Politics

Paul Ryan Reviews Prove Reagan Was Only Republican President Ever

Cheers, jeers and leers for the RNC speech by Mitt Romney's running mate

|

Conservatives compare Paul Ryan to a certain Republican president. (Hint: It's not Chet Arthur or Bill Taft). Liberals claim to "check" the GOP vice-presidential candidate's "lies" and "whoppers" (while continuing the recently lamented habit of defining fact-checking down). At least one adult male goes public with his steamy inner vision of Ryan as the kind of virile hombre men want to be and women want to be with. Another slathers Ryan in hard, gemlike prose that will make you say, "What is 'gravitas'? Is it a fancy word for 'gravity' like when they call a fat guy 'Falstaffian'?" And one other fella says he's breaking off his relationship with the candidate. 

But (unlike the general election) the pundit action isn't all man-on-man. Here are the cheers, jeers and leers Mitt Romney's running mate has received for his lengthy speech last night at the Tampa Republican National Convention: 

Gawker
CNN Correspondents Praise Ryan's Speech, Acknowledge 'Seven or Eight' Factual Errors (UPDATED: Now With Lies Outlined)

Joel B. Pollak
RYAN'S MASTERFUL SPEECH: A FIRESIDE CHAT WITH A NATION IN CRISIS

@BrazenlyLiberal
Stephen Colbert's perfect description of #PaulRyan budget: "Ayn Rand Fanfiction"

Joan Walsh
Paul Ryan's brazen lies: His Republican National Convention speech was stunning for its dishonesty

David Weigel
Here's a list of some of the whoppers that Paul Ryan served up Wednesday night.

@VanJones68
His lies notwithstanding, #PaulRyan is best conservative speaker of his generation - and likely the best right-wing speaker alive today. 

AP
FACT CHECK: RYAN TAKES FACTUAL SHORTCUTS IN SPEECH

Jim Geraghty
Ryan and Rice: The Most Reaganesque Addresses in a Long Time?

Charles Kesler
Reaganesque at the Republican Convention

Matt Kibbe
Ryan's speech builds trust among grassroots conservatives

William Saletan
Dear Paul: Why I'm breaking up with Paul Ryan.

@KurtSchlichter
Liberal Women: Paul Ryan is the man your tofu-eating, can't-protect-you-cuz-he-doesn't-believe-in-guns, sexually inadequate husband isn't.

Rich Lowry
Initial reaction: A splendidly written speech. Ryan's delivery was a little leaden at the beginning, but he picked up steam toward the end.

@GOP_PartyParrot
NDAA, Patriot Act, TARP, Stimulus ignore #PaulRyan record on those things. They do not matter #GOP2012

Andrew Sullivan
Ryan runs over, but the crowd loves him - if not in the ecstatic way they loved Palin. If you ignore the details, and wipe your memory like an Etch-A-Sketch, it can sound like a wonderful return to fiscal responsibility. But slashing more taxes for the very wealthy, boosting defense spending, keeping Medicare intact for the current elderly, and gutting Obamacare's savings is a return to supply side fantasy, not a serious alternative to getting us back to fiscal sanity. He's not Tom Coburn; he won't compromise; which means he cannot "get it done". That's my issue. The disciple of Ayn Rand publicly says that society should be judged by the way it treats its weakest and neediest. A man without shame or coherence.

Will Wilkinson
It was an uneven night, but it ended on an up note. Paul Ryan demonstrated that he is an appealing, energetic campaigner comfortable with the sort of looseness with facts voters perpetually reward. This somewhat sullies his reputation as a plainspoken, fact-oriented numbers guy, but Mitt Romney hired a running mate, not an actuary, and an able running mate is what Mr Ryan is proving to be. That said, despite his capacity for relatively substantive discourse, Mr Ryan's youthful looks and tenor vocals made him feel slightly light, especially when compared to Condoleezza Rice, who in her speech earlier in the evening had the gravitas of a neutron star.

@TheKochtopus
#PaulRyan Obscures His #Koch-Backed Agenda With a Pack of Lies in Convention Speech bit.ly/SWlCJX #LyinRyan #gopfail #tlot #p2

Roger McShane
I will concede that Paul Ryan's performance tonight was very good. But it was a performance, given by a man whose reputation is based on forthrightness. I simply cannot handle the cognitive dissonance that is now welling up in my mind. He was touted by the other speakers as a man who tackles the tough issues. But tonight he demagogued them. Maybe that makes for good politics, but it's disappointing on every other level.

Josh Marshall
On optics and on motivating the audience, a good speech. The convention was pumped for Ryan considerably more than for Mitt. It was also a speech of astonishing intellectual dishonesty – on small things, like when plants closed; and much larger things like the entire economic trajectory of the last three and a half years.

Ezra Klein
Chris Christie and Paul Ryan hit the same themes. We have hard choices facing us. We need leaders who won't be deterred by the polls. Leaders who won't duck the tough issues. Leaders who won't hide the hard truths. Do any of these lines really sound like a description of Mitt Romney? 

@SteveForbesCEO
Re: @PaulRyanVP: Ronald Reagan would be proud! #rncconvention #paulryan

Elspeth Reeve
Ryan has a reputation as a "wonk" -- a numbers-obsessed policy nerd. He and Romney reportedly "geek out" together when talking about entitlement reform. And Ryan is supposed to be really good at explaining policy to the masses. But he didn't explain much policy tonight.