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Via commentor Comrade Mary, enjoy President Obama welcome the Robot/Undertaker 2012 act (h/t commentor Max) to the Big Show:
CHICAGO — Just over 24 hours after Rep. Paul Ryan was tapped for the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket, President Obama today welcomed the Wisconsin congressman to the race, branding him the “ideological leader of Republicans in Congress.”
Addressing donors at a campaign fundraiser on the south side of Chicago, Obama slammed his rivals’ belief in “top-down economics” as a solution to the nation’s economic woes, insisting the approach has been tried and failed.
“This kind of top-down economics is central to Gov. [Mitt] Romney and it is central to his running mate,” Obama told roughly 1,000 donors huddled inside the Bridgeport Arts Center.
“Just yesterday, my opponent chose his running mate, the ideological leader of Republicans in Congress, Mr. Paul Ryan. I want to congratulate Mr. Ryan. I know him. I welcome him to the race,” Obama said.
Some members of the crowd began booing at the mention of Ryan, but Obama cut them off.
“He is a decent man, he is a family man, he is an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney’s vision, but it is a vision that I fundamentally disagree with,” he said….
Yet Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all — all honorable men! Or as John Heilemann explicates the horse-race in NYMag:
… So this was not a safe or conventional pick… This was a pick about ideas, about policies, about core convictions. But it was also a pick driven by political weakness. All along, Team Romney’s bedrock strategy has been to make the 2012 election a clean referendum on Obama’s economic management and leadership, an election about unemployment, growth, and wages. In elevating Ryan, what Team Romney has done is execute a sharp U-turn, embracing the theory that 2012 will not be a pure referendum but a choice election, and one in which the two sides’ contrasting approaches to the deficit, debt, entitlements, and taxes will take center stage. And while this is surely not a Hail Mary pass on the order of John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, it is almost as much, as some Romneyites admit, an attempt to (pardon the expression) change the game.
All of which helps explain why the Obamans are grinning madly. It’s not simply that they, too, see the pick as an admission by Team Romney that its strategy was failing. Or that Ryan doesn’t clearly pass the test of being (and, crucially, looking) ready to be president. Or that his utter lack of private-sector bona fides undercuts, however mildly, Romney’s attacks on Obama for lacking same. It’s that Chicago and the White House perceive this as a broader capitulation regarding the core dynamic of the race: an acceptance of the “choice election” framing, which is exactly the frame that the incumbent and his people have embraced and attempted to propagate from the start.
And just why have they done that? Because they knew full well that if the race were purely a referendum on Obama, they would likely lose — but if bright lines could be drawn on values and visions regarding fiscal choices, that was the kind of election they could win. This was why Chicago was planning to hang the Ryan budget around Romney’s neck regardless of whether the congressman was on the ticket or not. Obama’s data jockeys have been polling and focus-grouping on this for months, and they are over the moon about what they have found. And while that data is guarded by lock, key, and Uzi-toting thugs (kidding — sorta), anyone interested in the topic should take a look at the work that Stan Greenberg and his team at Greenberg Quinlan Rosner did recently on the Ryan agenda and its electoral implications for Democracy Corps. To put it mildly, their conclusion is fairly bracing:
At the outset, the Ryan budget (described in Ryan’s actual language) barely garners majority support. And voters raise serious doubts when they hear about proposed cuts — particularly to Medicare, education, and children of the working poor. President Obama’s lead against Romney more than doubles when the election is framed as a choice between the two candidates’ positions on the Ryan budget — particularly its impact on the most vulnerable. The President makes significant gains among key groups, including independents and voters in the Rising American Electorate (the unmarried women, youth, and minority voters who drove Obama to victory in 2008).
Be of good cheer, Democrats!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Honorable men or men of honor?
MikeJ
Come I to speak in Caesar’s funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honorable man.
Gozer
Delicious…just…delicious.
mamayaga
In other words, just communicate the essence of the Romney/Ryan budget in short, simple phrases, people will be aghast, and you’ve won. Sounds like a task custom-made for the Obama campaign.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
What’s great about the
RyanRomney plan is that it sticks it to everyone, and I mean everyone, but the wealthy. The poor, the sick, the elderly (not distinct groups), veterans, students, women. If there’s one redeeming quality is that it doesn’t discriminate against minorities; it’s entirely a class war document.Little Boots
Actually this is right. this is the fight we should be having.
mamayaga
And I see over at the GOS that Romney surrogates are walking back the idea that Mitt will try to put some space between himself and Ryan’s budget. Looks like the Repub commissars are going to enforce ideological purity.
Valdivia
Have you guys noticed how Romney is assaulting a bunch of high circulation political websites with pop ups that follow you around the page. So annoying.
I am also just seething about that 60 Min interview. I think i need a talk me down. /pouts
The Thin Black Duke
“Hey, Ryan! Dat’s a nice campaign ya got dere. Be a shame if something happened to it, y’know?”
Little Boots
@Valdivia:
HE’S DOOMED.
seriously.
moonbat
And framing the general election as a choice between these two policy alternatives is so going to help the congressional races, because those Tea Party freshmen idiots voted for the Ryan budget — twice.
I am of good cheer.
Valdivia
@Little Boots:
thank you I am just having one of those days. I also know the polls will be all over the place this week and that will just reinforce it until this Village-created bubble passes. sigh.
Little Boots
@moonbat:
thank you.
CaliCat
Robot/Undertaker 2012. Hahahahaha, that’s a keeper.
Anya
I wonder if Mitt Romney baptized Paul Ryan’s father into Mormon church before he offered Ryan the VP slot?
mdblanche
Looks like somebody’s goin’ rogue already.
Yutsano
@Valdivia: National polls are bupkess. Obama still has a nice comfortable lead in the swing states, and after the two bounces he’ll get over the next couple of weeks I predict Willard tops out after the real horserace gets started after Labour Day.
And just for the cheers: according to TPM Warren is leasing Cosmo Boy. :)
ChicagoThug
Typical chicago thug actions from the Kenyan usurper who is also soft on terrorism….because shut up that’s why.
kimp
While I agree wit this post, and hope for the best, I think the voter ID laws in various states that have been allowed to stand or has not been repealed, will matter the most.
Anya
Wuz Up @Little Boots?
Violet
@Valdivia:
Fret not. It’s nothing but a honeymoon interview. Most people won’t know it even happened–they’re too busy watching the Olympics closing ceremony. This was never going to be a hard hitting interview. It’s all fluff, along the lines of “Tell me how you two met. When did Mitt propose?” Tougher questions will come later.
Little Boots
@Yutsano:
true,
the romneybot is doomed.
it’s all so sad.
Suffern Ace
@Yutsano: Leasing Cosmo Boy? I assume she’s doing that for the tax benefit.
Anya
@Yutsano: who did she lease him to?
Valdivia
@Violet:
whew. that makes me feel better. I sincerely hope they don’t have Schieffer doing any of the debates, he loves him some Romney.
@Yutsano:
thank you I know I am being irrational. :)
ETA: that leasing typo is fucking golden. :D
MikeJ
@Yutsano: Qu’est-ce que dealio with the meetup?
amk
@mdblanche: You could see from the mittbot’s facial expression – ‘wtf are you doing to me ryan?’. Sure shows who is the bo$$.
Of course, brown-nosing schieffer let them get away with their blatant lies.
Maude
Obama neatly tied Romney to the House Republicans, Reaganomics and Ryan’s budget plan. He hasn’t even gotten started yet.
It will be a wonderful election season.
dead existentialist
@The Thin Black Duke: Heh heh.
Violet
@Valdivia: Are the debates set yet?
Little Boots
I seriously hope we have a real up-or-down election about where we want to go in this country.
We could, but we won’t.
Valdivia
@Violet:
yes, format and dates (I saw at Political Wire a few weeks ago).
I don’t know who will be leading each one though. I remember Schieffer being horrid to Obama last time around.
Interesting that Romney cancelled on Gwen Iffel to go get the softball interview from Schieffer.
Anya
@mdblanche: Don’t you love Mittenz adoring political spouse dreamy gaze at granny starver?
Hill Dweller
@Valdivia: In an election year, Obama can drive the narrative, rendering the Villagers largely irrelevant.
I’m sure there will be plenty of tongue baths for the Willard campaign i the next couple of weeks, but, on balance, I think Ryan is an awful pick.
The Obama campaign was in the middle of destroying Willard, which led to the Ryan pick. They’ve taken everything Willard was using as a reason to vote for him, and turned it into a weakness. Imagine what they’re going to do with Ryan.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
Honest to FSM, I didn’t have a clue what that meant until I saw comments from @Suffern Ace: and @Anya: !
Valdivia
@Hill Dweller:
:D I hope they stomp him good.
Soonergrunt
All the right wingers I know on FaceBook are very happy with Rmoney selecting the Zombie Eyed Granny Starver. They all think that it’s some kind of master-stroke.
And they’re also rehashing all of the winger favorites “I can’t wait till the debates” and how maybe this time they’ll finally get to vet the President, and so on.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@mdblanche: I love the look of utter anguish on Romney’s face and Ryan, wow. The guy sounds like BS artist.
Yutsano
@Suffern Ace: @Anya: @Valdivia: Heh. Wow. I didn’t even notice and got up to cycle the wash. But yeah, even unintentional that’s pretty funny!
@MikeJ: heard nothing from BG, I assume something will happen but no idea of the when. Only problem with the bar idea is if they decide to bring Xavi along to meet us crazy peeps as well.
Little Boots
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
the look of doom
MikeJ
@Yutsano: From FC Barcelona? We could do tapas.
Violet
@Valdivia: Well, of course he did. Romney is a coward. He’ll go wherever it’s easiest.
@mdblanche: Oh, that’s funny. You can see the look of panic cross Mitt’s face. It’s a nice talking point, but it would never happen, of course.
feebog
It’s been less than 24 hours and I am already sick to death of Paul Ryan. The man is seriously creeping me out. The guy looks like an updated version of Dracula. This election can’t be over soon enough
Anya
@Violet: I think CBS is casting its lot with the Romney campaign. Remember Jan Crowford’s interview with the Romneys?
Violet
@Anya: Let’s see how well that works for them when Romney is tanking in the polls.
The Thin Black Duke
@Anya: Good. There’s always room for one more on Romney’s sinking yacht.
Hill Dweller
@Soonergrunt: Of course the wingnuts love Ryan. He is the innumerate person’s idea of a wonk.
MikeJ
@Anya:
Meh. She knows them. Doesn’t mean anyone else is for them. I know her (actually, I know her ex husband better, but I knew her when she was married) and I’m not for Romney.
RaflW
Dan Balz was on Meet the Press today and when he started talking about how poorly the Ryan budget does with Republican voters, the reaction shots from Rich Lowry were priceless…like a bored man sucking a dry lemon.
Because Lowry knew Balz was correct, and that Balz is a mild and middling man and not someone Rich could take on like Maddow – Rich would look like an ass challenging the bland but devastating facts about how much Republican non-ideologue voters (aka lunchbucket Repubs, “Reagan Democrats” etc).
The Ryan plan is a disaster fro all but the top 1% and they cannot, ever, put enough lipstick on that pig. And a whole bunch of Repubs in the House voted for it. I think the House is more in play now than 3 days ago.
Yutsano
@MikeJ: Work Dawg (who I no longer work with but whatever) recommended Tango for that, but I’m amenable to anywhere I can get white anchovies and CaseyL can get orsters.
@SiubhanDuinne: I typoed and failed to notice. :) Warren is of course LEADING Cosmo Boy. But in her defence she seems like she’s campaigning like mad.
dogwood
I didn’t watch the 60 Minutes interview, but frankly I wouldn’t expect it to be hard hitting. The same interview with Obama and Biden 4 years ago was also very flattering. The cancellation of the Ifill interview is interesting. Undoubtedly 60 minutes has a larger audience, so I can’t fault them for the switch. But it does suggest that this roll-out was very last minute. A sign of panic, I think.
CaseyL
@MikeJ: There’s a meetup? I’d love to see everyone again! Will it be posted on the BJ Meetup Blog?
James
let’s be sure our ducks are in a row, apparently you believe two things, first that Romney was losing and that’s why they gave up on their strategy and second that Obama was going to certainly lose if Romney continued with his previous strategy. Which is it you are trying to say here?
Yutsano
@CaseyL: BGinCHI is in town meeting famiglia, but he’s having trouble nailing down a date. So we might just have to throw something together at the last minute and call it good.
MikeJ
@CaseyL: BGinChi is coming to town. I think sometime this week. There was a bit of talk about Ivar’s Salmon House in the bar area, but we never really settled anything. Help me continue to bug him and Yutsy about it whenever you see either of them here.
MikeJ
@Yutsano: Also too, my mom’s bday is next weekend (same day as Bill Clinton) so I gotta take her to fancy schmancy. I think she wants to check out Greg Atkinson’s new place, but it’s over on Bainbridge and I gotta check ferries.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: If BGinCHI is as funny in person as he is on this blog, you guys are gonna have to find a way to stream this meet-up for the rest of us!
Really, think about it. You couldn’t possibly do it less well than NBC did for the olympics.
Little Boots
it is impossible to like Mitt.
It just is.
Violet
@Little Boots: Mitt isn’t used to needing people to like him. He’s used to making people obey him. Gotta be hard to adjust.
imbrium
@Hill Dweller: Sheer win, sir or madame. Very well done.
CaliCat
“If the race was purely a referendum on Obama – they would likely lose” I do not agree with this statement at all. Sure it would be more challenging for the campaign but the president has a good record on enough issues to make the race his to lose. Also, Heilemann appears to be grossly underestimating the president’s political skills and the efficacy of the Obama campaign in general.
Greg
The Ryan pick adds a little variability to the presidential contest, which is slightly bad for us, because this time last week it was a sure thing. But Obama has still got this. And it adds a _lot_ of upside to Democratic House races and a little to Democratic Senate races which is where, frankly, we really needed the help in order to be able to successfully govern this country.
Little Boots
@Violet:
and that does not play well in peoria.
RK
“Be of good cheer, Democrats!”
Overconfidence goeth before the fall.
Mr Stagger Lee
Off topic I wonder if the Fox News people were getting the vapors over John Lennon and his song Imagine, being played at the close! First the celebration of National Health Care in the opening and now a song that celebrating Humanism well played London!!!
Xecky Gilchrist
GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!
Little Boots
romney’s doomed. but we really need to figure out the senate. what a pain in the ass that can be.
pseudonymous in nc
Heilemann’s right: Ayn P. LaRu comes with the teabagger imprimatur, but he also comes with something that Rmoney doesn’t (and that Palin didn’t, for that matter): a set of very clear, oft-stated ideological principles that go down as easily as a tape-delayed Olympics to sports fans.
@CaliCat:
That’s true, up to a point, but the American electorate has a bad habit of collectively embracing a “kick ’em all out” approach to voting, even when the alternative turns out to be considerably worse. Rmoney seems initially to have gambled on being sufficiently inconsistent (and mendacious) to run on “I don’t stand for anything, but at least I’m not the black guy”, but that’s no longer operative.
Yutsano
@Xecky Gilchrist: THIS!!
joel hanes
@mamayaga:
just communicate the essence of the Romney/Ryan budget in short, simple phrases, people will be aghast, and you’ve won.
Unfortunately, when one accurately describes the essence of the R/R budget, a substantial portion of the electorate simply refuses to believe that nice people like that Mr. Romney could be so evil, and those voters conclude that the messenger must therefor be lying about the R/R budget.
I have several family members in that camp; it is inconceivable to them that fine upstanding Republicans could be as evil as they actually are, so these family members have concluded that Democrats must be consistently lying about Republican policy ideas.
Tom Q
@CaliCat: I don’t agree with the “If it was up/down on Obama, he’d lose” either, but it’s an article of faith among the journalist class. They tell one another over and over that unemployment at 8% is an automatic incumbent loss. They overlook the fact that two of the biggest blowouts in US history — FDR in ’36, Reagan in ’84 — occurred with very high unemployment. In each of those cases, though — as well as this year — you had a charismatic incumbent who’d significantly shifted the direction of the country, and had the economy moving in the right direction. The Lichtman Keys system has predicted an easy Obama win all year on that basis.
But the pundit class will stick to its narrative, and, when Obama wins, explain it was only because of the ferocious negative attacks he unleashed on poor Mitt Romney.
MikeJ
The Vespas in the closing ceremony are fucking awesome. Yes, I realise easters saw it three hours ago. Still cool for us in the sticks.
joel hanes
@mamayaga:
Great nym, by the way.
I hope that if and when you become a grandmother, you find a way to live in a little hut that walks around on chicken legs.
Little Boots
America is not going to vote vote for this rich, bitch morman. it won’t happen.
Little Boots
can we get the Senate?
CaseyL
I loves me some orsters :)
Re: 2012 Election: If this turns out to be about issues, it’ll be a change. I think the last time a Presidential election was about issues was, what, The Economy in 1992?
It would be lovely to hang the last 40+ years of plutocracy around the GOP’s neck in the most vicious way possible. So far Obama’s team has been shivving R/R very nicely. I hope they keep it up. FSM knows they have lots and lots of source material to work with.
MikeJ
@Yutsano: Tango has bacon wrapped dates.
Joel
@James: The clear argument is that 1) Romney was/is losing: the polls reflect that and his odds on 538 are ~29%.
2) Romney’s original strategy was the right one but executed horribly which forced him to go with:
3) Romney is shaking up his strategy to change his fortunes, but that new strategy may turn out more favorable for Obama.
Frankly, I don’t think it changes the race much at all.
BruceFromOhio
No. Until these soulless Republican ratfuckers running my Gaia-damned country into the wall, off the cliff get their Gaia-damned thrashing at the polls, and get sent packing back to whatever fucked up think-tanks and lobby firms they came from, I will not be of good cheer. I will be of modest cheer.
Little Boots
we win, I think we win.
robertdsc-PowerBook
Fixed.
Fuck both of them. Goddamned bastards.
Mark S.
@CaliCat:
I don’t agree with that statement either. This whole year I’ve felt Obama had a 60-70% chance of winning. Now I think it’s a lot higher.
If the Republicans weren’t so batshit insane it would be a lot closer. But unless you’re really rich, really fundie, or really stupid, the GOP doesn’t have a lot to offer you.
Yutsano
@MikeJ: This has been observed. Plus fairly late hours so I could join on a weekday, although I could pull a trick to get out an hour early should it become necessary.
Little Boots
we gotta figure out the Senate, though.
John?
Peter
I’ve been in Washington state all weekend for a wedding (a couple hours north of Seattle) so I’ve been pretty unplugged. So I didn’t find out about this until I picked up the paper over post-wedding brunch this morning. I could barely contain my glee. The Ryan budget was always going to come up in the campaign, but this VP pick is going to center-stage it. And that gives political oxygen to attacks on GOP house and senate members on it.
Ryan is so unbelievably toxic that I’m honestly aghast that Romney made such a colossal blunder as picking him. Happy, but aghast.
Ash Can
@Yutsano:
OK, I know that’s a typo, but it’s awesome.
gwangung
@Yutsano: Meh. Too damn busy to pay attention.
By the way…I’m writing a piece for an installation piece, a staged walking tour of the International District, covering issues, art and local history, set for mid October. Two real charming pieces, one adorable piece…and then there’s mine. More details to come.
mamayaga
@joel hanes: I am a grandmother! My name comes from a blog I ran briefly for my daughter (mother of the most adorable two-year-old the world has ever seen) who used the name Baba Yaga. For my granddaughter’s 1st b’day I gave her a cuckoo clock I’d customized to be a little chicken-legged house with Baba Yaga peeking out a window.
Martin
Tell me again that Obama didn’t spend the last 2 years promoting Ryan in order to get him onto the GOP ticket. Obama is going to define Romney by Ryan.
This really could be the best thing to happen to this country. The only way out of this anti-tax religion is to bring it out in the open and break it. Either the Dems will succeed at that, and we’ll be able to get an entirely different legislative trajectory next year, or he’ll fail, and the country will go all-in on it until it breaks the nation.
Let’s just get this over with.
Brachiator
Damn! Anyone notice that these are almost the same words that McCain, in a moment of honesty and grace, used to silence a woman who accused Obama of not being an American?
Spaghetti Lee
@Little Boots:
Random thoughts about the Senate:
With a Democratic VP, we can effectively afford to lose 3 seats and still maintain a majority. I’m not even sure the Dems are running anyone in Nebraska, so let’s call that a loss. I haven’t seen the North Dakota Republican with less than a 6% lead, so I’d say that’s probably a loss too. McCaskill and Tester could both hang in there, being incumbents, but they’ll have it tough. One good thing is that they’re both facing sitting GOP Reps, who voted for the Ryan budget and all. I’ll take a ‘wait and see’ approach for just how badly that will hurt the GOP in downticket races.
As far as pickups go, Warren’s an obvious choice. I think if Obama wins big, she wins big-that’s not just coattails, they’re very closely associated with each other. I’m not sure there are any contested GOP-held seats where the Dem is completely out of it: in Indiana, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas, I think it’s all less than a 10-point margin.
Funny thing: the conventional wisdom is that the Dems would have a hell of a time defending 23 seats this year, but in at least half of those I’m not even sure who the opponent is, let alone if they’re a threat. Take Minnesota, for example. Is anyone important even running against Klobuchar? Stabenow, Brown, and Casey all have ‘serious’ opponents, but I haven’t seen them behind in the polls at all. Nelson in Florida also seems to be doing well. Other Dem seats in this election are places like Vermont, Rhode Island, Hawaii-I doubt the Republicans are doing anything there.
These are just some observations I’ve had. Any thoughts?
Bago
I wasn’t able to complete the Seattle meetup, but the wonkette Seattle meetup was fun. I approve of this meetup frenzy.
Dennis SGMM
I’m still amazed by the fact that the people who are being paid good money to run the Romney campaign allowed the wingnuts to force Ryan on them. I mean, they have know that their candidate is a vacuous dick so add a another vacuous dick to the ticket?
Kamikaze run?
MikeJ
@Dennis SGMM: Have you ever walked into a bank, signed the back of a check, and when the cashier asked said, “why yes, I do do work for the campaign.”?
I think that’s the explanation.
Brachiator
@Mr Stagger Lee:
Equally cool was the shot of mayor of London Boris Johnson rocking out to the Spice Girls.
MikeJ
@Brachiator: Sadly, the Spice Girls were actually better than Liam Gallagher. But Eric Idle is awesome.
Mark S.
From one of the links in the post, I learned something I didn’t know about the Ryan budget:
I think that’s a small price to pay to ensure that Mitt Romney pays a 0.82% rate on his income.
dogwood
@Spaghetti Lee:
Maine will go to Independent, Angus King, who will more than likely caucus with the Democrats. If my calculations are correct (and Warren wins) the Republicans will have to take 5 seats. Montana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Virginia are the most likely. Nebraska and ND are gone which means our fate lies in the hands of McCaskill, Tester, Kaine, and Elizabeth Warren.
Mark S.
@Mark S.:
Christ, the ads write themselves.
Nutella
@Dennis SGMM:
I think what happened was that Romney was scared the convention would try to dump him as the candidate (and possibly succeed) so he had to get a Tea Party darling on his side before the convention starts.
Yutsano
@Spaghetti Lee: I couldn’t even begin to tell you who’s running against Cantwell. Kerrey is running in Nebraska but I think that’s a lost cause. And I wouldn’t quite give up on North Dakota yet. Heitkamp has won office there before and she’s a fighter, plus her opponent has made a couple of doofus mistakes that she has yet to fully exploit. Flake will probably win Arizona but again I wouldn’t quite count Carmona out. And I’m taking a wait and see approach on Texas. Willard picking a Rand acolyte may have changed the dynamic of all the races in ways that aren’t obvious just yet.
CW in LA
@CaliCat: It’s a good one, but Gekko/Galt ’12 is still my favorite so far.
PS: Galaxy 4, chivas usa 0. Hell. Fucking. Yeah.
JoyfulA
@Spaghetti Lee: Casey doesn’t have a serious opponent, just an otherwise unknown coal baron with money who used it to win the primary against a bunch of other unknowns.
MikeJ
@CW in LA:
Keeping up with the Cardassians.
suzanne
@CW in LA:
Concur. I saw that and laughed mightily.
No matter what happens this election, I think the right/left divide continues to get starker and more treacherous to cross. That gives me a bit of a sad.
Jewish Steel
Point of order: Can we not now say “The ZEGS” rather than go to all the bother of typing out Zombie Eyed etc etc?
Yutsano
@suzanne: This is what happens when one side is told over and over again that the otherside is evil, and any form of cooperation is assisting evil in its goals. Classic politics of fear, and it’s pretty much all the Republicans have at this point.
suzanne
@Yutsano: Well, I confess that I’m as scared of them as they are of us. So I don’t know where we go from here. I don’t know how or if this gets better.
danah gaz (fka gaz)
Robot-Chicken/Soylent-Granny 2012!eleventyone
“Fuck you America”
Villago Delenda Est
@MikeJ:
Since the Emissary hasn’t checked in recently, I’ll simply pass on what I’m sure he’d be saying.
“I approve.”
Ryan as Weyoun. It is genius.
El Cid
@Yutsano: In fairness, though, the other side is evil — there really isn’t anything on the Republican / conservative movement agenda which isn’t venomously harmful and perhaps fatal to the majority of the population of the nation, if not the world.
Yutsano
@suzanne: My honest recommendation is get thee to a blue state as soon as you can. I know that’s more complicated for your profession over your hubby’s. Or emigrate. I bet Vancouver would LOVE both you guys.
@MikeJ: This I approve of. Very very much. :)
Donut
@RaflW:
Couldn’t agree more. The House leadership has been harping on the Ryan budget for months, so you know they are happy, and lots of reports out today mention that the Obama camp is ready and eager to frame the choice around that document.
I think in the end the Ryan pick was both the only thing Mitt could do, and one if his worst possible choices.
Still no reason to get cocky, but so far so good. Whatever momentum shift they get out of Ryan will be completely dead post-convention.
El Cid
@MikeJ: Gul Dukat was far more likeable and accessible than Romney ever could be.
suzanne
@Yutsano:
I fantasize about that, but then I also remember that some of have to stay in redder places in order to fight the battles. I’m volunteering tomorrow night for Carmona and Schapira. Damn skippy.
Yutsano
@suzanne: I’m honestly hoping Carmona pulls it off, and now with the ZEGS (h/t JS) in the mix, highlighting the extreme positions of Flake’s party just got easier. Plus didn’t Flake lose to that idiot Hayworth once too?
Jewish Steel
@ yutsano:
:)
Cacti
Having had 24 hours to digest it now, Paul Ryan seems like a desperation move by Romney. After the Romneycare gaffe by Andrea Saul, I think Mitt was legitimately starting to fear a rebellion on the convention floor.
I expect Mitt will get the customary one or two week polling bounce from his shiny new VP pick. Other than exciting “teh base” does Paul Ryan bring any other voting bloc to the table? As the polls above mention, he might actually cost Romney votes with seniors.
Susana Martinez was the potential VP pick that made me nervous, as she had appeal with women and Hispanic voters.
Mike
@Hill Dweller:
Hopefully, they will do nothing with Ryan. Ryan isn’t running for president. Just take the Ryan plan and make it Mitt’s. Force him to run away from it.
CW in LA
@El Cid: And a lot more competent.
Cacti
@Mike:
This.
People don’t vote for or against the #2 guy on the ticket.
Just ask Mitt whether he favors ending Medicare, privatizing Social Security, and hiking income taxes on the middle class.
suzanne
@Yutsano: Nope, Hayworth was in the Scottsdale/ Tempe district, and Flake is in Mesa/Apache Junction.
However, I am in the new district, and I like our guy’s chances.
patrick II
@Mark S.:
So, you’re rolling the NRA into the “really stupid” class?
CaliCat
@pseudonymous in nc:
This is an excellent point. I keep thinking that if President Obama were white (or if a white Democratic president had his record) the race wouldn’t be close at all. I don’t think that’s what Heilemann was talking about though.
mdblanche
@MikeJ: A deceitful but charming leader revitalizes his struggling campaign by striking an alliance with an organization that can provide him with all the fanatical foot soldiers he could ever need in his quest to get the black guy out of the place that’s supposed to be his. He never does realize that it’s his own independence and his own people he’s just sold out and his oily new assistant is in fact his new boss. There’s no part of that which doesn’t work, besides “but charming.”
PeakVT
@mdblanche: Should we expect Romney to be sealed in the burning caves with the Tea-Wraiths and the holy budget plan at the end of the campaign?
JustAnotherBob
TenguPhule
Ciaphas Cain does not approve.
CaliCat
I think the Obama campaign does need to go after Ryan especially since he’s most likely going to be Romney’s main attack dog. Paul Ryan is a skilled liar who is very good at playing the “earnest one” out to save white America from the scary black president. The Obama camp needs to do everything they can to discredit him.
CaliCat
@Tom Q:
Yep, same old conventional wisdom blah-blah. I figured as much.
Calouste
@Mike:
That will make a good impression with the voters, the Presidential candidate running away from the only thing that his VP candidate is noted for.
Suffern ACE
@Calouste: Yep. That leaves us with “chosen for his wonky sex appeal to win over the ladies” shtik once again.
AxelFoley
@RK:
Tell that shit to the GOP.
Narcissus
@JustAnotherBob: This is pretty damn awesome.
fuckwit
OK, this is obvious.
The RMoney gaffe calling Ryan “the next president” is very illustrative of the strategy and where the money boys are at.
They’re not running RMoney this year. They’re running Ryan in 2016.
RMoney is their Bob Dole. He’s in this because he’s being a good soldier for the Rovians– look the Rethugs have got to run SOMEONE!
I think this is also the role old Walnuts served in 2008. They knew nobody after 8 years of Shrub, could win against a strong Democratic candidate. So they dragged an old political soldier out to take one for the team.
Ryan is raw meat to the corporate base. He’s their vision of a hopey-changey youth candidate…. groomed for 2016.
Yes, they’re spending a lot of money, but I don’t think their objective is to take the WH. They’re trying to flip the Senate and expand House majorities. That’s where the real action is. And having corporate blow-boy like Ryan on the ticket will help loosen billionaire checkbooks like nothing else could!
Think about this: whomever is president next year, they are in deep trouble if Rethugs are in charge of making the laws.
I’m tired of the cult-of-personality obsession with Presidents in this country. Presidents– at least of the variety which understands the Constitution, which nowadays means Democrats– are only there to enforce the laws.
Laws are made by Congress. That’s where the action is… or isn’t, as long as Rethugs are in charge of it.
If you want anything to happen, to improve– hell, to not fall any further down the damn toilet– nowadays you need a Democratic president AND a Democratic Congress (including Senate supermajority). That’s the stakes in this game.
Kane
The selection of Ryan might be a popular choice with the republican base, but it’s doubtful that the selection convinced a single independent voter to side with Romney. If anything, the pick of Ryan has probably swayed some independent voters towards Obama.
Geoduck
@CaliCat:
Racism is a lot of it, but let’s not forget that the economy still sucks for a lot of people, and that doesn’t change whatever the president’s skin-color. When that’s the case, whether it’s his fault or not, the incumbent has his work cut for him.
Frankensteinbeck
@fuckwit:
Then they’re morons. Ryan is also a terrible candidate, and having a terrible duo on the top of the ticket is the worst thing they could do for their downticket races. There is no conspiracy or long game here. The ‘money boys’ were infighting over which of their really lousy candidates would make it to the nomination. They are as crazy as the base.
raven
You heard it here first, Mornin Joe hasn’t been more excited about HIS party for over a decade.
Princess
Hey! I was there! I heard this speech! He was great and the crowd, most of whom had paid only $51 to be there was young and enthusiastic. Coolest was standing in the back and seeing all the waiters snapping photos and showing their Obama teeshirts under their uniforms.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Metrosexual black Marc Antony FTW!
One of my local grocery stores is two stories. The second floor is actually a mezzanine with small cafe tables around the edges and multiple large screen TVs hanging a few feet beyond them. I was treated to one of Rmoney’s welfare ads, followed immediately by Obama’s Son of BOSS ad. I left there happy.
Keith G
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Notice how many of the groups mentioned by Belafon are targeted by new voting laws.
I am so freaking happy that this new ideological dimension has been added to the campaign, but we can win the war of ideas hands down and still lose the final vote count.
Please work in your community to assist those who are finding ways to help more people be able to vote.
Randy P
My main concern is the two things I’ve heard several times before: (1) The Ryan budget is so bad, sounding so much like it’s constructed by movie villains, that voters don’t actually believe what’s in it and (2) when asked about some of the movie-villain provisions, Ryan simply squirts squid ink and lies.
The result is that it could come off sounding like Romney’s ridiculous lies about “Obama is cutting Medicaid by 20 trillion dollars!”
So how do we actually convey to voters what’s in it and make them believe it?
Randy P
@CaliCat:
This runs through my mind every time I hear a national poll broken down by race and gender, and hear that Romney has a majority of white males. How can a majority of any group be favoring that guy?
Keith G
@Randy P: Marketing 101 – A simple, consistent message repeated very, very often.
JD Rhoades
@Yutsano:
I’d rather see her owning him.
gnomedad
@BruceFromOhio:
How about “Don’t Panic”?
gnomedad
@BruceFromOhio:
How about “Don’t Panic”?
chopper
@fuckwit:
it’s true, it’s a long game. i think the GOP had the same idea in 2008, but they couldn’t find the right kind of young GOP wonderboy to groom for 2012. that’s why palin was such a hilarious pick.
ultimately they want, as norquist said, a brainless bill-signing machine. fill the house with teabaggers who will gladly work one or two terms, crash the whole system, and all the blame ends up on the poor gooper shmuck who signed it. that’s the one thing about mittens that excites these guys – the prospect that he’s willing to bow down before these fuckers and sign this garbage just to be president even if it ends up ruining any legacy he could have. he takes the blame and fuck him, they never liked him anyways.
who’s going to remember the names of some one-term teabillies who voted to crash the economy? who’s going to spit on the ground every time ‘president romney’ is mentioned because he signed the bills? everyone.
Catsy
@Peter:
This is pretty much where I’m at. Romney didn’t have a whole lot of good options, but his safest bet would’ve been to pick a complete nothingburger of a person who didn’t run against him in the primary, some relatively obscure good old boy who isn’t blatantly moderate but who isn’t going to challenge or scare people either. Failing that, someone reliably enough a conservative that it’ll bring out the base.
He’s accomplished the last at least, but Ryan was quite possibly one of the single worst choices he could’ve made. Talk about a drowning man crying out for someone to throw him an anvil.
Here’s what makes this so bad for Republicans: it makes it much harder for them that they lost the election because they didn’t nominate someone sufficiently conservative. Romney has just made the election a direct referendum on our two opposite visions for the country. The more most Americans learn about what a Ryan/Romney administration would mean, the more appalled they’ll be. And Romney is going to be a terrible salesperson forced to peddle something ideologically rigid that he doesn’t really believe in.
chopper
@Kane:
or will, once obama’s campaign kicks in to high gear. so far obama has owned the optics of this campaign and has done a pretty bang-up job of defining his opponent on his terms. he isn’t going to slow down now that ryan’s the veep pick.
chopper
@Catsy:
they’ll just do the same as last time, running around screaming that the head of the ticket didn’t ‘throw any punches’.
Falmouth
I think that Romney saw the writing on the wall and picked the demon of the right so that he could say “see I told you going even further right would not work”. He can now blame the extreme right for his failings and ride off into the sunset thinking it was not his fault.
xian
@Tom Q: exactly, and it will sadden them
WaterGirl
@Falmouth: I’m not sure that will work with the radical republican party, but it could work with the Mormon hierarchy and it could work with other businessmen, and those have to be the two things Romney really cares about in the long run.
Falmouth
The radical right has not and will never accept him as other than “not Obama”. It’s more for his peers as you say.
Jay C
@Mark S.:
Maybe: but these groups aren’t as trivial a segment of the populace (or, sadly, the electorate) as to be dismissable. To take your categories in order:
1. The “really rich” will be doing their damnedest to shovel as much money to the GOP campaign(s) as our sick election laws will allow: whether directly or shrouded in SuperPACs – especially if the Romney/Ryan ticket is still lagging in national polling. Yeah, tsunamis of BS political ads shouldn’t make th major difference that the do, but what can you do?…
2. As for the “really fundie”, check out this article by Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly (warning: severely depressing). These people aren’t going to go away, and will most likely interpret a GOP defeat in November as a Sign From God (literally) that their political efforts weren’t extreme enough : and if the Religious Right in this country is one thing: it is extremely well-organized and turns out to vote en masse.
3. “Really stupid” may be a bit overharsh, but there are a lot of low-information voters out there who will reflexively pull the “R” lever regardless of circumstances: probably a guaranteed “floor” of 40% of the vote. Of course, the good news is that Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as a running mate will probably scare a non-trivial number of “undecideds” into Obama’s column: and hey, a 60-40 win (or even 55-45) is still better than a lot of Presidents have managed.
xian
@Randy P: do you know the last time a Democrat got a majority of white males?
Ben Cisco
@MikeJ: Got to this thread extremely late, but THIS. IS. AWESOME.
ETA: I see that @Villago Delenda Est covered for me; well done.
Ben Cisco
@PeakVT: And it just keeps getting better…