Is Paul Ryan a Game Changer?

      John McCain says yes. But shouldn't that be the kiss of death rather than something to take pride in? After all, isn't the whole premise of a "game changer" flawed?  

      It's based on the idea that you find a VP who the public will like better than you. This is the whole problem with game changer: it presupposes the candidates own inadequacy. And where is the evidence that the VP is important in American politics. Doesn't history demonstrate the opposite?

       The McCain campaign invented the idea of game changer but there's no evidence that it works. The empirical evidence shows the opposite.

       I can't help but think that McCain has been strangely involved in things lately. We had him the other day declaring that Joe Biden should be demoted from VP. Isn't he in fact the worst person in the world to give advice on VPs as he chose the most unqualified Veep candidate in U.S. history? She didn't know which Korea is our ally and needed crib notes to remind her who were the combatants of WWII were.

      "After weeks of insisting that the Romney campaign had learned the hard lessons of 2008 and would very deliberately do the opposite of everything McCain did, including seeking an"incredibly boring white guy" for the VP spot to avoid any Palintastrophes, the fact that the campaign has thrown out its carefully devised anti-McCain strategy and is now following the same disastrous roadmap McCain did, starting with, in McCain's own words, "a pretty bold choice" for the VP slot, is pretty shocking."

     http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/17/1121196/-Romneyland-hopes-Ryan-s-chemistry-and-psychic-boost-will-make-Mitt-not-suck-so-much

      Yet today we read that Ryan and Romney are going to campaign together as it gives Romney energy. Is the chance to share your ideas and hopes for being President of the United States not enough to give you adequate energy?

        :How bad a presidential candidate is Mitt Romney? So bad that, according to Politico, his own campaign is not even trying to pretend he doesn't suck. He's got the charm of a dust mite, he's already "exhausted" from campaigning, he can't draw big crowds, and no one likes him. So they're hoping that Paul "Hail Mary" Ryan can give him that special something he needs to save his destined-to-fail campaign:

Romney and Ryan had planned to go their separate ways before meeting up at the end of the month at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. But then campaign strategists saw how much of a psychic boost Romney got from Ryan — and how much more animated Romney appeared on television with his younger running mate at his side.

“They really like each other and they feed off of each other,” campaign manager Matt Rhoades said. “There’s an energy, there’s a chemistry.”

Advisers say Ryan helps ease the former governor’s feeling of isolation.

"Romney's "feeling of isolation"? From what? His wife on the trail with him? His sons on the trail with him? The voters who think he's really weird because he doesn't know how to talk to people without insulting them and their cookies and their country? His money stashed far away in exotic islands?"
     In a way, the correct answer to the question "is this a game changer?" would be no. The very need for one demonstrates weakness.