Ryan A Dream For The Left And Right

It is now official. In a strange bit of irony Mitt Romney has somehow joined together Liberals and Conservatives by choosing Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his Vice Presidential candidate.

Sportswriters often talk about trades that work out for both teams, while this isn't the political equivalent of a trade it is a scenario where both parties can walk away really happy.

Republicans have this strange affection for Paul Ryan that I as a simple minded liberal just don't get. It is Ryan who is praised in GOP circles as a bold and pragmatic thinker who is full of fresh ideas. Newt Gingrich a party lifer found out just how deep Republican support for Ryan runs when during his Presidential campaign last summer he referred to Ryan's now famous budget as “right-wing social engineering.” It was only a matter of days before Gingrich was making the rounds in conservative media groveling and begging for forgiveness.

Grover Norquist the President of the right leaning Americans For Tax Reform (and outside of Rush Limbaugh the most powerful person in the party for his ability to extort politicians into signing his no new taxes pledge.) made his feelings about Ryan, and the aforementioned Governor Romney known at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February.

“All we have to do is replace Obama. …We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. …We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.”

Along with making Romney feel like the smallest man in the party tent, Norquist was essentially saying that the GOP will be following Ryan and his ideas for the forseeable future. That brings me to simply ask the question why!

Paul Ryan is the worst Vice Presidential candidate the Republican party could have come up with. For all of the GOP's talk about fiscal responsibility, limited government and a cap on spending the man some have called this generations Ronald Reagan has virtually practiced none of that during his time as a congressman in Washington.

If you are a true conservative Ryan's voting record is the equivalent of you taking out your wallet and setting it on fire. Ryan voted for both Bush Tax Cuts, The Iraq War, Medicare Part D, TARP, and stimulus programs under both Presidents Bush and Obama. Ryan and his GOP brethen are now saying that President Obama hasn't rebuilt the house that they burned down.

The meat and potatoes of this argument however revolves around the aforementioned budget that bears Mr. Ryan's name. When you cut through all of the GOP talking points you will find that the Ryan Budget is a privatization of Medicare plain and simple, and as various Republican congressman and women found out when they went on town hall tours in the summer and fall 2011 a great number of the elderly were not happy about. Ryan likes to tout that Medicare needs saving and maybe it does, but his prescription for saving the patient is to kill it and replace it with something more costly and less beneficial to seniors everywhere.

Democrats are happy as can be now that Ryan is indeed the number two man in the party, before it was announced a Democratic strategist told Reuters: "I would love for Romney to pick him, It would crystallize everything for us. Just to have him on the ticket would even further elevate the Ryan budget."

Another respected strategist also told Reuters: "We could really with no effort wrap the Ryan budget around Romney. If he's not on the ticket we have to spend energy reminding folks".

Throw in the fact that between them Romney and Ryan have no experience in Foreign Policy. When you think Republican party you think neo-cons, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman (okay technically he's not a Republican) yet the party has nominated two guys who ran as far away from the military as you could possibly get, In Mitt's case literally (France is a long way away).

For all of the talk about Sarah Palin's incompetence, and there was a lot of justified talk, Ryan is less qualified to assume the mantle of President than Palin was. Palin was the Governor of a state making executive decisions for residents Whether or not she knows multiplication or was lucky to be in one of the few states in the union that would actually vote for her is irrelavant when compared to Ryan's time in the House where he has been virtually responsible for nothing.

Ryan as the V.P only does one thing for Romney, it buys him a little more cred with Republicans. Too bad it will be moderates and independents who decided this election.