As the dust settles on Romney’s Vice Presidential pick of Paul “Dreamboat” Ryan, it’s time for some analysis.
The only difference between Romney’s VP pick this past weekend and McCain’s VP pick four years ago is, instead of people saying, “Who?” they’re now saying, “Him?”
When it comes to policy, there’s not really much difference between Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan; they’re both ultra conservative. But when it comes to presentation, Ryan clearly wins.*
Here’s a guy who is at ease in front of a crowd, doesn’t need a teleprompter, and can improvise a joke at a moment’s notice. He’s attractive, confident, and well-spoken. And his VP pick has excited both Republicans and Democrats.
Democrats are excited because Ryan does not appeal at all to moderate voters. He wants cut taxes for the rich, turn medicare into a voucher program, and strictly adhere to Constitutional principles.
Republicans are excited for the same reasons.
With this pick, the GOP is putting all of its eggs in the opposite-of-Obama, Tea-Party-felating, our-country-is-on-the-brink-of-disaster basket. So when if Obama ends up winning in November—and if Congress ends up with a few more Democrats—there will likely be some major reassessing by the GOP.
If more Tea Party-ites get elected to Congress (in both 2012 and 2014), the GOP will likely stick to its guns come 2016 and keep pushing those Tea Party, neo-con ideals. If those elections don’t go too well, picks like Paul Ryan won’t happen for a long time—and Mitt Romney may be able to run again as the right-leaning moderate he is!
Of course, it would have been interesting to see Romney run as a moderate this time around—which would have been easier given his record. He certainly would have picked a different VP; but if he had ended up winning the election, it could have potentially pushed the GOP more toward the middle.
But now the Republican Party is stuck with a faux-conservative Presidential candidate and an actually conservative VP candidate. And when Mitt and mini-Mitt lose the election in November, the GOP will realize the country isn’t coming to an end, that most people are okay with helping poor people, and that we’ll have to wait at least one more election cycle to save the Constitution as it hangs by a thread.
*I’m not necessarily talking about physical appearance here, because I’d gladly fuck either of them.