By Ronald J. Granieri, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 11:00 AM ET  I agree with Tom that it is a shame that Romney feels the need to tack further to the right.
I would go even further to say I am sorry that two smart people such as Romney and Ryan have so little regard for logic and good sense (and for the public’s intelligence) that they think no one will notice as they try simultaneously to decry debt and push plans that will only make it worse.
Meanwhile the President claims to care about entitlement reform but offers no plan.
Both sides are banking on the ignorance and biases of their most fervent supporters.
We get the leaders we deserve. Alas, Babylon.
By Jimmy Dahroug, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 10:30 AM ET  As a fan of Christopher Guest Movies, I was pretty pleased.
Sure, I kind of see Jake Gyllenhaal, or the guy who plays Gabe on The Office.
Just watch Best in Show or A Mighty Wind – then we can have a real debate!
As a strategist, I was pretty shocked.
Paul Ryan was one of the last people I thought Romney would choose. In my mind, it really came down to Portman and Rubio.
I think Romney already had the base on board (due in part to the Supreme Court ruling) – and Portman or Rubio (among others) could have helped pleased the conservative as well as helped in other ways and without exposing Romney to such risk.
In terms of substance, I’m not even sure Romney shares that much in common with Paul Ryan. While both would like to call themselves fiscal conservatives – Romney can be considered pragmatic, and his risks are calculated. That’s just not Paul Ryan.
From what I can see, Ryan poses such unnecessary risk. There may be some critical information we’re just not privy to – even intangibles like chemistry, rapport… Those qualities do matter.
Still – this is a big risk for Romney.
As a Democrat, I hope the Obama team does not underestimate Paul Ryan.
1. Due in part to economic uncertainty, voters took a chance on Obama in 2008. Although Obama can argue the Country would have been worse off without his actions in office, voters are still feeling a challenging economy. They may be willing to take a risk with Ryan when they wouldn’t at any other time.
2. Paul Ryan, himself, is prepared and effective. He simply should not be underestimated.
No matter how confident the Obama team is in the substance of its arguments against Paul Ryan, they cannot take him lightly.
Ryan is not the caricature fire-breathing conservative that is supposed to scare kids and small animals. He won’t raise his voice like Chris Christie. Paul Ryan will listen and he will calmly and respectfully respond.
Saying Paul Ryan does his homework is an understatement. Agree with Ryan or not, he knows the details and the big picture. He’ll anticipate every argument Democrats can make and he’ll be prepared to respond. The Obama team needs to be just as prepared.
In 1980, the Carter campaign painted Reagan as a dangerous extremist. What the American people saw was a pleasant man who didn’t seem at all like the monster they had come to expect.
To be clear, I do not believe Paul Ryan is the political athlete Ronald Reagan was. But let’s not give him the opportunity to appear anywhere close to it.
3. Finally – It is not in Mitt Romney’s nature to make erratic decisions. Although I don’t quite understand this pick, Romney is too methodical to make a choice like this without gaming out all the options and consequences.
Surely he thoroughly considered that Democrats would pounce on Ryan over medicare. Could it be that Romney would rather have the scrutiny on his Veep pick so that it takes the target off of him and Bain? The idea being that Democrats make Ryan their target (the Veep spot has always been obscure to voters), and the target is no longer Romney and Bain?
It’s a theory I haven’t fully explored it – but Ryan/Medicare seems to have already left Romney/Bain in the dust, and I don’t see that changing very soon.
By Michael Steele, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET  Mitt Romney’s vice presidential selection was on its face a very good one—solid, strong and perhaps riskier than it needed to be. Less a “bold choice” (sorry Bill Kristol) and certainly not a “maverick pick” the choice of Paul Ryan was, at least for Mitt Romney, appropriate. For months, Romney and his campaign were beset by pundits, Establishment types and wannabe prognosticators divining who he would or should pick. From safe to out-of-the-box, names were all over the place; an no name wasn’t good enough to suggest (Kim Kardashian. Really?). But in the end Mitt knew what he wanted—he wanted it all! And in Paul Ryan he gets a little Rob Portman and Bobby Jindal (policy wonk), Tim Pawlenty (GOP grassroots, Sam’s Club Republicanism) and even Marco Rubio (Tea Party appeal).
Just as significant is that Romney, by choosing Ryan, has clearly decided to reset the narrative in his race with President Obama. And here’s where the wheels can come off pretty quick. For the past 4 months or so, the Romney campaign has argued, pushed and even distorted the facts to make the point that this election is a referendum on the Obama years. Sure Obama was dealt a bad set of cards, the argument goes, but leadership—especially presidential leadership is about what you do with the cards you are dealt. For Romney, the president just didn’t know how to play his hand. But in selecting Paul Ryan, Mitt has given the president a new set of cards.
Starting now, this race is no longer a referendum on Obama but rather a choice between Obama (“Status Quo Liberalism”) and Romney (“Reform Conservatism”). It appears the Romney-Ryan campaign is ready to make this argument and the Obama-Biden campaign can’t wait for it. In addition to jobs and the economy Romney now wants a broader debate about big ideas and even bigger policies, hence the Ryan selection, and is counting on Paul Ryan’s smarts and bookish charms to dissect Obama and Biden. But Paul Ryan and his budget have also given the president an opportunity to make the race not just about Bain Capital and Romney’s tax returns (you really didn’t expect them to give those up, did you?) but also about a return to “trickle-down economics” and “ending [fill in the blank] as we know it,” claims Republicans at least up to now have not been able to respond to effectively.
And in an ironic political twist, both campaigns are happy with this pick (at least for the moment). Republicans (especially conservatives) are excited to know a budget hawk would be a heartbeat away from the oval office; and Democrats are smiling like Cheshire cats because a budget hawk is a heartbeat away from Mitt Romney.
But all of this excitement about Paul Ryan being picked reminds me of the Jeff Goldblum quote from the Lost World: Jurassic Park in responding to how excited everyone was to be at Jurassic Park: “That’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.”
By Jeff Smith, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 9:30 AM ET  Thanks for the very insightful analysis, Tom.
It’s hard to add much except to say this: You will hear the phrase “No one over 55 will be impacted” more than you heard Al Gore say “lockbox.” And of course from the other side you will hear the incessant “end of Medicare as you know it” refrain. The victor of that argument will likely win the election.
Amid annual trillion dollar deficits and the nation’s debt rating downgrade, I suspect that Americans are somewhat more willing than before to hear a serious conversation about our nation’s troubled finances.
But in order to prevail in that argument, Romney must tweak the Ryan plan to reduce the benefits for the wealthy and shift money towards deficit reduction. Only then would he be able to capture the moral high road.
However, doing so would alienate the very conservative pundit class that the Ryan pick has appeased, which is why I find it quite unlikely.
By Tom Allen, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 9:00 AM ET  I served with Paul Ryan for 10 of my 12 years in Congress, and 4 years together on the House Budget Committee.
Paul is bright, pleasant, hard-working—a real gentleman.
But he is also an ideologue, inspired by Ayn Rand, fiercely opposed to federal spending and a passionate believer in the power of tax cuts to stimulate economic growth in all circumstances.
The budget proposals he has presented the last three years reduce taxes for the wealthy, and services (and tax breaks) for the middle class.
Ryan is a small government conservative; not a deficit hawk.
Ryan is also a high risk choice for Romney; his campaign must be gambling that Ryan’s ideas will not be well enough understood to hurt Romney’s chances. Since ideas get trivialized and trampled by media coverage anyway, they may be right.
It is a sad commentary on our dysfunctional politics that the Republican nominee felt he had to choose someone on the right wing of the party rather than reach out to the middle of the electorate.
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET 1. Maybe, just maybe, the presidential debate will turn substantive: The past few weeks have seen some of the most disgusting and despicable campaign charges in recent memory — from the Obama Super PAC implying that Romney killed a man’s wife to Romney’s completely mendacious claim that Obama is eliminating the work requirement from Bill Clinton’s welfare reform. The choice of Paul Ryan places his economic policy vision on the front stage, and allows the country to witness a thorough, meaningful debate on whether FDR’s Welfare State should survive this Age of Austerity. It will also put in clear focus one of the critical themes of modern America — growing income inequality — and I hope will force the Obama campaign to develop concrete plans to deal with it.
2. Mitt Romney’s campaign could be the next victim of the “Aspen Curse”: As an Obama supporter, it is comforting to know that the “Aspen Curse” — which victimized me and so many of my friends — could turn on Mitt Romney. As I detailed in this piece a few months ago, I was the member of the Inaugural Class of the Aspen Institute’s Rodel Fellows program, that brought together young political leaders from across the country for bipartisan dialogue. Unfortunately, every one of us that sought major statewide office over the next several years lost — from contributing RP Michael Steele to New Jersey’s Tom Kean to Missouri’s Robin Carnahan to most recently Nebraska’s Jon Bruning. Paul Ryan, and seven other young incumbent Congressman, were originally named to our class; but due to their busy schedules and strict Congressional ethics rules, Aspen dropped Congressmen from the program. Still, the Aspen Curse victimized sorta-Rodel-Fellows Florida’s Kendrick Meek when he ran for the U.S. Senate and contributing RP Artur Davis when he ran for Alabama’s Governor. So maybe too Paul Ryan will meet the same fate.
3. It demonstrates that the Romney campaign is in trouble. As nearly every insta-analyst of the pick has agreed, Paul Ryan was the riskiest pick among the VP finalists, which included former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and my spring prediction, Ohio Senator Rob Portman. Romney and his campaign have been playing it safe since the beginning of the primary season, avoiding controversy whenever possible. The Ryan pick indicates that they felt they needed to shake up the dynamic that has Obama up 7-9 points in national polls, despite their looming cash advantage.
4. It is great news for Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. The tiny, extraordinary school, which hosted the 2000 Vice-Presidential debate, will get its second chance to be in the world’s spotlight this fall. Having a debate between two bright, spirited men, with deeply contrasting visions of the country’s economic future, will lift the debate in significance and historical weight. It will be another great moment for small town Kentucky.
5. It is great news for my daughter, Emily. Of course, I personally view this as #1. As Emily heads next week to freshman orientation at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, her outstanding choice of higher education will rise in national attention as the alma mater of the GOP Vice Presidential nominee. Moreover, I’m thrilled that the presidential campaign will become a central part of campus dialogue, making Emily’s first experience in the voting booth — casting her ballot for Barack Obama — all the more special.
6. (UPDATED) Of the four men on the two major presidential tickets, the only Protestant is the..uh..”Muslim”
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Aug 10, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET Scientists are already trying to explain an anomaly in some of the pictures from the Curiosity rover. [latimes]
The next step is of course sending humans to Mars. [pcmag]
It should come as no surprise that July was officially the hottest month on record. [nytimes]
The US begins its first official project to clean up Agent Orange in Vietnam. [bbc]
Scientists are working on a new glass that will prevent the estimated hundreds of millions of birds from running into it and dying every year. [npr]
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Aug 10, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  His Brain; Her Brain: How we are different
I bought this thick “Collector’s Edition” at the airport. As we boarded the plane my wife smiled and pointed to her carry-on bag. She had bought it too.
 But here’s the difference. I suspect she bought the magazine to try to understand differences that can be applicable in our home. I bought the magazine to find out how better to defend myself and negotiate with my wife to more often get what I want.
So, even though men and women have similarities…the motives and methods are usually distinctly different.
Anyway, I think this example tells the tale. And saved me from reading 112 pages. Because now I can let my wife read it and just explain it to me.
Guys…gotta love us.
Vive la difference !!
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Fri Aug 10, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET The Politics of The Screen
We’re 88 days out from Election Day, and The Hollywood Reporter is taking a look back at the best election-themed movies – from ‘Dave’ to ‘All The President’s Men’. [THR]
Add to that list the new election comedy opening today, ‘The Campaign’. Stars Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis play two rival candidates in a battle for a North Carolina Congressional seat. You’ll want to see this one. [Trailer] [NYT]
Warner Brothers is holding back the release of ‘The Great Gatsby’ to allow for more time for music and effects, and to give the film a more lucrative summer release date in 2013. [LA Times]
Now, consider the ramifications the date change will have on the 2013 Oscars nods. [NYT]
Snarky film critic Judith Crist died this week. Her reviews were seen on “Today,” in TV Guide and the New York Herald Tribune. One director labeled her “Judas Crist” after a particularly scathing review. [Chicago Sun-Times]
By Patrick Derocher, on Thu Aug 9, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET Congressman Todd Akin won the Missouri Senate Primary in an upset after “support” from that state’s Democrats.
This is what happens when state politics intersects with national. After an ad blitz declaring him the most conservative contender for Missouri’s Senate seat, Representative Todd Akin scored an upset in the Republican primary last night, defeating Tea Party favorite John Brunner and former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman. The catch? The ads were paid for by McCaskill allies, hoping that Aki would prove the easiest opponent in the general. She got her wish, insofar as Akin won, but it remains to be seen whether this will be an ultimately successful maneuver. (n.b.- In 2002, California Governor Gray Davis made a similar move, running attack ads agains moderate Republican Richard Riordan. The gambit paid off, and Davis was reelected, though we all know what happened next.) [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
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