The political world is all a twitter about the probable selection of Paul Ryan for Romney’s Vice Presidential candidate. So let me answer the inevitable question. What do you think of Ryan?
Politically, it is a smart move. Ryan will appeal to some Conservatives who aren’t terribly keen on Romney. Ryan is a dynamic speaker and an attractive candidate who should be good on the campaign trail. He also will help Romney in Wisconsin, which might help turn that state red in November.
The video above shows Ryan during the Obamacare summit, in six minutes, completely deconstructing the “ponzi scheme” that is the current health care law right in front of the dear leader. He gets points for obviously irritating Obama with pesky facts and figures. It is obvious he is ready for the big stage.
The Ryan pick also gives Romney some credibility that he might actually do something about spending, since the apparent VP candidate is the only Republican who had the political courage to put together a plan to address the budget and desperately needed entitlement reforms.
But what about his record? Well the signature piece of Ryan’s political career is the Ryan Budget Plan. We reviewed the Ryan plan here. There were good parts…
- He actually puts forth a plan to resolve the impending disaster coming with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. While we can quibble about the details, it is a starting point and he actually proposed something that had some teeth.
- He wanted to address the burden that the states are having with Medicare and Medicaid funding. Virginia’s budget is increasingly at the mercy of these programs.
- He had some interesting ideas about simplifying the tax code.
There were pieces we didn’t like. Primarily as this chart showed…the cuts proposed still just slowed spending. He didn’t address the maze of unconstitutional departments like the 
Department of Education and actually wanted to expand federal job training programs; something that should be strenuously opposed.
But the bottom line is that Ryan did have the courage to propose changing some of the budgetary culture in Washington, which is admirable.
So overall this is probably helpful to Romney. It also puts in place someone Democrats actively despise, which can’t be all bad.
And if nothing else, the mental picture of Ryan debating Biden ought to put a smile on Republican lips. Poor “plugs” won’t stand a chance.
Chip Tarbutton
THANKS