So, who't this Ryan chap then?
castadiva
Posts: 2,016 Member
Just saw that Romney has announced his running partner. Who is this Ryan chap (I've never heard of him, as far as I can recall), and what do the Americans here think of him/of Romney's choice?
I must say, if they do win, they'll have a LOT of work to do to get back onside with the UK - criticise Great Britain seems to be one of their campaign strategies so far, for some unknown reason:laugh:
Just spotted the typo in the title, but I can't fix it. Nooooooooo!!!! Sorry.
I must say, if they do win, they'll have a LOT of work to do to get back onside with the UK - criticise Great Britain seems to be one of their campaign strategies so far, for some unknown reason:laugh:
Just spotted the typo in the title, but I can't fix it. Nooooooooo!!!! Sorry.
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I don't really know too much about Ryan other than he is from Wisconsin.
As far as the Romney criticizing the UK... I think he was just trying to be personable and find something in common and messed up big time... But then, I don't think we have any Stately people in Government anymore. I mean, hell, Hillary Clinton offended the Russians... Biden doesn't know when to shut up... and I don't know how y'all felt about it... but giving the Queen an iPod...
Seriously? We couldn't have thought of something a little less Christmas present for a teenager?0 -
Paul Ryan has been dubbed the intellectual leader for Congressional Republicans. He's most well known for proposing to effectively transform programs like Medicare into different programs altogether (this does not poll well, btw).
Picking him as a running mate is definitely a daring move for Romney, and he kind of needed one. Whether or not this will end up hurting him has yet to be seen.
Dems are positively giddy at the possibility of tying Romney to unpopular notions like voucher programs for Medicare. The GOP see him as a way to get their party energized and into the voting booths. When both sides are delighted by this choice, it's bound to be entertaining.0 -
One thing I have been hearing about Ryan from my Democrat friends... is that he is a social conservative, that fights against abortion, birth control, and the like.... and I guess the Cato Institute (liberatarian think tank) likes his fiscal conservative-ness... But like I said, I haven't done too much research on him and I only "know" what I see in the political meme's and status message commentary on facebook... Mostly because I have pretty much decided that I'm going to lay down my vote as a protest vote.0
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I don't really know too much about Ryan other than he is from Wisconsin.
As far as the Romney criticizing the UK... I think he was just trying to be personable and find something in common and messed up big time... But then, I don't think we have any Stately people in Government anymore. I mean, hell, Hillary Clinton offended the Russians... Biden doesn't know when to shut up... and I don't know how y'all felt about it... but giving the Queen an iPod...
Seriously? We couldn't have thought of something a little less Christmas present for a teenager?
I don't think that's solely a US problem
, but yes, the ipod seemed like an odd gift!:laugh: Ryan's in most of the serious newspapers here today as the new Running Mate, but also because he's been criticising the NHS severely. Given all its' problems, we're pretty proud/protective of the NHS here, so Romney's pre-Olympic gaffe looks like smallfry in comparison! 0 -
Romney is seen by a lot of people, within his own party even, as having an inability to take a firm--shall we say consistent-stance on important topics. All politicians go back and forth a bit, but by comparison Romney seems to have no solid opinions at all, but that's my perspective. Paul Ryan, on the other hand, has GOP ideology covered and then some.0
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I don't really know too much about Ryan other than he is from Wisconsin.
As far as the Romney criticizing the UK... I think he was just trying to be personable and find something in common and messed up big time... But then, I don't think we have any Stately people in Government anymore. I mean, hell, Hillary Clinton offended the Russians... Biden doesn't know when to shut up... and I don't know how y'all felt about it... but giving the Queen an iPod...
Seriously? We couldn't have thought of something a little less Christmas present for a teenager?
I don't think that's solely a US problem , but yes, the ipod seemed like an odd gift!:laugh: Ryan's in most of the serious newspapers here today as the new Running Mate, but also because he's been criticising the NHS severely. Given all its' problems, we're pretty proud/protective of the NHS here, so Romney's pre-Olympic gaffe looks like smallfry in comparison!
Ryan isn't the only one over here that is critical of the UK's NHS (I haven't read any of your papers online yet, so I don't know what he is saying and what y'all are saying) and just the general state run health care that is familiar to Europians and I think Japan (and maybe a few others other than Canada and Australia)... so his comments don't surprise me any, there. He is just the most visible at the moment... :laugh:0 -
Romney is seen by a lot of people, within his own party even, as having an inability to take a firm--shall we say consistent-stance on important topics. All politicians go back and forth a bit, but by comparison Romney seems to have no solid opinions at all, but that's my perspective. Paul Ryan, on the other hand, has GOP ideology covered and then some.
Honestly, I wish we could have more people like Barry Goldwater in the GOP. He was by no means perfect... but at least he didn't believe in the religious right and their authoritarian way of thinking.0 -
Romney is seen by a lot of people, within his own party even, as having an inability to take a firm--shall we say consistent-stance on important topics. All politicians go back and forth a bit, but by comparison Romney seems to have no solid opinions at all, but that's my perspective. Paul Ryan, on the other hand, has GOP ideology covered and then some.
Ah, so he's the party-line guy - the ideologue to appease the party faithful. Thanks - your political situation is only covered in the broadest of brushstrokes here, most of the time, and I like to know who's on the playing field, so to speak.0 -
Ryan is a congressman from Wisconsin. By republican standards, he is considered an "intellectual". He made his national reputation by pushing a budget plan that would dismantle both Medicare and Social Security, institute even larger tax cuts for wealthy Americans, increase defense spending and eviscerate all domestic programs. Ryan's proposed cuts are so severe, they have even earned him a rebuke from the US Catholic bishops.
His proposal to dismantle Medicare was instrumental in the loss of several republican congressional seats (in NY and PA) during special elections held after 2010. Romney's staff didn't really want him (if this story is to be believed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-picked-ryan-over-advisors-early-doubts). It is commonly believed that the choice was A) forced on Romney by conservatives in the republican base who still doubt Romney's conservative bona fides;
Combination of A and the fact that Romney has seen recent polls tilt dramatically towards Obama and felt he needed a "hail Mary" game-changer pick to create excitement--a la McCain's pick of Sarah Palin in 2008.
Ryan is also one of the leaders of the "your vaginas belong to us" faction of the US Congress.
Ryan is typical of the frauds who populate the "young lions" of today's republican party. After his lawyer father died when he was young, Ryan received Social Security survivor benefits --which he banked to help pay for his college education. Since he graduated from college, Ryan spent his entire career working in government jobs, and living off of "wingnut welfare" -- i.e. the Koch brothers.
So here you have a man who has spent his entire life living off the support of federal government campaigning against the "evils" of federal government support. Or as one columnist wrote:The man who wants to make the world safe for swashbuckling, risk-taking capitalists hasn’t spent a day at economic risk in his entire life.
Like many people whose moral development stopped at about the level of a 10-year-old, Ryan is a devotee of the writings of Ayn Rand. Like his soul mate, the merkin-haired son of Ron Paul-Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky--Ryan believes we now live in a world whereWe risk hitting a tipping point in our society where we have more takers than makers ...
in which--of course--the "makers" are the super rich and pampered yuppy larvae like Ryan (even though he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life) and Paul, and the "takers" are this vague, faceless (but not colorless) horde whooping it up at everyone else's expense.
The interesting thing about the Ryan pick--good or bad--is that it will likely change the entire focus of the Romney campaign. Up to now, the entire focus of the campaign has been to make the 2012 election a referendum on the Obama presidency. Given the slow economic recovery and high jobless numbers, Romney figured he could just run as the "not Obama" candidate. Hence his refusal to make any specific proposals, refusal to release tax returns, etc.
However, with the choice of Ryan, the election will now become a campaign about ideas, and a choice between two definite visions for the future. Instead of just saying "Obama screwed up" over and over and over again, Romney is now responsible for all of Ryan's proposals. He must know support the dismantling of Medicare, privatization of Social Security, absurd budget projections, etc, etc. With the intense spotlight of a presidential campaign, those proposals will now be investigated with intense scrutiny.
It makes you wonder if the Romney campaign is truly that feckless or if they felt that desperate.0 -
He's more than the idealogue. He's generally respected on both sides of the partisan divide (at least at the governemental level, certainly not at the media level) as a serious guy with considered positions and serious plans for a different direction fiscally for the country than the current administration. Many people disagree with that plan, but he's not just calling for the status quo.
He's seen actually as a bit of policy wonk and his positions economicalky are not particularly those of the Republican orthodoxy, per se, but more of the think tanks and conservative intelligensia. But he's not parroting some party-line, he's the guy who developed the line as far as the economy goes on the right by writing the so-called Ryan Budget which would slash federal entitlement funding which he believes is unsustainable over the long-term.
His social positions are...well...he's Catholic and his voting on the issues reflects that. Anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-hate crime, anti-stimulus (for the most part, there were exceptions).
Ostensibly he was chosen by Romney to solidify the party behind Romney. The fact that Roney needed to solidify the party even after winning the nomination in a year where the sitting president is so despised by the opposition that many do not even recognize or accept that he is an American citizen kinda speaks to his chances in the fall.0 -
Ryan is a congressman from Wisconsin. By republican standards, he is considered an "intellectual". He made his national reputation by pushing a budget plan that would dismantle both Medicare and Social Security, institute even larger tax cuts for wealthy Americans, increase defense spending and eviscerate all domestic programs. Ryan's proposed cuts are so severe, they have even earned him a rebuke from the US Catholic bishops.
His proposal to dismantle Medicare was instrumental in the loss of several republican congressional seats (in NY and PA) during special elections held after 2010. Romney's staff didn't really want him (if this story is to be believed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-picked-ryan-over-advisors-early-doubts). It is commonly believed that the choice was A) forced on Romney by conservatives in the republican base who still doubt Romney's conservative bona fides; Combination of A and the fact that Romney has seen recent polls tilt dramatically towards Obama and felt he needed a "hail Mary" game-changer pick to create excitement--a la McCain's pick of Sarah Palin in 2008.
Ryan is also one of the leaders of the "your vaginas belong to us" faction of the US Congress.
Ryan is typical of the frauds who populate the "young lions" of today's republican party. After his lawyer father died when he was young, Ryan received Social Security survivor benefits --which he banked to help pay for his college education. Since he graduated from college, Ryan spent his entire career working in government jobs, and living off of "wingnut welfare" -- i.e. the Koch brothers.
So here you have a man who has spent his entire life living off the support of federal government campaigning against the "evils" of federal government support. Or as one columnist wrote:The man who wants to make the world safe for swashbuckling, risk-taking capitalists hasn’t spent a day at economic risk in his entire life.
Like many people whose moral development stopped at about the level of a 10-year-old, Ryan is a devotee of the writings of Ayn Rand. Like his soul mate, the merkin-haired son of Ron Paul-Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky--Ryan believes we now live in a world whereWe risk hitting a tipping point in our society where we have more takers than makers ...
in which--of course--the "makers" are the super rich and pampered yuppy larvae like Ryan (even though he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life) and Paul, and the "takers" are this vague, faceless (but not colorless) horde whooping it up at everyone else's expense.
The interesting thing about the Ryan pick--good or bad--is that it will likely change the entire focus of the Romney campaign. Up to now, the entire focus of the campaign has been to make the 2012 election a referendum on the Obama presidency. Given the slow economic recovery and high jobless numbers, Romney figured he could just run as the "not Obama" candidate. Hence his refusal to make any specific proposals, refusal to release tax returns, etc.
However, with the choice of Ryan, the election will now become a campaign about ideas, and a choice between two definite visions for the future. Instead of just saying "Obama screwed up" over and over and over again, Romney is now responsible for all of Ryan's proposals. He must know support the dismantling of Medicare, privatization of Social Security, absurd budget projections, etc, etc. With the intense spotlight of a presidential campaign, those proposals will now be investigated with intense scrutiny.
It makes you wonder if the Romney campaign is truly that feckless or if they felt that desperate.
Round of applause for your explanation!!0 -
Ryan is a congressman from Wisconsin. By republican standards, he is considered an "intellectual". He made his national reputation by pushing a budget plan that would dismantle both Medicare and Social Security, institute even larger tax cuts for wealthy Americans, increase defense spending and eviscerate all domestic programs. Ryan's proposed cuts are so severe, they have even earned him a rebuke from the US Catholic bishops.
His proposal to dismantle Medicare was instrumental in the loss of several republican congressional seats (in NY and PA) during special elections held after 2010. Romney's staff didn't really want him (if this story is to be believed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-picked-ryan-over-advisors-early-doubts). It is commonly believed that the choice was A) forced on Romney by conservatives in the republican base who still doubt Romney's conservative bona fides; Combination of A and the fact that Romney has seen recent polls tilt dramatically towards Obama and felt he needed a "hail Mary" game-changer pick to create excitement--a la McCain's pick of Sarah Palin in 2008.
Ryan is also one of the leaders of the "your vaginas belong to us" faction of the US Congress.
Ryan is typical of the frauds who populate the "young lions" of today's republican party. After his lawyer father died when he was young, Ryan received Social Security survivor benefits --which he banked to help pay for his college education. Since he graduated from college, Ryan spent his entire career working in government jobs, and living off of "wingnut welfare" -- i.e. the Koch brothers.
So here you have a man who has spent his entire life living off the support of federal government campaigning against the "evils" of federal government support. Or as one columnist wrote:The man who wants to make the world safe for swashbuckling, risk-taking capitalists hasn’t spent a day at economic risk in his entire life.
Like many people whose moral development stopped at about the level of a 10-year-old, Ryan is a devotee of the writings of Ayn Rand. Like his soul mate, the merkin-haired son of Ron Paul-Sen Rand Paul of Kentucky--Ryan believes we now live in a world whereWe risk hitting a tipping point in our society where we have more takers than makers ...
in which--of course--the "makers" are the super rich and pampered yuppy larvae like Ryan (even though he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life) and Paul, and the "takers" are this vague, faceless (but not colorless) horde whooping it up at everyone else's expense.
The interesting thing about the Ryan pick--good or bad--is that it will likely change the entire focus of the Romney campaign. Up to now, the entire focus of the campaign has been to make the 2012 election a referendum on the Obama presidency. Given the slow economic recovery and high jobless numbers, Romney figured he could just run as the "not Obama" candidate. Hence his refusal to make any specific proposals, refusal to release tax returns, etc.
However, with the choice of Ryan, the election will now become a campaign about ideas, and a choice between two definite visions for the future. Instead of just saying "Obama screwed up" over and over and over again, Romney is now responsible for all of Ryan's proposals. He must know support the dismantling of Medicare, privatization of Social Security, absurd budget projections, etc, etc. With the intense spotlight of a presidential campaign, those proposals will now be investigated with intense scrutiny.
It makes you wonder if the Romney campaign is truly that feckless or if they felt that desperate.
Wow, I don't even think my conservative Christian parents are going to vote for a guy who wants to get rid of social security and medicare. They are, after all, over 65, and not entirely lacking in a sense of their own self interest. Or I hope not, anyway.0 -
Most Democrats see it as a sign of weakness that Romney picked Ryan.
1. Ryan is a shake-up-the-race pick. Someone who thinks they are winning doesn't usually want to shake-up the race.
2. Ryan is a favorite of the right wing of the Republican party. Most presidential candidates move to the center after sewing up their party's nomination. That Romney didn't feel free to do so means either that he is having trouble holding his own party base or that he is afraid to tack to the center because he has flip-flopped so often in the past. (He ran for Massachusetts senator and then governor as a moderate but became a hard-line conservative once he started running for president.)
Ryan has been chairman of the House Budget Committee since the Republican retook the House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term elections. As such, he has put forth detailed plans on "reforming" Medicare (our single payer healthcare program for the elderly and disabled) and Medicaid (our federal/state healthcare program for children and poor families). Democrats think Ryan's "reforms" really gut the programs so are happy to see Romney effectively endorsing things that will be very unpopular if people understand them.
That's my take as a liberal Democrat. I'm sure a conservative or Republican would have different views!0 -
Ryan's plan would not change medicare or social security for anyone currently over 55.Wow, I don't even think my conservative Christian parents are going to vote for a guy who wants to get rid of social security and medicare. They are, after all, over 65, and not entirely lacking in a sense of their own self interest. Or I hope not, anyway.0 -
he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life
Other than working for the federal government and his family's construction business (largely built on government road contracts), he worked for Oscar Mayer one summer and even got to drive the Weinermobile a time or two!
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I may have to re-think my refusal to support this ticket. Who among us has NOT wanted to drive the Weinermobile (I exclude anyone in NY's 9th Congressional District for obvious reasons)? They don't let just ANYONE drive that f*cker!0 -
Ryan's plan would not change medicare or social security for anyone currently over 55.Wow, I don't even think my conservative Christian parents are going to vote for a guy who wants to get rid of social security and medicare. They are, after all, over 65, and not entirely lacking in a sense of their own self interest. Or I hope not, anyway.
Hm, I still can't see my Mom saying, well, too bad for all you kids and the grandkids when you hit retirement age, we're going to vote for this guy because it won't hurt us. Dad might say that, though!0 -
Ryan is better then Palin!0
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Ryan is better then Palin!
That is what's called "damning with faint praise." A warm bucket of spit is better than Palin.0 -
he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life
Other than working for the federal government and his family's construction business (largely built on government road contracts), he worked for Oscar Mayer one summer and even got to drive the Weinermobile a time or two!
It behooves all of us fighting the bulge too to remember that when he was in high school, when his father died, Ryan worked nights at McDonalds, that paragon of American value and ambition:
Personally, when I saw the two of them standing together on the platform this week, I was elated because it was so repellant - two white straight boys, all costumed up and looking spiffy. Romney and Ryan harken back to the "good old days", yes? Good for who would be the question - good for those of diversity, good for women, good for the planet? The R&R ticket is hardly one for rest and relaxation though it subliminally spins that tall tale.
-Debra0 -
Don't know if y'all get the US version of The Office in the UK.
Paul Ryan and Gabe from The Office. Photograph: EPA/NBC
It's easy to tell them apart: one is a clueless underling with unpopular proposals and ... the other is Gabe from The Office.0 -
Personally, when I saw the two of them standing together on the platform this week, I was elated because it was so repellant - two white straight boys, all costumed up and looking spiffy. Romney and Ryan harken back to the "good old days", yes? Good for who would be the question - good for those of diversity, good for women, good for the planet? The R&R ticket is hardly one for rest and relaxation though it subliminally spins that tall tale.
My main thought was "Why is Ryan wearing his daddy's coat?" Doesn't it look two sizes too big?
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Well he's not bad looking for a spoilt rich kid, but he still needs to go back to driving the weinermobile and leave politics for people who have actually had to work for a living.0
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he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life
Other than working for the federal government and his family's construction business (largely built on government road contracts), he worked for Oscar Mayer one summer and even got to drive the Weinermobile a time or two!
He's also worked at McDonald's.0 -
He is the best possible thing that could have happened to the Obama campaign.0
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he has hardly ever worked at a "real" job in his life
Other than working for the federal government and his family's construction business (largely built on government road contracts), he worked for Oscar Mayer one summer and even got to drive the Weinermobile a time or two!
He's also worked at McDonald's.
Which both jobs show in a myraid of ways both implicit and explicit the shoring up of current unhealthy structures for modern society. He wants to dismantle all social programs and have his dog with catsup too. hmmmpfff - there's nothing wrong with making a living and trying to get ahead but Ryan's facination with fast food and pushing funny big carcinogens on an unsuspecting public seems really out of step and out of touch. Obviously, he wants to be the big weiner - I think he is the big weiner!! :laugh:
-Debra0 -
Really? Because that's SO many of our elected representatives.Well he's not bad looking for a spoilt rich kid, but he still needs to go back to driving the weinermobile and leave politics for people who have actually had to work for a living.0 -
I love all the attacks on Ryan for not having a "real job." And the clown in the White House had a real job ... when?
Liberals rail on Romney for actually having a job and earning a lot of money, but Ryan is to be ridiculed for being elected to Congress (in a Democratic district) at the age of 28 and again every 2 years after that.0 -
Touchy, touchy.
No one "attacked" Ryan for not having a "real job." We mocked him for the real jobs he had!0
