The whole point of adding Paul Ryan to the Republican ticket, we were led to believe, was to add substance and a forward-thinking vision. And yet, at least for now, the right-wing vice presidential nominee is avoiding substance and taking a decidedly backwards-looking approach.
Consider this clip from a Ryan event in Pennsylvania yesterday.
The Republican congressman engaged in a series of rather predictable attacks against President Obama, but note how far back he went to find material. "Remember this other time where he was caught on video saying people like to cling to their guns and religion?" Ryan said. "Hey, I'm a Catholic deer hunter. I am happy to be clinging to my guns and my religion."
Ryan also complained, "Remember back in 2008, remember the guy Joe the Plumber? Remember when he said, you know, 'We wanna spread the wealth around'?"
The crowd roared with approval, but in case Republicans have forgotten, these were also standard GOP attack lines four years ago -- right up until Barack Obama won the highest percentage of the popular vote of any Democrat in 44 years.
Why in the world would Paul Ryan repeat stale attacks that didn't work the last time? Why would the allegedly brilliant "wonk" recycle Sarah Palin rhetoric circa 2008?
Because there's a school of thought on the right that still believes the president was insufficiently "vetted" in the last campaign, and if they rehash the old attacks, maybe they'll work this time around if the GOP ticket gives them a spirited push.
Republicans probably don't want to hear this, but Obama really was thoroughly vetted in 2008. It was the longest presidential campaign in history, and over the course of nearly two years, every possible aspect of his life was thoroughly scrutinized and examined. Obama was subjected to multiple opposition-research investigations, none of which turned up anything of real value.
Voters heard all about his church, his affiliations, his record, his family, and his views, and they elected him easily. The GOP can fight the last war again if it wants to, but the results are very likely to be the same.
Ryan may assume throwing red meat to the base with generate far-right, enmity-based enthusiasm. But four-year-old red meat is pretty rancid.
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They have four years of President Obama's record as president to argue against. And yet, they choose instead to bring up the tired and stale material of 2008. They've got nothing.
But do they really need anything? After all "The sherrif is a ni*bonnnnggg"
I have been away for a while...but I've also been paying attention to the news.
If ANY woman votes Republican in 2012; she is not thinking about her future, her rights or her access to healthcare. She may not be thinking at all - but I was trying to be polite about it.
Remember in November that we have to put the vehicle in "D" to go forward. If we put it in "R", it will go backward - probably to the 15th century!
I don't understand how any woman or member of a "minority" can support the Republican party as it is today.
Except that I can: no form of slavery can continue without some support by those enslaved. Some people want to be kept, and others are hoping to someday become keepers.
Why bother with polite? Nobody who votes for Republicans is thinking about anything at all. They're all about fear. Fear of change, fear of the unfamiliar, fear of the other, fear of choices. Republicans promise to make them safe from all those frightening things. Of course, most of the fear is ginned up by Republicans themselves, but you can't tell the hostages that the hostage-takers aren't really on their side.
You know, that anyone outside of the GOP/Tea Party loop thought Ryan would bring anything to the ticket but complete nonsense is still a stunning idea. He is a pretender extraordinaire; he'll brag to people that he "knows the numbers," and then when asked for them, hems and haws, or pulls them out of his backside. Now he confirms Romney/Ryan's got nothing to offer but a type of national audition for a shock jock show.
Cue "pallin' around with terrorists" in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
The Republicans understand that, having enacted laws that will keep traditional Democratic voters home, their best shot at victory is driving their base to the polls. The voter suppression effort is likely to matter most in the swing states and at the margins -- having a few more of their guys show up enhances the effect of keeping a few of Obama's guys away.
This is part-and-parcel with the Republican War on Voting. They're not even trying for the independents any more.
Ryan should take lessons from Professor Irwin Corey.
He would make just as much sense, but be way funnier.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw&feature=related
They are probably correct. McCrap probably would have won if only Sarah Palin had not been so mild and meek and afraid to 'vet' the black man.
Welcome to the Road Kill Cafe. Todays special? Skunk lying on a bed of dung.
hmmm, yes, the Catholic version of Chrsitianity is all about guns. No matter that the purported savior of that religion said to turn the other cheek, to depend on God for everything, etc, Paul Ryan doesn't trust his god to do that at all. Nope, he has his guns to defend him and supposedly to feed him (I do wonder if this man has ever actually eaten anything he's killed).
Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and expecting a different outcome?
I've always heard that, but I always thought it was really the definition of "stupid." Insanity is fervent belief in things that are facially and obviously at odds with objective reality and which only become stronger in the face of evidence they're wrong. Which, of course, also describes Republicans.
i think that was just Einstein's definition of insanity, not the textbook definition...
still, very accurate...
I can't wait to see him give a tongue wag to the camera during the vp debate.
Ah, but you're using real-world logic, not conservative logic. Conservative logic starts with an outcome that they know absolutely is true, and works backwards to find reasons to justify it. They know that America wouldn't support Obama if they just knew who he really was, so it must be true that there's something damaging that not enough people know about. QED