Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Mitt needed to take a big risk--or else
Polling guru Nate Silver explains why Mitt Romney went with Paul Ryan: He desperately needed to shake up the race. Understandably, Silver isn’t saying whether Ryan will turn out to be a good VP bet or a bad VP bet. Time will tell. But he makes clear Romney, admirably, probably looked at internal polls and knew he had to change course decisively and fast. …
Polling guru Nate Silver explains why Mitt Romney went with Paul Ryan: He desperately needed to shake up the race. Understandably, Silver isn’t saying whether Ryan will turn out to be a good VP bet or a bad VP bet. Time will tell. But he makes clear Romney, admirably, probably looked at internal polls and knew he had to change course decisively and fast. …
Hub Blog still expects the tone and tenor of the race to
change after Labor Day. I’m not saying Mitt’s going to win. In my gut, though,
I know the gap between Obama and Romney ain’t no 9 percent. Recently, Romney has seemed to be doing his best to emulate John
Kerry and Mike Dukakis, i.e. blowing golden political opportunities like only a Massachusetts
pol could do at the national level. But the race will tighten. And it will be a
close race in the end. …
Paul Krugman’s typically brutal takedown of Ryan and anyone
who dares to defend any aspect of his agenda: “What Ryan is good at is exploiting the willful
gullibility of the Beltway media, using a soft-focus style to play into their
desire to have a conservative wonk they can say nice things about. And
apparently the trick still works.”
Well,
I haven’t crunched the numbers on ObamaCare either, let alone on RyanCare, as
Krugman demands of those who might compliment the broad aspects of Ryan’s
Medicare voucher plan. But I think it’s safe to say, as pointed out in my
post below, there are some ironic and almost eerie similarities
between ObamaCare and RyanCare that both liberals and conservatives don’t want to
admit. Ryan’s RyanCare is not that radical in concept, and Medicare definitely needs to undergo reforms. So, yes, at least he's putting a proposal on the table. Say what you will about Ryan’s other
policy agenda items. Personally, I know he’s an Ayn Rand groupie at heart, and
that’s enough for me not to support the guy. He’s an ideologue who until recently was sophomorically running around Capitol Hill handing out gift copies of the Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged. But that doesn’t
mean every single one of his ideas is discredited.
Update – Two local Dems -- Michael Capuano and Richard Neal – have kind words to say about Ryan, even as
they sharpen their political knives. … Scott Brown says he likes Ryan – then distances himself from Ryan.
Heck, even Mitt is distancing himself from Ryan’s overall budget plan. No surprise there. It's classic have-it-both-ways Mitt.
