in his No. 1 mission: shape the election not as a referendum on the sluggish economy but as a sharp clash between opposing sets of values and programs for the future.
Paul Ryan Is a Brave Deficit Hawk, If You Ignore His Record And His Policies
In his decision to make Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin, his running mate, Romney finally surrendered the tattered remnants of his soul not only to the extreme base of his party, but also to extremist economic policies, and to an extremist view of the country he seeks to lead.
TPM:
Mitt Romney is inextricably tied now to the architect of the GOP’s plan to privatize Medicare, and Ryan’s proposal to slash entitlements is guaranteed to receive more national attention than ever before.
In high school, Paul Ryan’s classmates voted him as his class’s “biggest ‘brown noser.'” This little tidbit is a source of delight for political opponents of the Wisconsin representative-turned-Romney-running mate; to his supporters, in general, it’s an irrelevant piece of youthful trivia.
12 Things You Should Know About Paul Ryan
And Wonkblog:
Paul Ryan’s non-budget policy record, in one post
And now, for some personal analysis.
WOOOOOOOOO!!! I was almost concerned that Romney was planning on picking someone that might potentially shore up his support with independent voters. Someone like Tim Pawlenty or Rob Portman or someone that would be inoffensive enough to make the American people gloss over the fact that Mitt Romney looks like every guy that ever fired someone.
As it is, the selection of Paul Ryan makes this election a referendum on the social safety net. Make no mistake: if Romney and Ryan are elected, that’s the end of the social safety net. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the works; all gone.
So, let the games begin.
