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.
On Abortion: He’s against Abortion even in the case of Rape, Incest or the Life of the Mother. The Ryan budget was written by and for Wall Street, polluting billionaires, and corporate America. It punishes seniors with $6,000 in higher out-of-pocket costs and less care by privatizing and ending Medicare as we know it. It leaves 48 million Americans uninsured, including millions of seniors in nursing homes under Medicaid. It leaves disadvantaged children hungry and without coverage. At the same time, the budget doles out massive irresponsible tax breaks to millionaires, oil companies, and corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas, all while raising taxes on middle-class families. Yes - this excites me very much. It reminds me how ignorant some people are. I will do everything in my power to educate people about this team that would destroy our country to the point of no return. If they were ti get elected - I promise the Occupy movement will look like a drop in the bucket - because the revolution will be on the streets of every city in the land...
1. Tax poor & working people but not the rich; 2. Encourage wages in the U.S. to fall to third world levels; 3. Pass trade laws that make it easy for companies to send jobs overseas; 4. Pass laws that enable only insurance companies to control who gets health care (including seniors) and who doesn't; 5. Replace public education with out of pocket private schools and home schooling; 6. Refuse to invest in crumbling public infrastructure such as highways, bridges, and sewer systems; 7. Environmental Policy: Pass laws and weaken regulations that enable companies to pollute the environment; 8. Pass laws that enable gas and oil production and prices to be controlled by a few large companies; Make sure that there is no longer any research or work on alternative energy sources; Keep defense spending high to protect non domestic oil production; 9. Repress rights for women and minorities and repress voting participation; 10. Divide the American people on cultural issues (religion, sexual orientation, gun rights, etc); 11. Instill fear in the American public through manufactured crises and created "boogeymen". Then attack political opponents by claiming to be more "patriotic" and the better keeper of "American Values" than they. 12. Make it impossible for literally millions of ELIGIBLE voters to cast their ballots, which is flagrant vote tampering and corruption. Can YOU afford to vote for these guys? I can't. I'M A WORKING MOTHER.
1. Tax poor & working people but not the rich; 2. Encourage wages in the U.S. to fall to third world levels; 3. Pass trade laws that make it easy for companies to send jobs overseas; 4. Pass laws that enable only insurance companies to control who gets health care (including seniors) and who doesn't; 5. Replace public education with out of pocket private schools and home schooling; 6. Refuse to invest in crumbling public infrastructure such as highways, bridges, and sewer systems; 7. Pass laws that weaken regulations and enable companies to pollute the environment; 8. Pass laws that enable gas and oil production and prices to be controlled by a few large companies; Make sure that there is no longer any research or work on alternative energy sources; Keep defense spending high to protect non domestic oil production; 9. Repress rights for women and minorities and repress voting participation; 10. Divide the American people on cultural issues (religion, sexual orientation, gun rights, etc); 11. Instill fear in the American public through manufactured crises and created "boogeymen". Then attack political opponents by claiming to be more "patriotic" and the better keeper of "American Values" than they. 12. Make it impossible for literally millions of ELIGIBLE voters to cast their ballots, which is flagrant vote tampering and corruption. Can YOU afford to support these guys? We can't. We're an average American working family.