Paul Ryan chosen as the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I guess most people here probably don't give a shit, but I guess it's big news on the American political scene. All the talking heads are chattering about it.

For those of you outside the USA who don't know, he's one of the GOP's intellectual masterminds who thinks they can fix the ailing economy by gutting and/or privatizing the "entitlement programs", like medicare etc.

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/11/13232236-romney-introduces-paul-ryan-as-his-running-mate?lite



Ryan also trumpeted Republicans’ faith in private sector entrepreneurs, saying, “We look at one another's success with pride, not resentment, because we know, as more Americans work hard, take risks, succeed, more people will prosper, our communities will benefit, and individual lives will be uplifted and improved.”

That theme is similar to ones Ryan has sounded in the past. He has been outspoken in saying that America must be “an upward mobility society.”

He told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow last February, “We don't want a safety net that turns into a hammock that lulls people into dependency in this country. We want people to get up on their feet and grab that higher rung of the economic ladder.”

He said, “We don't believe in class division. We believe in growth and prosperity, helping people when they are down on their luck get back on their feet, and pro-growth economic policies that put America in the lead, that make us competitive, that stop tearing people down in this zero-sum thinking.”

oh boy

[Ostrinski]

Not the social conservative hardliner that he probably needs, but I think a lot of people predicted this.

[The Jay]

He'll get a lot of the Ron Paul crowd with Ryan as his pick.

[jookyle]

My favorite line on the matter: "People weren't sure how sincere Mitt Romney was about screwing the poor and middle class, because his positions are so malleable, so he picked Paul Ryan to prove he really means it."

[RedHammer]

Doesn't matter. Romney will not beat Obama. No way.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Not the social conservative hardliner that he probably needs, but I think a lot of people predicted this.

You think he needs a social conservative hardliner? I think most American voters are kind of turned off by that...

[RedHammer]

You think he needs a social conservative hardliner? I think most American voters are kind of turned off by that...

He'll need one to win the South. Maybe today the so-called "conservatives" are so fed up with Obama they'll just vote for Romney anyways.

Nobody that I've talked to that is voting for Romney actually likes him.

[RadioRaheem84]

Ryan is an Ayn Rand loving libertarian nutjob. The fact a moderate right wing republican chose him says that Romney needs to up his "street cred" among the hardliner GOP.

[Positivist]

I don't get why he didn't pick someone who is percieved as more of a centrist like huntsman, obviously all the conservatives and paultards were already going to vote Romney over Obama because they think Obama is a fascist-muslim-communist born outside of the us to a satanist gay couple and shucks well at least Romney's "american" (white.)

[Ostrinski]

You think he needs a social conservative hardliner? I think most American voters are kind of turned off by that...well, i think the fact that this is an even an issue definitely demonstrates a considerable divide among the right. I guess he decided that the libertarian vote was more valuable than the social conservative vote, probably because socially conservative ideas seem to be becoming more isolated. There might even be some accuracy to that, I can see more soc-cons voting for a libertarian than vice versa.

Although, I don't see this ameliorating the concerns that soc-cons have about his faith, past policies, etc

[PC LOAD LETTER]

He'll need one to win the South. Maybe today the so-called "conservatives" are so fed up with Obama they'll just vote for Romney anyways.

Nobody that I've talked to that is voting for Romney actually likes him.
Here (the south), I couldn't begin to count the number of times I've heard someone say "well, he ain't Obama!!" re: romney

[RedHammer]

Here (the south), I couldn't begin to count the number of times I've heard someone say "well, he ain't Obama!!" re: romney

Some people will delude themselves into thinking that Romney has any substance, but honestly, I doubt even Romney takes himself seriously. He's a joke. He doesn't relate to anybody. At least Obama has that "from humble beginnings" aura around him. Romney is the face of the 1%, of corporate America.

And still, sadly, I know many working class folks are going to vote for Romney; they have been conditioned to revere the wealthy.

[RadioRaheem84]

Romney is the face of the 1%, of corporate America

How anyone in America doesn't see this is beyond me?

[~Spectre]

What's interesting here will be the medicare and social security clash. The democrats are of course class enemies here too, but normally both parties shy way from open conflict about the (previously settled) question of whether these programs should even exist.

One side will be arguing a defense (though probably with some "serious but humane" cuts bullshit), while the other side will be arguing straight up privatization.

For what it's worth, it's an actual rare policy clash.

[right to left]

Not the social conservative hardliner that he probably needs, but I think a lot of people predicted this.
Although he is best known as an Ayn Rand-worshiping social darwinist, Paul Ryan is every bit as much of Christian theocrat as the other Veep prospects. He's against gay marriage and allowing women to have abortions, and even restricting most forms of birth control....and that seems to be enough to pass the Christian litmus test in the Republican Party these days!

[Princess Luna]

I heard on Reddit earlier, that he loooooved Ayn Rand until he found out she was an Atheist, then he never mentioned her again

[right to left]

What's interesting here will be the medicare and social security clash. The democrats are of course class enemies here too, but normally both parties shy way from open conflict about the (previously settled) question of whether these programs should even exist.

One side will be arguing a defense (though probably with some "serious but humane" cuts bullshit), while the other side will be arguing straight up privatization.

For what it's worth, it's an actual rare policy clash.
At one time, there used to be populist Democrats like Paul Wellstone, who didn't whore themselves out to corporate interests. Dennis Kucinich was a gadfly to corporate interests also, but the Democratic Party allowed the Republicans to re-district him out of a job. He had become an embarrassing reminder for Democrats of how they have sold out all of their principles in recent times, so the Obama Administration and the DNC was likely happier to see him gone than the Republicans were! And Bernie Sanders gets mentioned as the good Democrat, but the Vermont Senator is not really a Democrat! He caucuses with the Dems in the Senate, because....well he's a lot closer to their side than the Republicans, but Sanders has never joined the Democratic Party and runs as an independent socialist in his home state.

So, what's left of the Democratic Party today is a collection of opportunists who serve those who give them money, not the people they are elected to serve. The only clear difference between the two parties is that the Republicans are shameless servants of the plutocrats (think back to Rand Paul and others at a hearing on the banking scandals apologizing to Jamie Dimond of CitiGroup for calling him before the panel to explain how his bailed out bank lost up to 7 billion on their latest gambling binge with other people's money) the Democrats almost match the concessions to corporate interests, but avoid having their pictures taken with bank and oil company executives.

Anyway, on your point about Social Security and Medicare, Obama may demagogue Paul Ryan now that it suits his interests during his re-election campaign, but after the election, when all the MSM talk returns to the growing U.S. national debt, I'm willing to bet that a 2nd term Obama will return to that "Grand Bargain" idea with Ryan and the Republicans, and make the major cuts to all domestic social spending programs. What they won't cut is military spending, and they won't raise taxes on the rich....so, the whole election pageantry is completely meaningless unless public dissatisfaction starts increasing the support for marginalized third parties. A third party winning a significant share of the popular vote would at least get the message across that the people are catching on to the game that's been played on them by the two party duopoly!

[~Spectre]

I heard on Reddit earlier, that he loooooved Ayn Rand until he found out she was an Atheist, then he never mentioned her again

He's a first rate careerist. There's interesting analysis out now about how he's basically led a successful insurgency for his faction of house republicans. He's been successfully undermining the nominal Republican "leadership" for a while now.

Consider, back in 2005-2006, Karl Rove warned George W. Bush to distance himself from this extremist.

[~Spectre]

A third party winning a significant share of the popular vote would at least get the message across that the people are catching on to the game that's been played on them by the two party duopoly!


Third parties can't work in the U.S. system. And while the Democrats surely do want to cut the domestic programs, it's simply a false equivalency to pretend that Ryan is only superficially different.

Even extremists like George W. Bush thought that Ryan was was too far out on the fringe.

There are sections of capital that, while they may despise Social security, also recognize that Ryan's ideas would lead to a blood bath.

In other words, it's not a moral objection, but rather a difference in cost-benefit analysis.

[campesino]

I'm doing my part to help Romney lose by encouraging right leaning friends to vote for Gary Johnson.

[DasFapital]

too bad no one will ever vote Jill Stein. Hell, even Roseanne Barr would be a good choice.