Mittens is scheduled to announce his running mate this morning, while touring the battleship Wisconsin, in Virginia. Stephen Hayes and Bill Kristol gleefully are predicting the pick will be Paul Ryan. Yes, Hayes and Kristol are nearly always wrong, but if Mittens doesn’t choose Ryan, the GOP establishment will likely feel bitch slapped and will whine about it all through the convention.
Now Faux Nooz has confirmed that it’s Ryan. Faux is about as reliable as Kim Kardashian’s wedding vows, but again, they’re speaking for the GOP establishment, and if Mittens disappoints, Mittens will feel their wrath.
In short, the establishment is demanding that Romney choose Ryan, and I doubt Romney has the cojones to say no.
The more interesting question is, why does the GOP establishment have a death wish?
Update — now the Washington Post says it’s Ryan.
Update — now the New York Times says it’s Ryan.
They are high-fivin’ in the White House right now.
Update — Ezra Klein has several thoughts on what the choice means. Significantly —
- “This is an admission of fear from the Romney campaign.”
- “Ryan upends Romney’s whole strategy.”
How does Ryan upend Romney’s strategy? The Romney plan had been to make the campaign a referendum on Obama’s handling of the economy, while Mittens himself remained vague about what he would do to make things better. With Ryan as the choice, the campaign is going to focus on specific policy proposals, which is what the Obama campaign wants.
Mittens also has wanted to run on his record as a private businessman and frequently reminds people that President Obama “never spent a day in the private sector.†But Paul Ryan “never spent a day in the private sector†either.
Update — Mistermix writes,
I woke up this morning to the reek of piss-pants desperation emanating from my Twitter in the form of Mitt Romney’s VP Pick, Paul Davis Ryan (and yes, it is happening, because those morons can’t keep a secret). Man, this tells us a lot about just how worried, weak, meandering, insular and politically inept the Romney campaign is.
Update: Charles Pierce —
Leave it to Willard Romney, international man of principle, to get himself bullied into being bold and independent.
The elements of Ryan’s “plan” should boil down to a simple list, and if those items get repeated simply and explained simply, then the R-money campaign will have real problems. Mitt can’t deal with a public debate over his “plan”, which apparently was grown in a quiet, dark room on a silent pile of “compost”. I heard a clip of Ryan discussing his “philosophy” on NPR this morning. What a shallow puddle of ideas! He is great for the TP crowd, though, with its notion of itself as Constitutionally literate.
So, the rich entitled foof has had the steely-eye serial senior killer thrust upon him.
Oh, and what stories he and Ryan can’t tell!
Or won’t tell.
Probably shouldn’t tell.
Mitt can’t tell us about his tax returns.
And Ryan won’t want to tell us about how, after his father passed away, to go through school, he used the very same Social Security program that he wants to deny others.
Yes, what a handsome pair they make. Not a heart between the two of them. Not at atom of empathy.
To many voters, they’ll look like the owner of the company and his son, coming to fire them.
And now, who’s the “star,” Mitt?
I got news for you – it ain’t YOU!
“Young Steely Blue-eyes” is.
You’ve been neutered.
You’ve been ‘a bad doggy!’ And now, the powers that be have added the puppy they really want.
Yeah, Mitt – THIS makes you look like a real leader! Mr. Ryan’s going to wear the pants in that family!
This is reminiscent of George H.W. Bush being Reagan’s VP candidate. Only, that was handled MUCH more subtly. Reagan had a winning personality – he could smile while he stuck a shiv in you. Bush was place there to be the hand inside the affable old puppet.
This is different. The party is saying, “Yeah, we’re stuck with you. But we found a way around you. So, smile pretty, read the speeches word for word, and leave the heavy lifting to us and Mr. Ryan. JUST DON’T BLOW IT!”
I look forward to the Republicans trying to sell the Ryan-Romney plan. Either they think we’re a part of their echo chamber, and think that giving what little we have left to the rich is a good idea – or, that we won’t believe that any candidates and parties would ever run on “Throw Grandma under the bus, and give her house to Mr. Potter in the mansion at the other end of town.”
The Obama campaign is jubilant!
DON’T BLOW IT!!!
Same mistake McGrumpy made: picking a VP with off-the-scale negatives.
The differences:
Ryan is more articulate (How could you be LESS articulate?).
Ryan has a longer record in Government (This is a negative for Mittens. Governors historically can be good candidates because they don’t leave legislative turds behind them. Not so with “The Ryan Budget”).
Should hurt Romney in Wisconsin and Ohio and kill him in Florida.
Portman or Thune or someone equally dull and forgetable would have been FAR stronger choices for Mitt.
New problem for the Republican ticket:
Which one will pee on our legs, and which one will tell us it’s raining?
I woke up slowly and NPR was talking about this pick, and I thought I was dreaming for a while, because I’d just been commenting about this last night.
If the Obama campaign can’t make hay out of this pick, they need to be sued for political malpractice. I’m hoping that at this very moment someone is grabbing that file footage of Grover Norquist talking about how they only need a President with enough working digits to sign the Ryan budget. Norquist’s dream ticket is here!
Still, I don’t have the sense of a thrill I had last time, when it was clear to me that by picking Palin McCain had lost the election. For reasons I can’t quite understand, the Sanctimonious Randian really makes righties tingle – I heard a clip of Dick Cheney with a serious man-crush on him. He really does have charismatic power on that side. Maybe its his passionate belief in Ayn Rand’s fictional universe. And Ryan can appear like a coherent person for the length of a soundbite.
Well, at any rate, I guess we’ll be talking about something besides Mitt’s taxes for a few days…
Listening to Romney’s announcement speech, I see the strategy for the rest of the campaign – they will deal with the fact that their policy proposals are terrifically unpopular by loudly and confidently asserting that they are going to do the exact opposite of what they intend to do. They’re going to make Medicare stronger and more permanent! They are going to make healthcare more affordable and available! They are going to increase opportunity! (There was also something about returning work to welfare, which I think was actually claiming that they would fix a nonexistent problem they made up to have a fit about.)
How to deal with the heinous Ryan budget? Lie about it, early and often!
Run Paulie run! We’re gonna have little Eddie Munster for a VP candidate…. yippers
“Lie about it, early and often!”
Well, you can’t really blame them – that strategy has worked pretty well for them for 44 years.
Ryan/Romney – SSDD (Same Sh*t, Different Day).
Republicans – still trying to sell “A Suicide Pact for America!” Only this time, with a pairing of a richer and a younger sales rep.
An older person who’s NEVER going to need help as he ages, and a young guy willing to deny any help to other people.
“Here’s your annual Medicare voucher, Grandma. Don’t spend it all in one place!” *Laughs*
Who’s Mitt to care?
He and his family are set for several lifetimes!
And why should Ryan care?
Win or lose, he’s now set for life – either as VP, awaiting his turn. Or, as a featured speaker on the Wingnut Welfare tour, and comfortable ‘chairs of honor,’ in right-wing “Think Tanks.”
AND, he’s got his Congressional benefits, including a nice pension, for life.
The Republican platform for 2012:
“We got ours. F*CK YOU – get your own!!!”
Paul Ryan was briefly employed as an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driver.