The Paul Ryan Selection

Four years ago I was watching the season finale of Meerkat Diary when the media started converging on Senator Joe Biden’s residence. He was the anointed one. My choice, as I blogged on August 23, 2008, was to continue watching Meerkat Diary.

The Paul Ryan selection is different. Congressman Ran is young, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. He is the opposite of Senator Biden, who will talk about anything, any time, anywhere over and over and over, ad nauseam.

This election is now one for the future of America – the individual or the state. The America of success or of failed European socialism, scratch that, not European socialism, but California bankruptcy – the bankruptcy brought to us by the public employee union stranglehold over the Democratic Party in a one party state.  Will America remain the land of opportunity or become the America of state determinism?

The Obama campaign has done its best to avoid a campaign on the issues, relying upon a campaign of personal destruction.

The Democrats are salivating about attacking the Republicans in states like Florida for attempting to “change Medicare as we know it.” An ad in an upstate New York special election last year showed a Ryan lookalike pushing grandma in a wheelchair over a cliff. They will also attack the Ryan Budget as radical.

That’s fine because it opens the door to a policy debate. Paul Ryan is a policy wonk. He is also very articulate, and does not come across as a radical. He is very smart and does need a teleprompter to speak clearly. An articulate, smart, disciplined policy wonk can defeat a bombastic politician any time.

Ronald Reagan was portrayed as too radical for America. Governor Pat Brown

wanted Reagan as his opponent, as did President Jimmy Carter. Both went down in flames as Californians and Americans realized Governor Reagan, like FDR, was a “Happy Warrior.”

Congressman Raul Ryan is the successor to Ronald Reagan, both in political views and presence.

Notice to Democrats – Paul Ryan does not come across as a right wingnut. He has been elected 7 times from a heavily Democratic, blue collar Congressional District in Wisconsin, a historically progressive state until two years ago.

Maybe the Democrats are scared in fact. In the weeks leading up to the Ryan announcement was media praise or silence on the potential VEEP nominees. However, when Congressman Ryan’s name was broached, the media’s consensus, fueled by Democrats, was that the Congressman would be a liability to Governor Romney. If that were the case, they would have been silent.

One interesting vignette on media bias occurred on Saturday. Governor Romney introduced Congressman Ryan as the "next President of the United States." The Governor quickly corrected th mistake.

Senator Obama made the same mistake in introducing Senator Biden 4 years ago. CBS and Fox News reported the Romney gaffe, followed by the same Obama gaffe. NBC presented only the Romney mistake, thereby singling out the Governor to look bad..

The Republicans clearly want this to be a national election on the future of America. The Democrats will still try to traditionally run it as 51 individual state elections. For example, they will appeal to African Americans, Puerto Ricans, women and the elderly in Florida and farmers and the elderly in Iowa.

2012 is a national election for the future of America.