Mitt Romney announces Paul Ryan as running mate

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Whatever happens the voter turnout is going to be much less than it was in 2008, you have people deciding to completely sit out and many people that got on the Obama-hype train won't be lining up again this time.
 
Ryan's Ayn Rand fandom

"I just want to speak to you a little bit about Ayn Rand and what she meant to me in my life and [in] the fight we’re engaged here in Congress. I grew up on Ayn Rand, that’s what I tell people."

"I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are."

"It’s inspired me so much that it’s required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. We start with Atlas Shrugged. People tell me I need to start with The Fountainhead then go to Atlas Shrugged [laughter]. There’s a big debate about that. We go to Fountainhead, but then we move on, and we require Mises and Hayek as well."

"But the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand."

"And when you look at the twentieth-century experiment with collectivism—that Ayn Rand, more than anybody else, did such a good job of articulating the pitfalls of statism and collectivism—you can’t find another thinker or writer who did a better job of describing and laying out the moral case for capitalism than Ayn Rand."

"It’s so important that we go back to our roots to look at Ayn Rand’s vision, her writings, to see what our girding, under-grounding [sic] principles are."

"Because there is no better place to find the moral case for capitalism and individualism than through Ayn Rand’s writings and works."

Also, video
 
He took it because he knows they have a great chance of winning, the election comes down to the debates in the end, if Ryan and Romney just show up lax and don't force Obama to look down at his notes and think for a bit then they don't have a chance. Everybody is laughing at Romney and Ryan but they have a damn good chance of beating Obama and Biden.

So cute...
 
I don't even get it. Romney's gonna get creamed. There's no evidence at all to suggest Romney's going to create some magical groundswell of support from the ether.
 
Whatever happens the voter turnout is going to be much less than it was in 2008, you have people deciding to completely sit out and many people that got on the Obama-hype train won't be lining up again this time.

Anecdotal, but my cousin hadn't actually voted before Obama. It sounds like he will again this year.
 
Not necessarily. This will set him up on the conservative pundit gravy train for the rest of his life.
He's also at significant risk of being blamed for the outcome of the election (assuming that Romney doesn't absorb all the blame first), and unlike Sarah Palin, he doesn't have the latent appeal to the core base that would allow him to avoid the potential fallout.
 
Whatever happens the voter turnout is going to be much less than it was in 2008, you have people deciding to completely sit out and many people that got on the Obama-hype train won't be lining up again this time.

Obama doesn't need the "Obama-hype train" to get reelected. But, you know, whatever helps you sleep for the next 88 days.
 
He's also at significant risk of being blamed for the outcome of the election (assuming that Romney doesn't absorb all the blame first), and unlike Sarah Palin, he doesn't have the latent appeal to the core base that would allow him to avoid the potential fallout.

Nah, Romney will be blamed. The right never loved him, and they love Ryan, so it will be easy to pass the blame.
 
I'm seeing people say that Ryan will help excite the base and make the campaign about policy. But if you need a VP to do that you started with the wrong candidate.
 
If it's Ryan, I'd be ecstatic.

The Tea Party and Republican radicals have gotten away with nebulous platforms and ideas that are hard to attack. Ryan committed the fatal blunders of both writing down specific policies stemming from those ideas and then endorsing them.
 
Nah, Romney will be blamed. The right never loved him, and they love Ryan, so it will be easy to pass the blame.
Ezra Klein argues that the Ryan pick will force the Republican base to share in the defeat and help diffuse the blame. Besides, Ryan is more of an establishment figure, and he will make a tempting target for tea party types.
 
Romney won't win right USAGaf? Because honestly, the dude kinda freaks me out. At least McCain seemed like a fairly honest old man, Rombey just oozes slimy scummy bullshit smiles.
 
Wasn't this supposed to be announced tomorrow? How did they find out early? After seeing the media get the Healthcare ruling wrong in a rush to be first, I'm going to be cautious until I hear it from Mitt's moutb.
 
dafuq did I just read?

Back on track.

Choosing Ryan smacks of desperation to me. Not Palin level desperation, but still it shows concern about energizing the base. The base does not win elections and Ryan does not help with independent/undecided voters.

I kind of agree with this. It smells a little desperate, especially after the Romney-care screw up. I thought he was going to play it safe and pick the guy from Ohio.
This is sure to fire up the base, though. They will eat this up and we Democrats shouldn't be complacent. This has just made it easy for me to pick who I'm going to vote for in November. I'm on the utter, complete opposite end of the spectrum from Romney/Ryan. For as much as the Republicans bitch about class warfare, this is the confirmation for me that this election is about rich vs. poor.

For everyone laughing at this pick, you have no idea how bad people hate Obama where I live. The conservatives are fired up. This will be a rallying call. Did you see how many people showed up at Chick-Fil-A not long ago? They weren't even voting.

I'm hoping Obama wins, but I'm scared as shit. Anyone who thinks Bams has got this in the bag is fooling themselves. These are the people that re-elected Bush. These are the people who balk at cutting military spending but want a Ryan plan massacre of the social safety net. Never under estimate the Democratic party's ability to blow an election. I still have PTSD from 2004 election night. We're going to fuck this up aren't we?
 
Ryan's fairly interesting as a GOP figure these days as he is more of a policy wonk than a culture-warrior ideologue and if bringing him into the picture makes this campaign a more substantive discussion about the economy than all the negative attack bullshit that has defined it so far then I welcome it - especially since I think the majority of Americans will find Ryan's policy ideas terrifying once the light of a Presidential campaign is shone on them. Honestly I think it could wind up backfiring on Romney in more ways than one because Ryan is probably more of an intellectual heavyweight than Romney is, and whether you agree with him or not he seems to actually stand for something unlike Romney who seems to be driven by nothing other than personal ambition.
 
Ryan's fairly interesting as a GOP figure these days as he is more of a policy wonk than a culture-warrior ideologue and if bringing him into the picture makes this campaign a more substantive discussion about the economy than all the negative attack bullshit that has defined it so far then I welcome it. Honestly I think it could wind up backfiring on Romney because Ryan is probably more of an intellectual heavyweight than Romney is, and whether you agree with him or not he seems to actually stand for something unlike Romney who seems to be driven by nothing other than personal ambition.

There is NO BASIS to anything you just wrote. Ryan is an ideologue that disguises himself as an intelectual.
 
A damn shame that a lot of people don't realize that as of now the country is screwed up hard no matter what " policies " are kept or introduced, the USA has a long way to go.

If anything, whoever wins chooses the makeup the SCOTUS. That's paramount to the future of the country and our policies.


Ryan's fairly interesting as a GOP figure these days as he is more of a policy wonk than a culture-warrior ideologue and if bringing him into the picture makes this campaign a more substantive discussion about the economy than all the negative attack bullshit that has defined it so far then I welcome it - especially since I think the majority of Americans will find Ryan's policy ideas terrifying once the light of a Presidential campaign is shone on them. Honestly I think it could wind up backfiring on Romney in more ways than one because Ryan is probably more of an intellectual heavyweight than Romney is, and whether you agree with him or not he seems to actually stand for something unlike Romney who seems to be driven by nothing other than personal ambition.

I would call him an ideologue cut from a different cloth than what we've seen from the Santorums and Bachmans of the party.
 
He's also at significant risk of being blamed for the outcome of the election (assuming that Romney doesn't absorb all the blame first), and unlike Sarah Palin, he doesn't have the latent appeal to the core base that would allow him to avoid the potential fallout.


If/when Romney/Ryan lose, I don't think Ryan will take the blame from the GOP base. I think he's got more right wing street cred than Romney.

If anything, they will blame it on Romney for not being conservative enough. Yeah I know that's dumb, but I truly think that's what the GOP base would think. Besides, if the actual nominee is weak, the VP alone can't save the ticket.
 
There is NO BASIS to anything you just wrote. Ryan is an ideologue that disguises himself as an intelectual.

The media believes it as such. It is not a matter of who Ryan actually is, it is a matter of how Media will sell Ryan. You can already hear it if you listen to the networks.
 
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