Following Massachusetts Governor Romney's selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, the media wasted no time in evaluating the Chairman of the Budget Committee as one heartbeat away from the presidency.
Yahoo! News commented: The selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate is sure to excite the Left almost as much as it does the Right.
The Left has more to worry about, since Congressman Ryan is the face of the New GOP, a younger generation not afraid to cross the aisle, to speak truth to power as well as the population. He has proposed mature reforms that may be unpopular upon initial reception, yet he has not been swayed by partisan bickering to bring much needed budget reform to Washington.
Following Governor Scott Walker’s successful budget reforms and recall victory in June this year, Wisconsin is now one step closer to entering the GOP column, even though the Dairy state has voted Democratic since 1988. Nominating Congressman Paul Ryan, an established and well-respected legislator from the Dairy State, has tilted Wisconsin further in Romney’s favor.
Yahoo! News then added:
Ryan is an exciting pick, but there's no such thing as a perfect candidate, and Ryan brings his own set of political risks to the table. Here's a list of five things that Mitt Romney might not want highlighted about his VP candidate (hint: most of them have to do with his budget proposals).
The search for perfection should be all but over by now. Obama was the "Messiah" for the voters, and he turned out to one more politician willing to throw supports and opponents under the bus to have his way.
1. His budget plans include big cuts, and there's ample room for Democrats to continue with their "Romneyhood narrative." The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates 62 percent of Ryan's cuts are to programs for the poor. (Yahoo! News)
The Bipartisan Policy Center does outline the following proposed budget cuts in Ryan’s budget:
- Decrease funding for food stamps and Pell grants;
- Require federal civilian employees to contribute significantly more money toward their retirement plans;
- Reform farm programs; and
- Wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, eventually fully privatizing them.
A nation should be esteemed not for how many are using federal aid like food-stamps, programs which enable poverty. “Pell grants” are a prime contributor to the inflation and skyrocketing college tuition which is pricing out a growing number of graduates.
The real "rob from the rich schemes" always make everyone poorer, as wealth creators have no other choice but to lock up their wealth and worthy and refuse to invest. Any analysis which suggests that Romney and Ryan are robbing the poor to feed the rich is weak tea. Reforming farm programs would take taxpayer dollars out of the wealth few agribusinesses which no longer need those subsidies. “Fannie Mae” and “Freddie Mac” created the housing bubble that exploded into the Great Recession.
2. Ryan's budget proposals have included big changes to Medicare. (Yahoo! News)
Marco Rubio bested an establishment Republican and Democrat to become the U.S. Senator in Florida in 2010, and he did not mince words about entitlement reform. The majority of elderly voters were mature enough then to respect his argument, and they voted for him.
3. He voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. (Yahoo! News)
So did Henry Waxman, I might add. At least Paul Ryan has proposed budget reforms which will end corporate subsidies and put money back in the hands of taxpayers.
4. He's easily pegged as Washington insider. (Yahoo! News)
Anyone who has been in Congress for more than three terms is automatically an "insider." Ryan is an example of a well-versed legislator whose skills and experience are helping rather than hindering Congress from taking necessary steps to deal with debts, deficits, and default.
5. He broke with a lot of his party to support the Employee Non-Discrimination Act in 2007. (Yahoo! News)
The Republican party may adopt a libertarian stance on homosexuality. Perhaps ending the role of the state in marriage altogether would be the way to go. The GOP could kill two birds with one stone by simplifying the tax code, in the course of which they can do away with the tax incentives for married couples, and slowly remove the role of the state and allow "holy" as in “sacred” (not secular) to return to "holy matrimony."
Paul Ryan is not a perfect pick for VP. We do not need perfect, we need good, responsible, and genuine. Paul Ryan brings all of that and more to the Romney ticket.
