Thread: GOP Veepstakes 2012

Originally Posted by quimbian corholla

he-table"]Jindal on veepstakes: 'Paul Ryan brings a lot to the table' - First Read[/URL]

Perhaps Rmoney will go for the Hail Mary pass and get Bachmann or Jan Brewer?

Bachmann?

No, not a chance.

If there is one thing about Romney that we know, he is careful.

Bachmann has baggage, is alientating, and considered by many Independents and GOPers to be a nut.

^ he was joking, barabaro.

anyway, IMO romney currently finds himself in a very difficult situation.

the GOP convention is rapidly approaching and he'll need to make a VP announcement soon...and in most polls he's running far behind the president....even fox has him behind at high single digits.

romney's all about low risk, but if he's going to change the course of this race he's going to need to generate some excitement about his campaign......portman and pawlenty just aren't going to to do that.....although portman MIGHT get him ohio.

maybe he'll go with ryan, because that will most definitely excite the base, but he'll get crushed by the senior citizens in november.

rubio would also excite the base, but he's a PR nightmare waiting to happen.

christie....well, is it really possible to nominate someone who is morbidly obese to be VP? i don't think so. he's also a hothead, so who knows what is going to come out of his mouth on any given day.

a truism about american politics....a safe and boring VP pick shows confidence in your chances of being elected----a risky pick indicates you know it's either a close race or you're behind.

willard's in a jam.

^Good opinion piece in The Daily Beast today written by David Frum.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/09/paul-ryan.html

^

thanks for the link.

here's frum's comment...

The clamor you are hearing for Paul Ryan for VP is not about helping the Romney candidacy. It's about controlling the Romney campaign—and ultimately the Romney presidency. It's about forcing a platform on Romney, and then dictating the agenda for that presidency's first year. The platform happens to be suicidal, and the agenda impossible, but that does not matter to the Ryan advocates. They take the old Tammany Hall point of view: "Better to lose an agenda than lose control of the party."

In that sense, the Ryan proposal is a test of Romney's leadership. If he accedes, it's a big surrender of control—and a surrender to many of those who most opposed (and who inwardly continue to dislike) his nomination.

frum is correct...and the far right have not made a secret of their intention to have romney be a rubber stamp for their extreme conservative agenda. romney has no political spine (and fears a primary challenge), so he'd sign just about anything that the extremists put on his desk.

Originally Posted by raycarey

frum is correct...and the far right have not made a secret of their intention to have romney be a rubber stamp for their extreme conservative agenda. romney has no political spine (and fears a primary challenge), so he'd sign just about anything that the extremists put on his desk.

I am not so sure about this Ray.

I think Romney will NOT bow down to these conservatives and honestly, to be politically viable one had be to middle of the road - as Romney is.

^
Agreed. A Ryan VP choice would be suicide for Romney and pretty much seal the suicide pact the GOP has made with the far Right.

Originally Posted by MrG

^
Agreed. A Ryan VP choice would be suicide for Romney and pretty much seal the suicide pact the GOP has made with the far Right.

I think Ryan would hurt Romney, not help, IMO.

On a side note, Ryan voted in 2003 in support of the Medicare-D act (which personally disgusts me, although the public likely does not care about).

Originally Posted by barbaro

I think Romney will NOT bow down to these conservatives

in the last 5 years when has romney NOT bowed down the extreme right?

during this most recent primary he tried to get to the right of nearly every candidate on nearly every issue.


abortion
guns
israel
taxes

etc...

Originally Posted by barbaro

, Ryan voted in 2003 in support of the Medicare-D act

which was unfunded.

he also voted for two unfunded wars and added untold $$$$$$ to the debt.


like many republicans, he only cares about deficits when a democrat is in the white house.

8:45am Saturday the announcement is to be made and all signs point to Ryan.

Looking Forward To The VP Debates! LOL

Originally Posted by Norton

Romney is perceived to be weak on foreign policy.

in this election i'm not so sure this is very important to most voters.

but let's assume it is....who is the potential VP that could help romney on foreign policy?

portman was a trade rep in the bush admin.

rice...but she's made it abundantly clear she's not interested....and she's pro choice.

who could fill that foreign policy void?

Originally Posted by raycarey

who could fill that foreign policy void?

Anyone with an IQ greater than the VP presently in office, eh?

pawlenty is out of the running:

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, was set to campaign for Mr. Romney in New Hampshire on Saturday. A Republican close to Mr. Pawlenty said that he had been informed that he had not been chosen by Mr. Romney and would continue with his schedule and would not be in Virginia for the vice presidential announcement.

Romney to Announce Vice Presidential Choice Saturday - NYTimes.com

i really hope it's ryan.

the overriding theme of this election would become republican efforts to destroy medicare.

Originally Posted by raycarey

who could fill that foreign policy void?

Agree. Not going to be a big issue even though we live in a global economy and US foreign policy plays an important factor in how well or unwell domestic economy fares.

Frankly, I have no idea who among "prominent" Republican's has foreign policy credential's, or if so, would accept a VP role.

David Petraeus comes to mind but imo he has no interest in the job. I do believe he will make a run at Presidency in 4 or 5 years.

^^^

Ryan's stance on Medicare will alienate older white people (Romney's power base of voters)- someone more centrist would be a better choice.

Is John McCain not on the list for consideration? Too old? Too reasonable?

Originally Posted by FailSafe

^^^

Ryan's stance on Medicare will alienate older white people (Romney's power base of voters)- someone more centrist would be a better choice.

What is Ryan's current stance on Medicare?

As I noted, he did vote in favor of Medicare-D (which as Ray notes was was/in unfunded).

It looks like Ryan will be the VP pick.

NBC: 3 sources indicate Romney will pick Ryan - First Read

Given that the USS Wisconsin is berthed at the location Romney is making the announcement I'd guess it'll be Ryan.

News from The Associated Press




Anybody else think Paul Ryan looks like Eddie Munster?

Originally Posted by barbaro

What is Ryan's current stance on Medicare?

he wants to introduce a voucher program that will essentially destroy medicare as americans know it.

god, i really hope romney picks ryan, because the president will have won re-election before the end of august. there's no way romney wins without the old folks in swing states.

and btw, if he does opt for electoral suicide and pick ryan, this is just another example of romney bowing down to conservatives.

here's another reason for oldsters not to vote for romney/ryan:

in 2006 ryan was pushing for the privatization of social security...and then the stock market collapsed in '07 / '08.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2...eaknesses?lite

it will be pretty easy for the dems to define this guy is a grave danger to america's most vulnerable citizens---the elderly.

and let's not forget......old people can be counted on for doing three things without fail:

eating dinner at 4:30 in the afternoon.
watching the weather channel
voting.

the right has made a lot out of the president's limited experience in the private sector.

has paul ryan ever had a job outside of govt?