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As a rule, when your opponents seem really happy about your choice in running mates, it's fair to say you've made a provocative choice.
And this morning, Democrats are practically giddy, unable to believe their good fortune.
Three different sources close to the Romney campaign indicate to NBC News that Mitt Romney will announce House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as his vice-presidential running mate at tomorrow's campaign event in Norfolk, VA.
The announcement will be in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin -- which just happens to be Ryan's home state.
With recent national polls showing Romney trailing President Barack Obama, Ryan is a bold pick.
"Bold" is certainly one way to look at it.
Readers may recall that I tend to think running-mate choices fall into one of three categories: Augusts, Novembers, and Januaries. If a nominee picks a January, he or she is looking for someone who can help govern once inaugurated. If he or she picks a November, the nominee is picking a running mate intended to help win the general election. And if the candidate picks an August, he or she is trying to bring a party together and satisfy intra-party demands.
Paul Ryan is an August. Romney, who never quite made the transition from the primaries to the general election, has been subjected to heavy pressure from conservatives to choose the right-wing House member, and it appears the lobbying campaign was successful. The Republican nominee still feels the need to satisfy the demands of his base, and Romney isn't in a strong enough position to disappoint them.
As a result, both the left and right have the Republican running mate they hoped for -- Romney has picked the architect of a radical, Medicare-crushing budget plan, debated by the least popular Congress since the dawn of modern polling. Indeed, it's fair to say the radical Ryan budget helped make this Congress so widely disliked, which makes his VP nomination that much more remarkable.
For months, Democrats have been trying to inject the "Romney-Ryan plan" into the political bloodstream, and now, the Republicans' presidential candidate has made Dems' job easier. The Obama campaign hoped to make Ryan Romney's effective running mate, never expecting the GOP candidate to make this literal.
The result is a dynamic that was hard to predict. Romney isn't even trying to reach out to moderate voters; he's taking the most far-right candidacy in modern American history and turning it to 11.
Postscript: Just as an aside, this will be the first Republican ticket in American history not to have a Protestant. Romney's a Mormon and Ryan is Roman Catholic.
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The lazy media pick terms and repeats them as if they are reporting news. The issues are not discussed in any meaningful way. The polls are flashed on the screens (seemingly carefully picked) to make us think we are witnessing a neck and neck race between Obama and Romney. Who benefits from this non-news that hypes the Presidential race as a close run race, true or false? There is no way we can evaluate the real situation when there is incentive for the large sums of money to influence the reporting. Media must report in a way that allows them to rake in ad revenues. How can we trust that kind of reporting. Where do we go for a real view the state of the Presidential Race?
Conisha. We won't know till late Nov 6... the polls are all a bunch of lies. Made to depress the GOP voters (good luck with that)... the polls have to show Obama ahead or neck and neck.. The media is doing their best to re-elect this loser.
Romney/ Ryan.... new hope
It is quite enjoyable to read and listen to liberals! Whenever they say something, take the opposite and that is what is really happening not just in fact but also in their heads, though, they say something different. They are scared of Paul Ryan. I am going to speak for myself, I was in a state of boredom until Paul Ryan was picked. Now I am going to actively get involved. We can not afford liberals in power.
Me too Rita! Well, I was going to vote Mitt no matter what, but I think was a BOLD, WISE move.
If you go to youtube and listen to several meeting Ryan had with the budget committee, or with Barney frank, or Deb Wasserman Shultz, you will see what a truly BRILLIANT man Paul Ryan is.
Shooter,
Your sisters escaped again. Want to come over here and get them?
Somebody obviously left the door open again at the insane asylum. Rita and Vivian are over here, guys.
Mission Accomplished. Choosing the Battleship to announce VP choice emphasizes the idea that Republicans want to increase the defense budget, that many of them are "war hawks" that recommend our getting involved in many world conflicts in a more active way. Another war on the Republican future plans?
Has Obama gotten us out of Afghanistan yet like he promised? :( nope... must be a war monger.
Romney/Ryan.. 2012
Strangely, however, both Romney and Ryan were much "too busy" to be bothered with little things like serving in the wars they've spent so much time supporting. Funny. Beau Biden served in Iraq at the age of 40, though he was Delaware's Attorney General at the time, and not an advocate for the war.
Ryan is a very fit 42, and he was in his early thirties--the prime of life--when he voted enthusiastically to commit troops to that same conflict. There are many soldiers in Afghanistan now who aren't exactly fans of that conflict, but put their lives on the line.
But, then, I guess Ryan is "too busy" for minor matters like defending freedom. Hypocrisy is more his style.
Sweet Judy!! We are doomed if these two clowns are elected!! And I fear that the poorly informed American public will vote for them overwhelmingly.....repeat of 2004. Canada is looking mighy inviting......
Please leave, but remember, while our borders are porous, our neighbors to the north still require Identification.
You sound terrified.. and I love it.
R/R 2012
Vivian...unless your wealthy Romney/Ryan should scare you... but being fearful of a terrible thing doesn't make you weak it makes you smart. Anything the left or right tries to say to each other often falls on deaf ears, there is no middle anymore because the right has continued to move further away from the center.
I know that you will not move left...you should realize that you're spittin' in the wind and all that does in cover you in your own slobber.
It isn't over until Ann Coulter tows the line.
Wanna bet if she does, or who's with me in thinking she'll dance around the question or flat out disapprove of the pick?
Wonder if they have her strapped in the chair showing her subliminal videos, to get her onto their side?
Until she's on board with this, the pair could be doomed. (more than they already are.)
Zeta. This is a great choice. It brings the campaign away from "Mitt killed my wife" to LETS FIX OUR COUNTRY FOR OURSELVES AND OUR KIDS.
Nice...
"Medicare-crushing" plan? I guess you are failing to see what happens if nothing is done. Maybe you haven't seen any of those reports.
We can either keep on keeping on, doing nothing.. losing ground with Obama , or we can FIX THINGS...
I like things fixed and running smooth.. So I will vote R/R.
The Democrat "No Plan" plan will have Medicare and Social Security imploding by 2020. Ryan's plan will not only protect seniors, it will insure that these programs are around for good. Extremist Democrats apparently want these plans to fail as they have put forth nothing to deal with their solvency problems.
Kind of in line with the Democrat Senate's unwillingness to pass a budget in over 1200 days. They know that if they did, people would get a chance to see what they really want.
Romney just won the election with this pick. I can't wait for Ryan to debate Biden. Vivisection would not be an inappropriate term.
Thank you Econ... great comments. So few good ones on here today, way too many liberal trolls.
There's a much easier way to keep both programs healthy and thriving. Just go back to doing what we did until we started down this crazy "no tax increases, ever, for any reason" road in 1993. Slowly raise the tax rates and the ceiling on earnings (or abolish the earnings ceiling altogether).
We have 19 years of catching up to do, but that strategy will put us permanently on solid footing in only a few years.
But then, the rich might only be able to afford one or two yachts and a few mansions each.
"Too many liberal trolls"? ... this is a liberal-leaning blog there Viv, you fu king moron!
mpguy, you're much more tolerant than I even bothering to engage these fools. There must have been a link from the faux news blog or something, neither of them sound intelligent enough to have found this site on their own.
Somebody doesn't know the meaning of the word, obviously. Maybe he (I don't for a second believe that 'Vivian' is actually a woman) also hangs out at Outpost Gallifrey and complains about all the Doctor Who chatter. Or maybe it's just the old right-wing sense of entitlement acting up again: "I'm here, so I own the place."
Laugh it up all you liberal fuzzballs. We will be laughing in November. America, after the disastrous Obama years, needs R&R - Romney and Ryan in 2012/
Have you read all of AYN Rand's works?
Yes... all 1200 pages 2 yrs ago... it was my first time... reminded me so much of Obama and his BIG BRO GOV thinking.... yes.... gov control of everything... scary..
I think I will read it again before Nov 6...
Ayn Rand was an atheist who believed that altruism was weakness. She would have put every old, poor person out on the street rather than make sure they were taken care of. She also believed in euthanasia for those with birth defects and the mentally handicapped. She also believed in abortion on demand. So, you support her philosophies?
Romney and Ryan should just get married. And consummate it. Seriously. They're perfect for each other. They are both vile and reprehensible failures as human beings, but they've got everything that counts in right-wing circles. They're straight, white, male, have good hair and are complete sociopaths. The Romney-Ryan ticket looks just like America (that this, the only part of it that counts in their estimation).
I think its a great team. But no , they aren't homosexual meddlingmonk! They can win this. Obama is such a loser as a President. All he does or has ever done is campaign, vacation and GOLF..
So literal. Sad.
Wow, this is one of the dumbest groups of commentators I've ever seen on a forum. The Ryan pick is exactly right. The whole Romney/Ryan plan can be explained in one sentence: Fix the holes that Obama has been drilling in the boat, or let it keep taking on water and the whole thing is going to sink with every rat on board.
Great comments flyingarmed. I think this is just the fear coming out of the liberal commenters today.. Nothing more. pure fear.
Flying Intellectually Unarmed ... It will take a lot more than selecting a radical right-wing ideologue to plug those holes. Adding Ryan to the ticket is more like rowing out to sea with a lit stick of dynamite in the boat.
That's elation you're seeing on these threads, not fear. We realize that Obama's re-election chances just improved. A whole bunch.
Viv, I notice you and your fellow Cons haven't had the courage (or is it the intellect?) to respond to any of the responses I've made to your comments. People with something to say engage in a dialogue. They don't hit and run. But then, we never really expect folks like you to hold your own with people who function in the real world.
The truth is, the Romney campaign is in the same desperation mode that McCain was in when he picked Palin. They've got to be panicking at the poll numbers (especially the electoral vote projections), so took this gamble. No way is it going to work for them.
No, the hopey/changey charasmatic pres is G O N E .. all thats left now is a shell, fighting and lying to keep power.
WE SEE THRU IT...
R/R 2012
1. As usual Bensen proves he knows so little. Ryan is a January.
2. The reason Bensen misses this is that he doesn't think anything in Ryan's budget represents good governance. Ergo, revist point #1.
BENEN, not Bensen ... if you wish to sound intelligent, at least get correct the name of the person you're pretending to understand.
This sets up the election to be a choice between fiscal responsibility and continuing the Washington way of spending well beyond our means by promising freebies to any and all. THIS is what change looks like ladies and gentlemen. Did you not learn anything in the whole Wisconsin debacle that the immature liberals forced on the broader electorate? America is ready for real change in Washington. Anyone with an ounce of common sense realizes that, notwithstanding the good intentions, medicare is wrought with fraud and is bankrupting the country.
We need to reinforce the safety net by restructuring it. To continue on the current path is sealing the fate of these social programs to forced, emergency changes. And I'm sure that will be all GW's fault as well when that happens in 10-20 years.
True. But if 51% of the voters think kicking the can down the road to keep their freebies is good, then we are toast.
I believe the word the headlines writers were grasping for was "nauseous." They wanted someone who was bland, a buffoon, a cipher-someone like Biden. But instead they ended up with the guy who knows more about the budget and Obama's economic foibles than anyone else. Fun times!
Great fun. I am so looking forward to the debates..... ryan vs biden.. ;)
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
AWWWW - things not going so good for you anymore, is it? Is that why you are here lashing out????
@Ellen K, who said: "But instead they ended up with the guy who knows more about the budget and Obama's economic foibles than anyone else." Yep, remember what a pushover PRESIDENT Obama was at the Blair House conference on health reform. He cleaned the floor with Ryan. In fact, now that I think of it, so did Ryan's constituents at several of his town meetings, when he tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the most politically savvy constituency in America.
The author fails to mention that Ryan has consistently won large in his democratic district. If his policies are so vile, then how has he carried such large majorities election after election?
The folks in his district are stupid? That's my educated guess.
As always, Charles P. Pierce does the best writing on Ryan:
Of course thats your comments. This is the Rachael Maddow Lib blog.
Actually this ultra conservative who want America not to fail, but to be strong again loves this choice... Romney/Ryan... awesome!
If you have a moment, watch the youtube video of paul Ryan in the budget committee... 6 minutes of pure heii for Obama.... stunning....
Savy pick. Puts the focus back on the six year Obama-Pelosi-Reid failed economic model. I notice not a single Democrat knows after six years of their controling "the nation's purse strings," we have "the most Americans EVER in poverty."
And you want FOUR MORE YEARS?? REALLY!!
Two things are certain. First, Democrats will condemn any and all reforms for entitlements put forth by Romney-Ryan, as they have always done with all past Republican reform ideas. Second, Democrats have never done, they will not now, and they never will put forth a reform idea of their own. They trust when it all hits the fan, they can blame the Republicans. It's always about votes with Democrats.
I've never seen so many "ultra conservatives" post on a topic on maddowblog. Me thinks thou doth protest too much....
sandsol. I think its a sign of the times. People have lived thru the last 4 years and have decided they don't like it.
Obama campaigns, vacations, golfs... but doesn't meet with the job council?? Whats that all about. Maybe Obama likes us all jobless..
Are they all flocking here hoping to find the regulars shaking in their boots? And upon finding us laughing and celebrating, they shake their fists in the air and proclaim that we are "wrong, wrong, I tell you!" insisting that the Romney/Ryan ticket is the salvation for our country, surrounding our posts with noise and more noise and no substance. Is saying it long enough and loud enough to "make it true" for our benefit - or to make themselves believe it?
I think the little Repubotrolls woke up and found out that there is NOTHING they can do to win the election any more so are just lashing out in anger. Why would some of them come over here and spew as many times as they do?
Wouldn't they be "with their own kind" celebrating if everything was so good for them????
I suspect that at least some of the tr0ll activity is not random. Certain topics always seem to generate an uptick in tr0lling. Logically, right-wing groups must be routinely searching the net for things that are of interest to them, and then paid or unpaid activists and staffers tr0ll whatever targets they pick. And it's highly unlikely that the Romney campaign and allied groups would fail to include rat@!$%#ing sites like this as part of the Ryan rollout.
I expect more and more tr0lling as the election gets closer.
I think they're a bunch of sockpuppets.
We all know you will say anything or anyone that opposes Obama is bad or of course racist....
Obama sucks as President and until you start admitting it you will be nothing more then a hardcore ideologue attempting to act like your opinion is news. Its the attitude that ruined MSNBC.
Actually, Obama doesn't suck as a President, however CONGRESS, you know - that thing Ryan belongs to - DOES SUCK!! And who passes laws? Is it the President or Congress? So WHO hasn't been doing their job - is it the President or is it Congress?
MSNBC isn't ruined - I and there are many others like me who think its great!! Now FOX REALLY sucks!!!
Let's see if I can get this right--
Romney gives people cancer and Ryan pushes old ladies in wheel chairs off of cliffs!! There's no way they can win!! The only one who can save us from massive deficit spending and crushing debt is Obama!! Just keep hoping for massive infusion of foreign capital investments!! Let's keep the public debt bubble going up, up, up... Hope and change!! Whoo-hooo!!! Soak the rich, those capitalist pigs. Don't they know we-the-government built everything!?!?
Man I feel right at home here on maddowblog.. =)
Romney must have been feeling his campaign was falling fast. He made the gambler's choice and picked Ryan. Romney, the gambler (and that not a role Romney is comfortable with), made the long shot bet a 10 to 1 shot.
Love all the morons here with no clue at all about politics...just keep drinking the cool aid and keep parroting the party line. It will make a much more interesting election night. MSNBC....amazing how your audience is a bunch of drones
Like you?