"Dear Morning Briefing subscriber:
By now you know that Mitt Romney has chosen Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan to be his Vice Presidential nominee.
Paul Ryan is not a safe pick. In fact, it is a pick that suggests Mitt Romney knows he needs to shift momentum in the race. When the GOP is winning on all the major polling questions of debt, deficit, and economy and still losing overall — the polling can’t all be wrong, including Fox News — the Romney camp needs a new direction and a more focused message.
What they had been doing was not and is not working.
Paul Ryan works. The most recently named Human Events Conservative of the Year is a lightening rod on the left for the Ryan plan, which balances the budget over the next two decades. What was not enough for some conservatives is too much for some liberals. Paul Ryan exposes the left’s great lie. They think they can just raise taxes on those who make $250,000.00 a year or more and never have to cut spending or fix entitlements.
Paul Ryan not only exposes that lie, but he has plans to solve it. He does so as a fresh, young face who is not at all scary to old people and relates to them and to young people. He himself is in his early 40′s with small kids. He’s from a swing state, out performed John McCain in his home district, and is telegenic and articulate. Paul Ryan is what Mitt Romney needs.
The left will demonize and demagogue Paul Ryan. They’d do that to anyone. This is a party that is currently accusing MItt Romney of murder and previously accused Paul Ryan of killing old people. The only problem is, the old people are receptive to Paul Ryan’s message. The bluster you hear today is a Democratic Party excited to have their bogey man as the Republican veep pick, with a little bit of nervous apprehension about what Ryan is capable of.
The sighs you hear are Republicans sighing some relief. Finally, the Romney campaign has a spokesman who can do what Mitt Romney has never been capable of doing — defend success and articulate a message of why we must reform our nation’s budget and support free markets.
After all the Romney campaign missteps and flubs of the past few weeks, I am encouraged. But we should be clear here: it is not enough, but it is an excellent start to a reboot.
Erickson's on board. The WSJ has gotten what it wanted as has Bill Kristol. Newt Gingrich is not calling ti "Right wing social engineering" anymore:
"Many commentators have suggested that plumping for Ryan was a 'high risk, high reward' strategy.
"Those on the political right, tended to focus on the reward part of that equation.""Former governor of Florida Jeb Bush, described it as a "courageous choice".
"Congressman Ryan's command of economic policy and the federal budget will prove invaluable as Governor Romney fights to reform government, accelerate job growth and rein in the out-of-control spending that has been a hallmark of President Obama's years in office," Bush said.
"Media mogul Rupert Murdoch tweeted: "Thank God! Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice."
"Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich has seemingly had a change of heart since dismissing Ryan's tax plan earlier on in the primary season."
"We're very, very happy," he told CNN, adding that the young Republican had grown into "one of the great intellectual leaders" in America today.
"As to that "right-wing social engineering" comment, it appears that Ryan had "listened carefully" to the former House speaker in recent months and had now learned the error of his ways."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/11/romney-ryan-choice-delights-both-sides?newsfeed=true
Yet, liberals are pretty happy as well-none more than yours truly. I think Romney's pick is a home run-for the Democrats:
"Meanwhile many Democrats were also whooping it up over the decision, in the belief that the pick would be unpopular with the public at large due to the swingeing spending cuts Ryan proposes."
"Bill Burton, a former White House staffer and founder of leading Obama Super Pac Priorities USA, tweeted: "Romney picked one of the only people who could have had an impact in the race. But, not the way he wants."
"It was a view that many shared."
"Over at the Washington Post, liberal-leaning columnist Ezra Klein suggested that the move could play into president Barack Obama's hands."
"He wrote: "Romney's original intention was to make the 2012 election a referendum on President Obama's management of the economy. Ryan makes it a choice between two competing plans for deficit reduction."
"This election increasingly resembles the Obama campaign's strategy rather than the Romney campaign's strategy."
"Meanwhile, Timothy Noah at the New Republic described the VP pick as a "fantastic stroke of luck" for Obama."
"Presidents presiding over the sort of economy we have right now don't usually get re-elected. But a president handed the opportunity to run against a GOP ticket that's unabashedly in favor of abolishing Medicare – something even the Tea Party opposes – would probably win in November," Noah wrote.
I'm not sure that I want to focus on deficit reduction. Certainly it should be pointed out that Ryan's plan does not in any shape for form reduce the deficit. But we should really make it simple: Do you want to end Medicare or don't you?
There will be no ambiguity. Either I'm wrong and most Americans do want to do that. Or Paul Ryan and his conservative friends are. There is no middle ground for once. But it's a fight we have to want.
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