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| A better choice than Palin. Unlikely to go on a post-selection shopping spree. A better "patatoe" than not. It could have been Pawlenty. |
____________UPDATE____________
Romney did not do waste management - no Spiro Agnew thing. It is more a reincarnation of the Bush-Cheney pairing for all it amounted to, economically and internationally. Expect a Cheney from a Ryan. And remember, you read that first at Crabgrass.
At least nobody suggested Norm Coleman and Romney avoided that misstep on his own. And --- it was not Scott Walker. If you do Wisconsin, how could you not select Walker as most representative of what the prospect of a Romney presidency foretells?
Hey, he could have selected one of the Kochs [the brothers, not Amy], and I had paired him with Adelson as a kind of dream ticket.
_________FURTHER UPDATE_________
An interesting factoid, here. Add to that the five Romney sons, and mix in a pinch or two of overt hawkish banter over Iran; and then occupy your mind over whose sons and daughters and spouses and parents might be destined to risk going there, should the Romney-Ryan ticket prevail.
_________FURTHER UPDATE__________
This link, headlined "Veep Pick Paul Ryan Is No Conservative," stating in part:
[...] If Republican voters have any doubts about Ryan’s commitment to budget austerity, they need only hear the Democrats’ outcry that Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” will be a road to the poorhouse for elderly and low-income Americans.
But on the other side of the ledger, Ryan’s voting record shows a robust support of big-spending programs to enlarge the role of the federal government, especially when they are promoted by a Republican in the White House. Ryan voted for all of the big-ticket, budget-busting items of the administration of President George W. Bush, including the No Child Left Behind Act and the prescription drug benefit known as Medicare Part D, often described as the largest expansion of the welfare state since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. Ryan voted to create the new Department of Homeland Security, including the Transportation Security Administration that has harassed air travelers, while making aircraft safe from shoes, belt buckles and grandma’s knitting needles. He voted for the PATRIOT Act, giving government enhanced powers for warrantless snooping into the lives of American citizens as well as foreign nationals. Ryan voted for the Troubled Assets Relief Program that bailed out the “too big to fail” financial institutions and inspired the Tea Party rebellion against big government and “crony capitalism.” He backed the auto bailout that turned GM into “Government Motors.”
And while conservatives generally like to leave wars and military spending off the list of costly “big government” programs, Ryan’s record on that front is also troubling. Like Romney, Ryan has no foreign policy credentials and no record of military service to point to in the election campaign. And like Romney, Ryan swallowed whole the Bush-Cheney line on Iraq and supported the decision to invade and occupy that country in a needless war that cost more than 4,000 American and hundreds of thousands Iraqi lives and has added roughly a trillion dollars to our soaring national debt. Ryan’s budget calls for no reduction in military spending, despite the continued presence of U.S. troops in some 130 countries around the world, most of which have no bearing on our own national security.
Even more troubling is Ryan’s vote last December in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation included a provision authorizing the President to use the military to arrest suspected terrorists, including American citizens apprehended in the United States, and hold them indefinitely, without charges and without trial, in clear violation of due process rights guaranteed by the Constitution. This year Ryan voted against an amendment to remove that provision from the law.
[...] Paul Ryan is, in short, a typical Bush-era Republican, whose selection as a vice presidential candidate is being trumpeted as a triumph by many of the same Republicans who are doing their best to flush the administration of George W. Bush down the memory hole. Republican candidates almost never invoke the Bush name and the most recent Republican President will not be attending the party’s convention in Tampa, where Romney and Ryan are expected to be officially nominated. Chances the name of the 43rd President will be mentioned in rare fleeting reference, if at all. Yet in his choice of running mate, Romney has chosen a loyal Bush Republican and reliable supporter of the programs and policies that made the Bush administration an anathema to genuine conservatives and an embarrassment to the nation.
[links in original] I wonder how my acquaintances who are Ron Paul supporters view Ryan. Warmed over Cheney - Nixon, or something cosmetically the same; or as one close to their core libertarian beiiefs. Lew Rockwell applies, aptly I believe, the neocon label to Ryan, here; and Ron Paul says something obvious; here.
Rockwell's libertarian view is short and sweet:
Romney Picks Imitation Ron Paul as Veep
Posted by Lew Rockwell on August 11, 2012 08:49 AM
Paul Ryan can sound like Ron Paul on spending and deficits, though as a neocon, he is an ardent champion of perpetual war and global domination by the US empire. That is, he is a phony. His famous plan barely touches the government, while actually increasing "defense," though he talks a good game; that is, he is a lying politician dedicated to the expansion and glory of the State, just like Romney, while claiming to want to cut. But it's interesting that Romney felt he could not pick a Portman nor a Pawlenty but rather had to choose an ersatz Ron. Oh, and note that Ron-hater Bill Kristol is the patron of Ryan.
Neocon is a good label. A Bill Kristol protege. Chickenhawk is another possible label, but I did say Cheney, didn't I? A neocon-chickenhawk Cheney-clone? You decide.
UPDATE: Whatever you decide, Rollcall offers helpful info.