Mitt Romney to Pick Paul Ryan?

Everyone's abuzz

Ed Krayewski | 8.11.2012 12:30 AM

Multiple news outlets are reporting they have multiple sources confirming presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney will announce his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as running mate. Ryan was the talk of the town as a potential vice presidential pick this week. Reason's David Harsanyi made the case for Ryan earlier this week:

…no matter whom Republican Mitt Romney finally taps as his vice presidential nominee, Democrats will accuse this person of crimes against common decency and fairness. This person will, you can bet, be indicted as someone hellbent on "dismantling" Social Security, sacrificing Medicare to the gods of social Darwinism and "slashing" the safety net into worthless tatters.

If that's the case, why not pick a politician who actually speaks about reforming entitlement programs in a serious way? Someone who has actually come up with some ideas that reach beyond platitude? Rep. Paul Ryan, who was spotted pushing a frail wheelchair-bound elderly woman off a cliff in a political ad last year, is really the only person on the shortlist we keep hearing about who fits the bill.

Read the whole piece here, and check Reason 24/7 for more updates.

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NEXT: Romney Reportedly Preparing to Pick Paul Ryan

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T o n y 13 years ago

Calling Paul Ryan's plan "serious" is GOP hot air. His plan dismantles Medicare and increases the deficit. Romney choosing him is final evidence that he's going for a base strategy--a base that likes its Medicare just fine; and regardless of whether Obama will be able to convince them of this reality, he will be able to convince enough people. Nail meet coffin.
1. Cytotoxic 13 years ago
  
  Get the fuck already
  1. T o n y 13 years ago
    
    Look I'm drunk too and I correctly deployed semicolons and em-dashes. Do write something comprehensible.
    1. CuriousGeorge 13 years ago
      
      Cleary you've been missing Cytotoxic's attempt to turn "get the fuck already" into a reason meme.
      1. sage 13 years ago
        
        Oh, I thought he was horse_ebooks or something.
    2. The Craig 13 years ago
      
      Come on Tony, it was just one wine cooler
      1. Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
        
        Zima
        
        T o n y 13 years ago
        
        I don't know if you people are attempting a stereotype, but get your shit straight. Gay men approach alcohol in two ways: as connoisseurs and/or binge drinkers. We have taste and we drink. What about that says wine cooler or Zima to you, whatever the fuck those are?
  2. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
    
    That sentence fragment you got there ...
    
    You didn't do that, someone else made that happen.
    1. Cytotoxic 13 years ago
      
      Pretty sure it was Pro Liberte but I am putting the hard work in of turning it into a meme for burying Tonytards with while you do nothing!
2. A Serious Man 13 years ago
  
  He's not at all beholden to that one particular proposal, he can simply say that unlike Obama and the Democrats who can't even pass a fucking budget, him and Mittens are willing to actually address the problem. It's bullshit, of course, but so is President Not-my-fault's class warfare campaign.
3. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  Romney choosing him is final evidence that he's going for a base strategy--a base that likes its Medicare just fine; and regardless of whether Obama will be able to convince them of this reality, he will be able to convince enough people. Nail meet coffin.
  
  You are actually getting better. I can see faint glimmers of looking at the politics instead of being a complete TEAM blue hack.
  
  If you are dunk then you need to drink more.
4. Old Mexican 13 years ago
  
  Re: Tony,
  
  Calling Paul Ryan's plan "serious" is GOP hot air.
  
  Sometimes you will start with a sparkle of brilliance.
  
  His plan dismantles Medicare and increases the deficit.
  
  To then let it fizzle like a sun-baked football resting on a roof. His plan doesn't need to dismantle Medicare - Medicare will dismantle itself, thank you very much. Besides this, saying that his plan will increase the deficit ain't saying much, because ALL plans (from both the Demorats and the Republirats) increase the deficit. Both parties love deficits.
  1. Cytotoxic 13 years ago
    
    Medicare will dismantle us before it dismantles itself.
5. Sanjuro Tsubaki 13 years ago
  
  If his base likes Medicare just fine, why would his plan dismantle it? Are you that stupid?
6. Joe R. 13 years ago
  
  If Biden doesn't matter, then Ryan doesn't matter.
SIV 13 years ago

There goes campaigning against "Government Motors". TARP-boy Ryan was a strong advocate for the auto-bailouts.
1. Brutus 13 years ago
  
  That, and his Medicare Part D support trouble me. I think he's a more serious choice than some others, but I'm not interested in a slower train to insolvency.
Menderfire9 13 years ago

What good is Paul Ryan going to do for Mitt? The way I see it he already lost.
1. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  he is handsome and says "fiscal cliff" really well.
  
  "We are at a fiscal cliff. Combined with a weak economy without change in Washington we are headed for disaster, but presidential candidate Mitt Romney and I have a plan"
  
  I can actually hear him saying it.
  
  Ryan can hit all the high notes of how bad the economy is and can talk real well about he can fix it.
  
  This election is about the economy. Of the VP picks i saw he is the best choice.
  1. joshua corning 13 years ago
    
    Of the VP picks I saw he is the best choice.
    
    In form at least.
    
    I have not looked at any electoral math. I don't know if he can carry a swing state or if any of the other choices could have either.
    1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
      
      Romney's electoral problem is Mitt Romney, a problem that no VP candidate could fix.
      1. joshua corning 13 years ago
        
        a problem that no VP candidate could fix.
        
        Hypothetically there could be a popular Florida politician that could carry the 1 or 2 points Romney needs.
        
        Or the same thing for other swing states.
        
        Generic Stranger 13 years ago
        
        I don't know...if he nominated one of the Pauls I think that would be enough to get me to vote for him. Then I'd spend his entire term hoping he gets an aneurism.
        
        joshua corning 13 years ago
        
        if he nominated one of the Pauls I think that would be enough to get me to vote for him.
        
        Same with me...but we the diehards are not a statistically significant voter block.
        
        Ryan will comfort the Johns and Tulpas of the world and remind moderate voters that the Obama's economy sucks ass.
        
        From a strictly vote counting view Ryan was a good choice.
        
        Xenocles 13 years ago
        
        I don't even know how many of us it would bring in. There wasn't anything that was going to sway me from Johnson once Romney wrapped it up.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Same with me.
        
        I hope Romney wins (well I'd prefer Johnson but know that ain't gonna happen)but I can't bring myself to personally endorse him by voting for him.
        
        Then again, living in CA my vote doesn't matter anyway.
        
        Proprietist 13 years ago
        
        I disagree this will be good for votes. The question is whether this will bring more tea party conservatives to vote for Romney who wouldn't have (I doubt there are many who weren't already planning to vote "against Obama") or whether it will convince more seniors and near-retirement folks to switch votes or stay home.
      2. Sanjuro Tsubaki 13 years ago
        
        Agreed.
A Serious Man 13 years ago

OT: So I saw The Campaign and it predictably sucked, although I was amused that Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow played the Motch Brothers, two billionaire industrialists that conspire to destroy America by literally selling us out to the Chinese, which the film explicitly blames on Citizens United.
Archduke PantsFan 13 years ago

I'm not drunk yet.
My lady friend left because every asshat in creation is drving by at full throttle, and it's well past midnight.
Do you want someone the late show talkhosties will skewer?
Another Potatoe head like Dan Quayle?
1. Generic Stranger 13 years ago
  
  That's an odd reason for your lady friend to leave. You sure it's not just because you're Canadian?
2. T o n y 13 years ago
  
  This is as good as or better than most modern poetry.
Paul. 13 years ago

So, who do y'all think Biden will pick in 2016?
1. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  No. The question is "who will Ryan pick in 2020".
  1. Archimedes 13 years ago
    
    Yet nobody will ever ask "Who will Johnson pick in 2016?"
    1. joshua corning 13 years ago
      
      Sucks to be libertarian. It is true....but at least our guy isn't drone bombing brown babies in some third world country.
      1. Paul. 13 years ago
        
        That's a bipartisan issue!
        
        joshua corning 13 years ago
        
        Bipartisan as in Republicans and Democrats...
        
        Libertarians sure as hell isn't doing it.
        
        Maybe Archimedes thinks poor Pakistani drone evaporated children are part of the 1%.
        
        Cytotoxic 13 years ago
        
        Not all libertarians share the noninterventionist policy delusion. Bailey doesn't for instance.
      2. SIV 13 years ago
        
        Gay Jay supports limited humanitarian brown baby drone-bombing.
        
        Proprietist 13 years ago
        
        Sending peacekeeping forces to protect refugees and hunt down war criminals is not the same thing as drone-bombing brown babies.
      3. T o n y 13 years ago
        
        How courageous of him.
    2. Ted S. 13 years ago
      
      Everybody should be askimg whom they will pick, anyhow. :-p
2. Sanjuro Tsubaki 13 years ago
  
  Hair Club for Men spokesmen don't need running mates.
3. thom 13 years ago
  
  2016:
  
  Clinton/Booker vs Pawlenty/Paul
  1. Stormy Dragon 13 years ago
    
    The GOP nominee in 2016 i either gonna be Romney running for reelection or Santorum.
???????? 13 years ago

Rommey or Obama
News about US elections are very important for Greece's crisis
http://www.rodacino.gr
Eidiseis Nea
Archimedes 13 years ago

Paul Ryan, champion of the richest 1%.
1. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  I am positive you would have said the same thing about whoever Mitt picked.
  1. Archimedes 13 years ago
    
    Not everyone wrote a budget only the 1% could love
    1. Paul. 13 years ago
      
      Obama produced bailouts and stimulus that the 1% loved!
      1. joshua corning 13 years ago
        
        I am pretty sure 1%er health care insurance company executives loved the taste of Obama's cock as well.
      2. Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
        
        But he didn't mean it.
    2. CuriousGeorge 13 years ago
      
      That's true Harry Reid isn't even capable of writIng any budget.
    3. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
      
      Not everyone wrote a budget only the 1% could love
      
      True,
      
      Obama wrote a budget that 0 democrats embraced.
  2. A Serious Man 13 years ago
    
    That's why this has very little downside, Obama is willing to call Mitt a felon and an accessory to a woman's death from cancer. They have no shame, so might as well pick a guy who is young and accomplished.
2. An0nB0t 13 years ago
  
  Is that better or worse than assassinating 16-year-old American citizens? These days it's so hard to keep up with which party is more depraved.
Archimedes 13 years ago

you'd think the republicans woulda learned last election not to pick a ravey right wing loonie to back up a moderate canidate
1. Old Mexican 13 years ago
  
  Re: Archimedes,
  
  you'd think the republicans woulda learned last election not to pick a ravey right wing loonie [sic] to back up a moderate canidate [sic]
  
  And to think that the expense per student in the Amerikan Pulbic Skool Seistem has been increasing each year... and this is what we get for the money: Archimedes.
  1. Archimedes 13 years ago
    
    a typo flame is all you got?
    1. Old Mexican 13 years ago
      
      Re: Archimedes,
      
      a typo flame is all you got?
      
      No, a typo flame is all you deserve to get, and I am being generous with you only because I'm bored out of my skull.
    2. joshua corning 13 years ago
      
      no you missed it.
      
      Ryan's plan increases deficits.
      He voted for TARP.
      He tried to work with Obama on health care.
      He wants to preserve medicare.
      
      He is as moderate as they come.
      1. ant1sthenes 13 years ago
        
        He's a moderate when they're explaining why GOP supporters should just stay home and not bother to vote. He's a raving right-wing extremist handing out Objectivist tracts to his aides when they need their side to get fired up about beating him.
Archimedes 13 years ago

Will it be Ren or Stimpy? Dumb or Dumber?
1. Old Mexican 13 years ago
  
  Re: Archimedes,
  
  Will it be Ren or Stimpy? Dumb or Dumber?
  
  Choose whichever or choose Spongebob, already! I'm paying 7.99 per month for your Netflix.
  
  And pick up your soiled shorts yourself! I'm not your maid!
A Serious Man 13 years ago

CNN is showing a live feed of Paul Ryan's front door. I shit you not.
1. Old Mexican 13 years ago
  
  Re: A Serious Man,
  
  I never doubt anybody that is awake at 2:10 AM EST, channel-surfing among the few cable news channels.
  1. thom 13 years ago
    
    EDT. Nobody's used EST for month's now. It amazes me how often this stupid, stupid mistake is made.
2. Xenocles 13 years ago
  
  Apparently you're watching it, so I guess it worked.
joshua corning 13 years ago

Multiple news outlets are reporting they have multiple sources confirming presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney will announce his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as running mate.

I wonder if Sorkin will make an episode about tonight.

Maybe Jeff Daniels character can do a line of coke right before he broadcasts this important news.
1. Paul. 13 years ago
  
  They'll have to crowbar it into the Militia/Tea Party episode.
2. Ted S. 13 years ago
  
  It would have to be a female character.
Archimedes 13 years ago

HAH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v4PWW301JM
1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
  
  Lame
2. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  Meanwhile Obama is killing women and children with remote control airplanes.
  
  We can play this all day Archimedes.
Imissbuckley 13 years ago

You know what I'll give Romney props for this. This was a bold choice without actually being a bold choice. A Republican Congressman who never complained much about big government or debt during the Bush Years (backed TARP, Medicare Part D, Auto Bailouts, etc.), from a purple state, whose young telegenic and boring.

Good job Romney! You found the younger slightly more principled version of yourself.

cheers, drink.

And on an even less interesting note.....

This will be our 2nd Presidential election in a row with no southerner either ticket. Obama (Ill.), Romney (MA), Ryan (WI), and Biden who claims both Delaware and Pennsylvania as home, (greedy bastard).
1. Generic Stranger 13 years ago
  
  AFAIK the announcement hasn't been made yet; whether or not Romney picks Ryan is pure speculation.
  1. CuriousGeorge 13 years ago
    
    Romney clearly wants us to believe it's Ryan, can't imagine he's got a bolder choice in his back pocket that he's going to swerve into in 6 hours.
  2. Imissbuckley 13 years ago
    
    He's gonna announce his pick from aboard the USS Wisconsin.....yeah I say it's a done deal: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics.....CYGTaOaOSo
2. XM 13 years ago
  
  You could certainly argue that Ron Paul is the more principled candidate. But the guy has some skeleton in his closet, and he's old as Mr. Burns.
  
  Santorum, Palin, Huntsman, Paul, Johnson, Cain, and Perry were out. So Rom was pretty much left with Ryan, Pawlenty, Jindal, Rubio and Christie.
  
  For those outside of the "Ron Paul or bust" crowd, Ryan was a decent choice.
  1. CuriousGeorge 13 years ago
    
    Exactly. Props I him for putting Medicare reform on the table (even if it is overly incremental and drawn out), it's just sad that even speaking the truth is considered bold and risky these days.
    
    Rubio has too many warboners and I think it's always a poor choice to pick the guy who just got elected (christie has a similar problem in this regard).
    
    Christie also isn't really a freedom guy. He's an entertaining straight shooter and would have made for a great debate, but he has a way of saying things to remind you that he is very much a NJ pol.
    
    Pawlenty is the only person who would have actually made the ticket more boring than it already is.
    
    Jindal has a great story with the LA turn around but he doesn't strike me as coming across well on a national stage.
    1. affenkopf 13 years ago
      
      I would be more impressed if he also put defense spending on the table.
      1. CuriousGeorge 13 years ago
        
        Whoa, let's not get carried away, he wants to remain in good standing with the GOP base/brass.
wingnutx 13 years ago

Changing the tone:

"There's so much deceit here we hardly know where to start," explains Brooks Jackson at FactCheck.org, which is run by Annenberg Public Policy Center. He's commenting on a new ad that strongly suggests Romney committed tax fraud.
RBS 13 years ago

From the same girl from yesterday via Facebook:

In 2008 after the news broke (prematurely?) that Obama was choosing Biden as his runningmate, the campaign immediately sent its promised text message announcement -- in the middle of the night, which was not as planned. News stories from the most credible media outlets in the country pinpointed Ryan as Romney's runningmate hours ago, and yet still nothing from the Romney campaign's mobile app that is supposed to be the first to announce his pick.
1. RBS 13 years ago
  
  More:
  
  It's 5 AM on a Saturday, and per the Twitters, Mitt Romney is announcing his veep choice today and supposedly it's Paul Ryan, which really seems too good to be true for the Dem oppo researcher in us all. Can it be? The guy whose name is synonymous with dismantling Medicare, etc. as we know it?
2. db 13 years ago
  
  Just abandon facebook, dude. It's a morass of ignorance.
  1. Xenocles 13 years ago
    
    I've been off Facebook since October. Every now and then I look at my wife's feed and it only confirms I made a good decision.
sage 13 years ago

Poor Ryan. After what the legacy media did to Sarah Palin, I'd be afraid. Meanwhile, we don't even know what hospital in Kenya shat out Obama.
1. Killazontherun 13 years ago
  
  The one with a commemorative plaque?
Xenocles 13 years ago

This is going to make the recent New Yorker hit piece look quite prescient. People are already complaining about how Ryan received his dad's SS death benefit, to which I can only respond "You mean he got the money his dad paid in that he was legally entitled to? I guess this means you're going to press Warren Buffett to voluntarily pay his desired tax rate, right?"
1. John 13 years ago
  
  That is not really a hit piece. It just a concern troll piece about how Republicans are suicidal to admit the obvious that something has to be done about entitlements.
  1. Xenocles 13 years ago
    
    I admit to getting my opinion of it entirely from the Fresh Air interview with the author.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      If you read it, it is all about how crazy Ryan is and how the pollsters and all right thinking people keep saying he is crazy, but he has still managed to take over the Republican Party. It is A+ concern trolling.
      1. Xenocles 13 years ago
        
        That kind of sounds like a hit piece. On Fresh Air they spent five minutes talking about how Ryan got a pittance from the SSA after his father died, and how hypocritical that is.
        
        VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
        
        Complaints like that could easily be flipped back on the complainer, same as the he minimized his tax payments bullshit.
        
        Hopefully, Romney and Ryan will grow a pair and start fighting back.
John 13 years ago

I agree with the statement above. Of the people who were realistically on the table, Ryan is probably the best choice. He is a lot better than Christie, who is horribly anti-gun and is just a big government Republican who likes to talk bad about teachers (NTTAWW talking bad about teachers). Ryan is not a die hard SOCON. Rubio seems like a nice enough guy but he hasn't been around enough. Ryan should put Wisconsin in play. He at least is willing to admit we are broke, which puts him above 95% of the people in politics. If you really think this was a bad choice just think, it could have been Santorum or Christie.
1. mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
  
  Ryan is not a die hard SOCON.
  
  Which means he will be portrayed by the media as a Tea Party fringe lunatic with a war boner.
Xenocles 13 years ago

Did Willard just introduce Ryan as "the next President of the United States?"
1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  If he did, he might be right. 2016 is not too far off and Team Blue just may drive us off that proverbial cliff by then.
  1. Xenocles 13 years ago
    
    Are you setting up the fantasy football this year, sloop?
    1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
      
      Yeah, and the league filled up in about a day.
      
      Shall we set up a second league fo those that still want to play but were unable to get in the J sub D Memorial? I'd be glad to do another one.
      1. Xenocles 13 years ago
        
        Frowny face. I was thinking of trying it this year and figured the H+R crowd was just the group for it.
        
        Xenocles 13 years ago
        
        So I guess my answer is yes.
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I'll set up another league if there's interest.
        
        Hold on. I'm working on it right now...
        
        sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Go to the bottom of the thread for the link to the new league.
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Is Romney unaware of the GOP rules?

Please, please, please let the Ron Paul Delegates nominate him for VP from the floor. IIRC, delegates are not bound to a VP candidate, so the number of Ron Paul people that are required to vote for Romneybot may be high enough that they could get a different Paul on the ticket than the GOP brass are expecting/hoping for.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  What brand of crack are you smoking this morning sloopy? It must be high end shit. Are you out of your mind?
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    Are you out of your mind?
    
    Maybe. But are you telling me the Ron Paul delegates are gonna be a reliable rubber stamp for the party establishment? What gave you that idea?
    
    Prediction: RP delegates will try to nominate him for President from the floor and will be ignored by the chair. The rules will then be changed to prevent them from doing the same in the unbound process of VP nominating/voting.
    
    I'd bet $50 on that right this minute. You can e-mail me your acceptance.
    1. John 13 years ago
      
      I am just telling you Ryan is the VP nominee. And there is nothing anyone can do about it. And the Paul delegates can nominate him all they want. They don't have a majority. They can't win.
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        They don't have a majority. They can't win.
        
        That may be true, but they can throw a huge monkey-wrench in the GOP works if they nominate him and a second round of voting is required to either get Romneybot or Paul Ryan officially put on the ticket.
Romulus Augustus 13 years ago

Ryan, like Greenspan, decided they didn't know Ayn Rand from Sally Rand once it was in their interest to adopt different principles.
I'm still going for Gary Johnson.
1. John 13 years ago
  
  Joe from Lowell was making that line and claiming atheists can't be Republicans. Of course atheists can't be Democrats either. There isn't a single open atheist major politician in this country. And there might be fewer objectivist politicians. I thing you would have a better chance of winning an election as a Satanist than an Objectivist.
  1. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
    
    Rom Emmanuel proves that.
  2. Cytotoxic 13 years ago
    
    Geez John no need to rub in the salt.
2. Fluffy 13 years ago
  
  decided they didn't know Ayn Rand from Sally Rand
  
  Or even from Ensign Rand.
  
  One funny thing about Ryan - my wife pays a reasonable amount of attention to politics (more than your average voter, certainly) and her first comment this morning was, "Isn't this the guy who forced his wife to go to sex clubs?"
  
  I think there's a negative association out there to "handsome guy named Ryan" that may have a minor impact.
  
  That fucking Illinois Senate race continues to fuck us even now.
  1. Xenocles 13 years ago
    
    To think this all started because Seven of Nine's husband wasn't satisfied.
    1. Fluffy 13 years ago
      
      Yes.
      
      We have Obamacare because some guy got tired of fucking Jeri Ryan.
      
      Way to go, man. Good move.
      1. tarran 13 years ago
        
        I've met Jeri Ryan in person.
        
        I wasn't impressed. Dressed incorrectly (spike heels on a ship WTF are you thinking?), skeletal, and with a pissed off/unhappy/hopeless look in her eyes that immediately made me want to get away.
        
        Then again, our smarmy Assistant Navigator was her escort, and after an hour of his sexual interest, even Sandra Bullock in her perky years would have been contemplating suicide, so perhaps I'm being harsh.
  2. SIV 13 years ago
    
    Yeoman Rand?
    1. Fluffy 13 years ago
      
      She got promoted.
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Just like Miles O'Brien?
Fist of Etiquette 13 years ago

Paul Ryan isn't wearing a tie. He just lost my vote.
1. Bee Tagger 13 years ago
  
  C'mon, do you even know how to think? Ties can easily get caught in wheelchair wheels.
Fluffy 13 years ago

There is a non-zero chance that Romney is actually trying to be public-spirited here. He may have numbers we don't that tell him he's basically already lost and has no realistic path to victory. That being the case, he's decided to try to raise the profile of someone who would be a good 2016 candidate, for the good of the party.
1. SIV 13 years ago
  
  He may have numbers we don't that tell him he's basically already lost and has no realistic path to victory.
  
  If Romney knows he has "already lost" at this point you can assume our electoral process is totally fixed in the literal conspiracy theory sense.
2. VG Zaytsev 13 years ago
  
  If Romney think that h'e already lost then he should gracefully bow out and let someone else become the nominee.
  
  Obama has done such a horrible job that anyone, not named Mitt, should be able to beat him by 20 points.
sloopyinca 13 years ago

Due to overwhelming demand, there will be a second Reason HyR Fantasy Football League.

Introducing the "Reason Hit and Run: You Didn't Build That Fantasy Football League." (Password: reason) I'm debating an auction draft as well, so those of you that are inclined to do so, please let me know as you register.

Come one, come all. But don't come twice, so if you're already in the J sub D Memorial, please don't get into this one until we get closer to the draft and I start to realize fewer people want to associate with me, causing me to beg for entrants.
1. Xenocles 13 years ago
  
  Thanks.
2. RBS 13 years ago
  
  I'm not getting anything.
  1. Xenocles 13 years ago
    
    I had to enter the league ID manually: 457394.
    1. RBS 13 years ago
      
      Thanks.
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        Yeah, league ID: 457394
        Password: reason
        
        Sorry about that.
3. JD 13 years ago
  
  I'm in. Thanks!
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    Our first reason insider!
    
    Can you go to the league message board and explain the aversion to ampersands reason seems to have developed?
Eduard van Haalen 13 years ago

The New Republic's perspective:

"Many millions of working-age Americans would lose health insurance. Senior citizens would anguish over whether to pay their rent or their medical bills, in a way they haven't since the 1960s. Government would be so starved of resources that, by 2050, it wouldn't have enough money for core functions like food inspections and highway maintenance. And the richest Americans would get a huge tax cut.

"This is the America that Paul Ryan envisions. And now we know that it is the America Mitt Romney envisions."

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/.....er-tax-cut
1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
  
  I love these doomsday predictions. As if our government isn't capable of rolling back programs that prove to be bad.*
  
  *I'm not saying that Ryan's proposed rollbacks would be bad, just saying we have a means to deal with that.
  1. mad libertarian guy 13 years ago
    
    I love these doomsday predictions.
    
    Me too.
    
    Obama, who's spending hand over fist, more than any other politician in history actually, isn't what's going to bring about fiscal failure; it's Paul Ryan, VP, who seeks to cut medicare.
    
    Jesus tap dancing Christ, I hate politics.
2. tarran 13 years ago
  
  Comically, these people don't understand that the Federal Government is inevitably going to shrink dramatically one way or the other.
  
  Either it will be a controlled winding down, or it will be a collapse brought on by the contraction of the economy it predates upon.
3. Fatty Bolger 13 years ago
  
  According to TNR:
  
  The future if Obama is reelected.
  
  The future if Romney is elected.
  1. Generic Stranger 13 years ago
    
    The actual future if either of them are elected.
mad libertarian guy 13 years ago

Senior citizens would anguish over whether to pay their rent or their medical bills, in a way they haven't since the 1960s.

Good. Then maybe those old fuckers will learn to budget their money without using mine as part of their calculus.
1. T o n y 13 years ago
  
  During which part of your daily life do you think the words "it sure would be nice if an 85-year old woman were doing this job"?
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    The part where I'm wiping my ass.
  2. Calidissident 13 years ago
    
    Senior citizens are the wealthiest age group. There's this little thing called saving that allows people to keep paying bills and groceries when they don't work any more. And of course we can't have the horror of kids actually helping care for their parents, rather than rely on the forced contributions of strangers.
    1. T o n y 13 years ago
      
      The Myth of the Wealthy Elderly
      
      Basing your economic plan on scolding people for being irresponsible is not helpful. People can save just as well with a safety net in place preventing those who lack the will or ability from going into poverty.
      1. Proprietist 13 years ago
        
        How much of that "myth" is because everybody knew they would survive retirement on Social Security and didn't bother to set aside as much as they'd need if they didn't have it?
        
        Don't get me wrong, I support a stopgap state-level welfare program for the poor elderly. I just don't support subsidizing the middle and upper class elderly that don't need subsidization.
        
        Proprietist 13 years ago
        
        Oh, and Social Security is arguably the most regressive tax scheme of all. Why any so-called progressive defends Social Security as structured is beyond absurd to me. Actually, that gets second place in regressiveness behind the monetary inflation resulting from unpaid debts of the country.
        
        I'd think the Left would be much smarter to support a naturally progressive single land tax with a citizen's rebate (becomes guaranteed income) over a welfare state and a convaluded tax structure.
ant1sthenes 13 years ago

There's no way Portman was an option, the GOP can't afford to lose a Senator for a bullshit ceremonial position. Ryan brings pretty much the same things to the table (fiscally-oriented background) but also has his own name-recognition for the budget stuff, for better or worse. It also is Romney's way of saying that he's putting his campaign's focus on fixing the economy (and that fixing the fisc is a necessary part of that). All in all, I think it was a smart decision, politically, though time will tell.
Fatty Bolger 13 years ago

Blast from the past: Obama not pleased with Paul Ryan's testimony at health care summit.
1. joshua corning 13 years ago
  
  From a statist's perspective this should be the saddest day of his life.
  
  All Obama had to say was "Yes we can work with that" and 2010 never would have had a tea party and Obama would not be at 43% approval rating.
  
  Instead Obama only saw a republican who sounded "good" and therefor he must fight him.
Hyperion 13 years ago

I'm a little late to the party, but I have to weigh in on this.

First of all, Romney has already lost this election. He just sucks as a candidate, and even though Obozo is trying his best to give it away, Romney can't grasp the golden ring.

I see the following scenarios.

1. Romney's best choice of VP would be Ron Paul, and then come right out and admit that the GOPs future depends on including Libertarian ideas. That may be the only thing that can get him the win. His 2nd best choice would be Rand Paul, but that isn't going to happen either. So scenario number 1 is a moot point.
1. Hyperion 13 years ago
  
  2. Throwing out number 1 option, his best choice will be Rubio. Rubio is a neocon, IMO, but he is charismatic and he is Latin. That makes Rubio the 2nd best choice, and has a very, very slight chance of tipping this election to the Romulan if Obozo continues his clown show of serious gaffes on the national stage. But I am still pointing the odds at Romney losing in scenario 2, in a very tight race.
  
  3. The last of the best choices for Romney would be at #3 Christie, and #4 Ryan. Fat boy Christie is very popular, so would give Romney a slight boost. Ryan, well, the only good thing about Ryan would be if we could see him in a debate with Biteme. He would make Biteme look extremely stupid, but well, Biden can do that all by himself. Ryan would also destroy Obama in a debate, but that is not going to happen. In scenario 3, Romney loses by 3-4%.
  
  4. Here is where we get into reality territory, since the GOP are way too stupid to choose either options in scenario 1 - 3, Romney will choose(have chosen for him by GOP neocon establishment) someone totally so lame we can't even imagine it. Romney loses by 5-10%.
  1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
    
    You do realize he's already chosen Paul Ryan, don't you?
    1. Hyperion 13 years ago
      
      I do now. I just read the comments. This work shit keeps getting in the way of me keeping up to the minute on things...
      1. sloopyinca 13 years ago
        
        I wasn't being a dick. I assumed you had something going on that kept you from knowing.
        
        Hyperion 13 years ago
        
        I know that man, it's cool

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