Romney Picks Paul Ryan for Veep

And over the next few weeks, reporters for the major newspapers and TV networks will be going through Ryan's budget with a fine-tooth comb, and asking Romney pointed questions about where he stands on the more controversial parts.

Ha ha, just kidding!  It's safe to say the MSM won't stop at just putting lipstick on this pig; they'll pull out the entire Tammy Faye Bakker makeup kit to make Ryan's proposals more palatable to the general public.

And the Glenn Kesslers and Politifacts of the world will hand out umpteen zillion Pinnochios to anyone who points out that the Ryan budget says what it actually says.

The good news is that this really is a sign of desperation on the part of Team Romney.  Romney's basically thrown out his entire game plan, and has gone with a veep choice who effectively upstages him the way Sarah Palin upstaged John McCain.  He hadn't really wanted a campaign about issues; he'd just wanted to be the businessman who would come in and set things right with his business know-how.  Now that his time at Bain's been gleefully shredded by the good guys, he really had to shake the Etch-A-Sketch and get a reset.

You can never really get a reset in these things; the damage to his personal brand has been done.  But lately he's been saying he wants a campaign about the issues, as if examining his actual record was somehow unfair.  He'll get that campaign.  But as an ex-girlfriend of mine said a few decades back, you don't always want what you think you want.  

I'm also wondering whether it was a desperation move in another way: ever since Romney's spokesperson had good things to say about Romneycare several days ago, the wingnuts have been demanding that Romney choose Ryan, basically as their price for getting over that indiscretion.

That'll keep 'em happy for about fifteen seconds.  As the book of Proverbs says, "There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’."  The limits on the writer's prophetic insight are revealed by his failure to mention Republican wingnuts in the list that follows.

Ezra has a list of ten thoughts about the Ryan nomination here, and he's worth reading, as always.

Update, courtesy of TPM:

Within minutes of physically embracing his new running mate Paul Ryan on a Norfolk, Va., stage, Mitt Romney was distancing himself from Ryan’s controversial House budget proposal.

From Romney campaign talking points, distributed to reporters after Romney’s first appearance with his VP pick (emphasis added):

Does this mean Mitt Romney is adopting the Paul Ryan plan?

• Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget, and as president he will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance.

Yep, Mitt's got the lack of courage of his lack of convictions.

My intuition is that that'll be a fail.  Ryan's known for his budget, all of his budget, and practically nothinig but his budget, so help us God.  If you nominate someone whose identity is tied up in One Big Thing, you've pretty much tied yourself to that One Big Thing, come hell or high water, no matter how much ambiguity you'd like to create.  That goes double for someone like Mitt who barely has an identity of his own to begin with.

Comments

[Bill H]

Well, who could he have picked that would have been any better? Both Goldwater and Regan are dead. And who could he have picked that we would not have been predicting as a disaster? Pawlenty? And why do we care? None of us are going to be voting for the idiot anyway.

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

Thanks for getting this up. I can't believe that he went with the zombie-eyed granny starver.

This strikes me as pure desperation -- their internal polls must not be very good.

I think that they must believe that the MSM is going to extol his virtues -- which they will. But as will be shown to have no constituency.

[low-tech cyclist]

SC - I expect their internals were showing the same thing as the most recent round of national polls. It's funny, we've been hearing a lot of arguments from the right lately about how Mitt's chances are really much better than they look.

I've never understood the point of those arguments: you're only fooling yourself. But clearly neither Romney nor his core team was buying into any of those arguments.

[paula]

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Who else could he pick?
It's the Simon Legree Leadership Model, times two.

As for Romney's identity. He's got one. He's the guy from 8-12 states (he's not sure), who doesn't work, pays little or no income tax, has five (?) sons with basically the same name, bought his sick wife an Olympic-quality show horse to use for physical therapy, parks his car with a private elevator, and is the living embodiment of a 1980s mood ring.
You know, your typical Merkan.

[oddjob]

He picked Ryan????

Oh Lord............

Ayn Rand would be so pleased.............

[oddjob]

The only good thing about that is it means regardless of the outcome in November Ryan will lose his seat in the House.

[oddjob]

you don't always want what you think you want

Another version of the adage, "Be careful what you ask for, for you may get it."

[oddjob]

Ryan's known for his budget, all of his budget, and practically nothinig but his budget, so help us God.

And unforutunately the blind Villagers adore him for it because in their collective cluelessness that budget demonstrates that Ryan's a "serious" legislator.

[oddjob]

Actually, come to think of it there is one other good thing about picking Ryan.

By picking Ryan Romney's made it much more difficult for the wingnuts to credibly disown the ticket if the Romney/Ryan ticket loses in November. Romney will have done the Base's bidding and lost.

[oddjob]

"...as a Congressman, Ryan not only tried to get all of the interns in his congressional office to read Rand’s writing, he also gave copies of her novel "Atlas Shrugged" to his staff as Christmas presents, as he told the Weekly Standard in 2003...."

[oddjob]

"...By this measure, in fact, which rates members of the House and Senate throughout different time periods on a common ideology scale, Mr. Ryan is the most conservative Republican member of Congress to be picked for the vice presidential slot since at least 1900. He is also more conservative than any Democratic nominee was liberal, meaning that is is the furthest from the center. (The statistic does not provide scores for governors and other vice presidential nominees who never served in Congress.)"

His voting record in the House is approximately as right wing as Michelle Bachmann's.

[oddjob]

"[Paul Ryan] says he was inspired at a young age to take an interest in conservative economics after reading Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” In recent years, he has even spoken at the Atlas Society, which promotes the late author’s ideas. But he told the New Yorker that he rejects Rand’s atheism as well as any depiction of himself as a “hardcore libertarian.”..."

And then, of course, there's this classic:

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

:)

[oddjob]

Mitt Romney Would Pay 0.82 Percent in Taxes Under Paul Ryan's Plan

[nancy]

If you nominate someone whose identity is tied up in One Big Thing, you've pretty much tied yourself to that One Big Thing, come hell or high water, no matter how much ambiguity you'd like to create.

Seems that could work in Tea Party Land if 'keep cutting the deficit -- it's the country's biggest challenge' is still selling in November. Let our job creators create. Unleash.

The gambit might blow by too as ">http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/paul-ryan-and-ayn-rand.html"> "Ayn Rand Joins the Ticket".

Oddjob, Dave Weigel is reporting that he won't lose his seat. Wisconsin rules allow him to retain it should they lose. I too thought we'd find our silver lining there. No such luck.

[oddjob]

:(

Rats!

[Linkmeister]

Ryan's House opponent wasted little time mailing folks. In my Inbox:

"Hi, I'm Rob Zerban. Along with President Obama and Vice President Biden, I have the unique privilege of being the other candidate who gets to defeat Paul Ryan this year.

That's because despite running for Vice President, Paul Ryan is still running for Congress in Wisconsin. And I'm his progressive opponent."

Followed by the requisite "Can you donate $3 to the cause."

If you're so inclined (I am, but I'm also broke), here's his website.

[nancy]

Lance Mannion has a running commentary on our VP candidate wonder and subject at hand. Ryan, very serious person and man of the hour. In the nick of time.

[toko baju muslim]

This really is wonderful article ! I simply love’d it !

[low-tech cyclist]

By picking Ryan Romney's made it much more difficult for the wingnuts to credibly disown the ticket if the Romney/Ryan ticket loses in November. Romney will have done the Base's bidding and lost.

Glad you mentioned that - one of the themes running through the campaign so far is that if Romney lost, the base could say the problem was that the GOP hadn't run a True Conservative, and could use Romney's failure as one more cudgel to keep driving the GOP further right.

I'm not sure how much of a difference not having that particular lever will make, but it can't hurt.

[low-tech cyclist]

I think my favorite post title about the Ryan choice was by DougJ of Balloon Juice, who reached back to e.e. cummings for "How do you like your blue-eyed boy, Mr. Death?"

[kathy a.]

what's not to love about a mr. budget guy who wants to screw the middle-class to improve prospects for the rich; who proudly promotes "i've got mine, get lost" as a fundamental tenant of domestic policy; who cares enough about older people to let them find the joys of the open market with vouchers for their health care; who wants women's health care to go back to the dark ages; oh, yeah, and also he thinks lotsa war is all good. but doesn't give a shit about veterans. have i missed anybody? yes -- poor people, especially kids. they won't even get vouchers, because (somebody help me here) it's better to die young and painfully than to be "dependent."

i suspect mitt of having a heart in there someplace. not his veeper of choice.