In case you were wondering, Paul Ryan can and will run for reelection to the House while simultaneously seeking the vice-presidency. But if you want to tell your Republican friends that they can only vote for him once, that might be funny.
Does anyone remember how quickly Dubya lost the good will he won through his 2004 reelection? It was really a one-two-three punch of Terri Schiavo, trying to privatize Social Security, and then the inept reaction to Hurricane Katrina, all with a deepening disaster in Iraq as a backdrop. But we shouldn’t underestimate how badly he hurt himself through the privatization effort alone. That was when the Democrats finally drew a line in the sand and decided to fight back. What people have probably forgotten is that Paul Ryan introduced a Social Security privatization bill so radical that the Bush administration couldn’t support it. How’s this for radical?
What’s more, under the plan, investments in the stock and bond markets would skyrocket such that by 2050, every single stock or bond in the United States would be owned by a Social Security account. This would mean that the portfolio managers at the Social Security Administration would more or less control the entire means of production in the United States.
COMMUNISM!!
So far right, that it’s far left.
I think Floridians are going to hear quite a bit about Ryan’s privatization scheme. And that’s in addition to hearing about Ryan’s plan the voucherize Medicare and leave seniors with a bill for $6,000/yr.
You want to have some fun? Try out the Electoral College calculator and see if you can get Romney to 270 electoral votes without using Florida. Obama currently has a 2.2% polling average lead in Florida. I don’t think Mr. Ryan is going to improve that number, and neither does the Miami Herald.
Joke Lieberman ran for Senator and VP in 2000. A completely selfish move on his part, of course, since if he’d become VP his safe Democratic Senate seat would have gone to a Republican (since the Connecticut governor at the time was Republican).
That was just a hint of what is now widely accepted – he was always a Tony Blair-esque right-winger in Democratic clothing. Ever since the right wing of the GOP recruited him to run against incumbent liberal Republican Lowell Weicker.
Now there’s an endangered species. In fact, I think Repulicanus Liberali is extinct.
Lincoln Chaffee was the last hold-out. Based strictly on his Senate voting record during the GWB years, he was better than half the Democrats. Will always respect the voters of RI for booting Chaffee in 2006 because he insisted on being with McConnell.
It’s disingenuous, to say the least, to threaten seniors already on Medicare with the voucher program, and I wish progressives would stop doing it. We will not be affected by that part of Ryan’s plan, and it undermines our credibility to pretend that we will. There is plenty of legitimately scary stuff in this election to campaign on without resorting to distortions and fear-mongering. We are better than that, aren’t we?
Only a conservative mind thinks like you.
Today’s seniors like their Medicare and Social Security and they want those things for their children and for everyone younger than them. They care about other people than themselves.
That’s what you’re missing. We are not saying that Paul Ryan wants to take away today’s grandma’s pension and health care, but tomorrow’s grandma.
And today’s grandma cares about tomorrow’s grandma.
Today’s grandma is very much under threat. There’s no way existing medicare would last under watch of people like this.
Plus it’s a very literalistic view of how things work. The letter of Ryan’s plan is less important than what it says about his agenda, and he’s made no secret of his intention to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. With him running the WH (and contrary to Boo, I think he would be), the “plan” does nothing to limit the administration’s ambition to cut the programs for everybody, including those currently depending on them.
Actually I’m surprised at the number of seniors I know who cling to their Social Security but think nothing of condemning their children to worse.
My step-father, now 75, retired at 62 and early social security (and an early government pension!!!!) because he was too ill to keep working. He would be dead without medicare. And he knows this. But he votes GOP knowing full well they intend to make his kids and step-kids work until 70 for half the medicare he has.
Yeah, he’s afraid the (really bad racial slur) will take his guns, but he also has a typical conservative view that he somehow worked harder that everyone else so deserves the government subsidies he gets.
Because seniors don’t have grandchildren; or children 55 and under, right?
You really think seniors just now turning 65 will still have Medicare for the long haul when he’s done?
You’re dreaming.
The massive burden put on the next generation of seniors will crush the economy. If someone like Ryan is in charge, existing medicare will damned well be on the table. Once the GOP gets their hands on it and finds they can destroy even part of it, they’ll go for the rest, and seniors know this. It’ll start with means testing, and laying off medicare administration employees until the organization is unable to function reasonably. Then they’ll kill it.
He’s depending on seniors being entirely selfish, and also incredibly stupid and unobservant.
People over 55 will be affected by this plan. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3704
Proof that what I said earlier about Ryan being unknown is true:
http://today.yougov.com/news/2012/08/11/what-do-americans-know-about-paul-ryan/
Just wait. They’ll know him soon enough. And he’s going to define the GOP, from Romney on down.
Hell, this election might turn out to be a referendum on the GOP! The only way this could get better is if Romney had picked Grover Norquist for his running mate.
What’s the odds that Portman, Pawlenty, Ayotte, and Christie looked a Romney’s campaign and turned him down, thinking toward 2016?
If so, that means they are all clueless. Ryan being picked today means he’s the 2016 front-runner. And I think we really know how the GOP picks their winners, despite the kabuki.
House members rarely are front runners or even strong candidates for President. I don’t think Ryan can break that mold in four years as a loser. I don’t think the others would have a leg up from running; familiarity does breed contempt.
I agree that the odds are slim that Romney would have bucked Rush Limbaugh to pick Portman (baggage), Pawlenty (baggage), Christie (baggage) or Ayotte (novice).
Ryan’s only baggage is the legislation that makes conservatives love him.
TBH, I thought Ryan was going to make a run in 2012. So this really only cements my view that he will run in 2016. I think he could break the mold, but 4 years and one off-year election is far away to know how the GOP responds to their (potential) 2012 loss.
When’s the last time a VP loser won the nomination for the top slot four years later? Took Dole twenty years and he was a Senator and not a lowly Congressman, and he lost again. The only leap from the House to the WH in the 20th Century was Ford and he didn’t get there by being elected.
Who finished 2nd in ’08? Willard? Who finished second in ’00? Cranky McSame. Forget about Ryan being in the House. That doesn’t matter. Just mark my words. If Willard loses this year, as I certainly hope he does, the Zombie-eyed Granny-starver will be the GOP presidential nominee in ’16. Mark my words.
To quote a maven of popular culture: “I’m Lovin’ it!”
Let the sumbitch run in 2016. People are going to get real tired of the smarmy, smirking, weasel faced basterd real fast. Even his “friends” will turn the channel when his face comes up.
Besides, he has the one thing that is the absolute kiss of death for RWTP: gaydar goes off BIG TIME every time he smiles.
Ryan finished second in the 2012 GOP nomination sweeps? Silly me, I didn’t even know he’d been in the race. Loser VPs certainly try to use that as a springboard to the top slot in a subsequent election — Muskie ’72, Mondale ’84, Dole, Quayle, Lieberman ’04, Edwards ’08 — of those only two got the nomination and one of those had a stint as VP. Even FDR who was the loser VP in 1920 didn’t make the leap in a single jump.
Actually, 2016 will be the year that the GOP formally splits – Ryan will lead the fiscal conservatives, Santorum will lead the social conservatives, and a neocon to be named later will lead the foreign policy conservatives.
Anyone who has ever watched a ‘senior’ negotiate with anyone, much less a Health Care provider would immediately back off the Ryan Medicare voucher proposal. For the sake of the mental health of the recipient who sits on the other end of the phone or heaven help them in a face to face with a Senior who is in full-on negotiation mode p l e a s e recognize defeat beforehand!
Once when I arrived home to spell one of my mom’s caregivers he met me in abject tears, screaming and wailing, ‘don’t make me go back there!’
Her insurance rep told me he’d revise her policy only if he didn’t have to come over to the house. Her doctor said he was afraid of her. Think this is unusual? It’s not. Seniors are tough and they’re determined and being forgetful ALWAYS works in their favor! The Health Care industry once subjected to the Ryan voucher plan would have employees that made ‘going postal’ look moderate.
Actually, it’s no picnic for Romney to get to 270 even with Florida. But this does make it worse. According to Nate Silver’s model, this pick only increases Romney’s chance of winning Wisconsin to 20%, so it’s a complete loser from an electoral college perspective when Romney was already behind in the EC.
Some have argued that it may have been an attempt to influence national polls, but Paul Ryan isn’t well liked by Democrats and independents who know of him. This is a pick that stokes the conservative base but will alienate everybody else. It’s a McCain-style desperation move. I say that because if you’re still trying to sell yourself to your base at this stage, you’re in trouble.