Kudos to former Mass. governor Mitt Romney on his bold,
inspired choice of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate. Rep.
Ryan brings a host of qualities to “Team Romney” that are sure to appeal to
voters.
Some of that appeal will come from selecting a leader in the
majority party of the least popular Congress, well, ever. This would be the same
Republican House "leadership" that has staged 33 go-nowhere votes to rescind the
health-care law that is almost a mirror image of Gov. Romney’s own health plan.
It would also be the same Congress that trashed the country’s credit rating by nearly
causing a debt default and that has left scores of necessary bills pending
because of its dysfunction.
Voters will also appreciate Rep. Ryan’s fondness for Ayn
Rand and his frequent criticism of the “takers” in society. Rep. Ryan, who benefited
from government assistance as a youth, attended a publicly-funded university
for his schooling, has drawn almost every penny of his salary as an adult from
government coffers and refuses to eliminate oil company subsidies that benefit his family, is a paragon of Rand’s principles. As an added plus, voters, especially “values
voters,” will especially like Rand’s atheism and open adultery.
Rep. Ryan also brings scads of credibility to Gov. Romney’s
claims to be a deficit hawk. What with his proposal to increase defense
spending AND cut tax rates for the wealthy and with his earlier votes to create
the massively expensive Medicare drug plan, to enact the Bush tax cuts, and to
support two incredibly costly wars. Rep. Ryan is so concerned about the deficit
that his plan would close it by the middle of the century—talk about a
futurist.
Oh, and speaking of that tax proposal, which would
lower Gov. Romney’s already meager tax payments from 13.9% to 0.8% of his income,
will help to take the focus off Gov. Romney’s tax shenanigans. It's not quite the zero tax rate that Gov. Romney described in criticizing the plan when Newt Gingrich espoused it in the primaries, but it's awfully close.
Rep. Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicare into a voucher
program and then slowly shift the medical cost burden from the government to
the elderly is also sure to be a hit. Evidence of the proposal’s popularity can
be seen the assurances that Rep. Ryan has to give that no one under 55 will be
affected by it. As they say, the best things are worth waiting for.
